Like its neighboring cities, the City of Oakwood has grown significantly in recent years.
City Manager BR White said the city issued 330 residential permits in 2021 alone.
"They haven't calculated the certificates of occupancy, which gives a better count of your population...but if you look at 330 and then the average household has roughly 3.2 people in it, you're looking at over 1000 people moving to Oakwood for the last 12 months," said White.
White said he anticipates that even more people will move to the city in 2022 as development continues.
"We have approved roughly 1,560 apartments and only one of the projects is completed," said White. "We have three other projects, one on Atlanta Highway, two on Mundy Mill Road and then we have a fourth one over near the college...then phase two of the Martin Road and Atlanta Highway apartments has been submitted and is currently in review."
With a growing population comes the need for more services. As a result, White said the city purchased a new garbage truck this year, cutting down the need from three people to collect garbage to just one.
Next year the city will continue to grow services by adding more sidewalk and expanding public sewage.
"One of the areas, especially here in old Oakwood proper, is the houses are on septic tanks and most of those septic tanks were putting in years and years ago before there was a requirement to have additional land for when your sewer fails," said White. "This will give them an opportunity to come off the septic system and connect to public sewer...it also promotes the health of the streams which in turn promote the health of Lake Lanier."
White said discussions will also continue in 2022 for the creation of a City of Oakwood fire department. Meanwhile, the City of Oakwood Police Department is working to become a certified police department with the Georgia Peace Officer Standards and Training Council.
Another milestone for the city in 2021 was finalizing plans for the Interactive Neighborhood for Kids, or INK, to relocate to downtown Oakwood. This nonprofit features an indoor "museum" for children to play and interact with exhibits while learning life skills.
White said a building for the nonprofit will go up soon between Railroad Street and McClure Drive.
"Initially, we're going to help finance and [INK is] going to lease to own the building. All of the preliminary engineering is complete, that means the layout is pretty close to what's actually going to occur," said White. "Then we've got to start doing the actual engineering for the site. We hope to complete that within the next couple of months and break ground on that project, late summer, early fall."
To hear more from White recapping 2021 in the City of Oakwood and looking ahead to 2022, click the link above.
