The two candidates for the unfilled Post 2 seat on the Flowery Branch City Council said they are both interested in tackling growth and development if they are elected in the March 15 special election.
Residents of Flowery Branch have already had the option to vote for Jennifer Sudderth or Joe Mezzanotte, as early voting got underway at Flowery Branch City Hall on Feb. 21. The Post 2 seat was previously held by Mayor Ed Asbridge, who stepped down from his position to run for mayor of the city in 2021.
Sudderth, a political newcomer who has lived in Flowery Branch for about three years, said she decided to run for the seat because she felt like the council needed more representation from the downtown area, where she lives.
"We really needed someone downtown for representation outside of the bigger neighborhoods," Sudderth said. "I just really want to preserve our downtown more."
Mezzanotte has lived in Flowery Branch for about four years in the Sterling on the Lake subdivision. He has served on the homeowners association of Sterling on the Lake, stating that he was involved in the finances of the subdivision.
"We do have new [city council] members, just this fall we had two new members elected," Mezzanotte said. "We have a new mayor. I'm hoping to come on in this special election to be a third new player, and hopefully, we have some ideas to contain this growth in a way that will make this as nice a place to live."
Sudderth said she believes growth in Flowery Branch is inevitable. However, she said she would like to see the city council keep residential and industrial developments in their respective areas.
"I don't believe that industrial should be where the residential is, whatsoever," Sudderth said.
If elected, Sudderth said she would like to be more independent and vote the way that she believes, regardless of how other city council members or city staff feel.
Mezzanotte's time on the Sterling on the Lake HOA led to one of his big concerns as a candidate for city council: keeping developers and contractors in compliance with their agreements with the city.
"Our developer [of Sterling on the Lake] was having issues, violations actually, of different parts of their development agreement with the city to develop one of the last tracks here in our neighborhood," Mezzanotte said. "I began to wonder about the compliance side of Flowery Branch government."
Both Sudderth and Mezzanotte agree that growth in the city should be managed. Aside from keeping industrial zonings away from residential, Sudderth said the infrastructure in the city needs improvements ahead of the wave of growth.
"We need to have a better infrastructure with our roads to accommodate the growth," Sudderth said. "The water and sewer are coming along, it's just taking a little bit longer."
"I'm all for growth if it's managed properly, I'm all excited about the downtown, it's doing its own growth," Mezzanotte said. "But sometimes with some of the other growth that's happening, it could create traffic issues that would almost make it very difficult for people to go down."
Those interested in voting in the election can participate during the final days of early voting from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. through March 11 at Flowery Branch City Hall. Flowery Branch residents can also vote on election day, March 15, from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
