Lew Oliver of Whole Town Solutions had plenty to say about the progress regarding Crabapple redevelopment including how helpful citizen involvement has been throughout the planning process.

“People had a chance to have their voice in the design and there were a number of issues that came up,” said Oliver.

One of those issues being a possibility of increased commuter traffic, which is not a desirable outcome for most residents.

This is something Oliver kept in mind as he worked on the master plan.

“We needed to improve the road system without widening because most people believe that widening roads only encourages increased commuter traffic. When you open something up you increase the ability for more traffic to flow, and so widening is not really the solution for Milton,” he explains.

Creating friction for commuters is Oliver’s answer to traffic woes.

“If you don’t create friction, as in slow traffic and not accommodate massive numbers of cars, then you’ll actually encourage it to get worse not better,” he said.

Another concern was preservation of the community. Oliver believes that area has yet to reach a sense of completion following development during the mid-1990s when Crabapple suffered some personal losses.

“I think most people believe there were historic buildings torn down, there were heritage trees destroyed,” Oliver said.

He believes change could have been done with more integrity to the area.

“People wanted to see the community completed, but they wanted it to happen in an organic way that blended with the historic fabric of the town and blended with the landscape. It wasn’t an onslaught upon the landscape, it was something that was fitting in,” he says.

Another desire expressed by many was the need for diversity, especially when it came to housing. Oliver said that currently not much is offered for the school teacher or city worker who wants to live in the Crabapple area because houses tend to be out of a lot of people’s price range. Therefore, there has been a desire expressed for housing to suit all sorts of incomes and age groups.

“If you’re a 20-something year-old or a 30-something year-old then you’re not going to be at your highest earning years therefore you can’t afford Crabapple, so that rules you out. At the other end of the spectrum, if you’re 75 years old  and you want a simple cottage that’s two bedroom, two bath on one floor that housing stock doesn’t exist for you in Crabapple either. So what has happened in the 1990s in assuming that every family was identical is we’ve gotten mono-cultures of housing and absolutely no diversity and people are recognizing this and asking for diversity,” Oliver said.

He said that the public has also been asking for architectural guidelines that will insure that the future is built out in an architectural style that’s suitable for the area and not an import from anywhere else.

“I think a lot of what’s gone into Crabapple has been generic and not really tailored to the  look and the history of the area where it could easily be tailored to the area,” he says.

When asked which group or groups has been the most vocal throughout this process Oliver responds, “One that really stands out to me were the people representing the physically impaired. The wanted the new town to be accessible to people with disabilities.”

“One being the mayor’s mother, who is in a wheelchair so it was very important to her and some of these advocates to be able to get around in the town free of barriers and really independent of cars," he said. "Hence some of the things that showed up in the master plan.”

Mobility was an important factor when designing the new Crabapple area and Oliver has worked hard to keep it as pedestrian-friendly as possible. Unlike metro-Atlanta where, as Mr. Oliver believes, the top of the food chain has been cars and trucks with pedestrians at the bottom; Crabapple will reverse the pecking order.

“The world has suddenly woken up over the past five years and discovered that things have been backwards and we should be building cities for pedestrians, not cars,” said Oliver.

The Crabapple transportation chain would be as follows: pedestrians, bicycles, horse trails, low-speed motor vehicles and finally cars and trucks.

“We design first for the pedestrian and then encourage more eco-friendly modes of transportation,” Oliver said.

With so many exciting ideas, it may still be a while before physical changes are seen in the area. City officials still have to make final votes before moving forward.

“This is a one- to two-generation plan from start to finish,” said Oliver. “We’re really designing this system for children because  when the children are grown they’ll be able to use the system and raise their family. It won’t happen immediately.”

Before becoming involved, Oliver heard discouraging stories about how Milton residents were stuck in their ways and would be overwhelmingly negative to the proposed changes but that hasn’t been the case, he said

“I’m incredibly impressed with Milton. I think the politicians have a lot of vision and I thnk they have a backbone and they have political courage. I think the staff are really go getter's so the mental makeup of the city is so incredibly positive.”

The master plan can be viewed during the final presentation at Milton City Hall on Monday, April 11th.