16 | February 3, 2016 | Forsyth Herald | ForsythHerald.com
BUSINESSPOSTS
Frank Norton gives economic outlook for Forsyth Says county has ‘much going for it’ By KATHLEEN STURGEON kathleen@appenmediagroup.com
FORSYTH COUNTY, Ga. — Frank Norton said Forsyth County has a lot going for it. From the boom in population to the excellent schools, he said the county will continue to expand productively for many more years, however there are a few things that need to be addressed. At his annual economic outlook breakfast Jan. 26, Norton, known for his real-estate expertise, talked about many topics relating to the county and the state as a whole including affordable housing, population increases and the county’s future. “I’m bullish about Forsyth, and about your future,” Norton said. “You have so much going for you. You have position, you have strength, you have geographic position, you have a tax base.
KATHLEENSTURGEON/STAFF
Frank Norton gives his annual economic outlook.
If you look at the return on investment of what I pay in taxes and what I get here, it’s amazing. You have school test scores which are the envy of the entire Southeast. You have a can-do, positive attitude. You have communities I would love to live in.” Forsyth is the fastest-growing
county in the Southeast, he said. However, the lack of affordable housing might start turning people off from living in the area. He said if you talk about affordable housing in the context of metro Atlanta, the average is $175,000. But Norton said there is no way to build a $175,000 house in Forsyth. Homes under the $175,000 mark could be gone by 2020, according to Norton, with townhomes following in 2023. The affordable housing definition in Forsyth is probably at $250,000 to $275,000, he said. “We have to fix affordable housing,” he said. “This affordable housing problem is going to affect you. If we lose affordable housing surrounding you, it gives me great concern. If we lose affordable housing in Dawson and Cherokee and Gwinnett and Hall, where are your teachers — who you have probably already lost and are commuting in — going to live?” But this isn’t all bad news. In 2015, the county sold nearly 1,800 homes in the $250,000 to $399,000 price range, something that is good, he said.
In discussing the population boom Forsyth has experienced in recent years, he predicts the county will be at 500,000 residents by the 2030s or ’40s. “We need to understand and blueprint life at 500,000” residents, he said. “Your next-door neighbor today is at 850,000 people. That’s the gorilla called Gwinnett. They’re projected by 2030 to be 1.3 million people. If they’re 1.3 million, could you conceive us at 500,000? We need to be building infrastructure and we need to be building water resources and transportation resources for 500,000 people. I don’t want this to be a cry in the dark. This needs to be a collective conversation.” He ended by using a metaphor, saying the county needs to be careful they don’t “kill the golden goose.” “You can’t squeeze it to produce more golden eggs and you can’t kill it because then you lose all you have,” he said. “You have to care and nurture and feed it and protect it from all kinds of outside influences. If you do that, Forsyth County will continue to be on that pedestal that every other county around you wants to be like you.”
Southern Aquatics opens doors in Roswell Local fish store offers rare fish, sustainable lessons By JONATHAN COPSEY jonathan@appenmediagroup.com ROSWELL, Ga. – The saying goes that if you do something you love, you will never work a day in your life. For sisters Ashley Burre Hilburn and Taylor Burre, their love of fish has turned a hobby into a career. They are the new co-owners of Southern Aquatics Local Fish Store, recently opened on Holcomb Bridge Road in Roswell. The sisters, who were born and raised in Roswell, say owning and operating an aquatic store was never their life dreams. Hilburn has a degree in English and Burre has hers in retail management and fashion. However, they both shared one love: animals, namely fish. The sisters became interested in fish at a young age. Hilburn convinced her younger sister to pressure their parents for an aquarium. The fish in it died quickly, because the girls did not know how to care for them. “You can’t create an ecosystem in one day,” Burre said. “It takes time to grow and replenish. It can take weeks or months.” Despite that unfortunate early aquarium experience, it eventually spurred an interest in the care of fish that led to finally opening a store. “We thought, ‘We can do this,’” Hilburn said. For the past nine months, they have kitted out the
location on Holcomb Bridge Road, not far from the intersection with Ga. 9/Alpharetta Highway, one of the busiest areas in town. Even though they haven’t had a grand opening yet, they put a sign out front, hoping simply to generate excitement, and customers began coming by, looking for help with their fish. “We thought we would have a few weeks, but people started showing up,” Hilburn said. With 3,000 square feet to work with, the store specializes in both fresh and saltwater fish, a first for Roswell. They also focus on rare or uncommon species that can’t be found in “big box” stores. They have hundreds of fish varieties, sharks, eels, shellfish and even a stingray. There are coral gardens with a variety of colors and types. They even have shark eggs. Education is a large part of the sisters’ mission. They recently donated a large tank along with two shark eggs to a local school for the students to learn about fish and their life cycle. “We believe in education,” Hilburn said. “But if we are going to educate people, we have to be responsible.” One example of responsible business practices is not selling a customer a “cute” shark baby in a small tank since they know the shark will quickly outgrow it. Similarly, small eels may be popular pets, but many stores do not tell customers eels can get large and aggressive. “We handhold a lot of customers,” she said. “We don’t want things dying in their home aquarium because they are too big or the customer doesn’t know how to care for them.”
The owners of the new Southern Aquatics Local Fish Store are, left, Ashley Burre Hilburn and, right, Taylor Burre, and between them is their father, David Burre. And conservation is another key consideration. “I have to know where I am getting my animals,” Hilburn said. “We buy from local suppliers where we can, and we promote sustainability.” The new Southern Aquatics Local Fish Store is located at 620 Holcomb Bridge Road, Suite B, Roswell, 30076 and can be found online at southernaquaticslfs.com.