Help shape Milton's next five years

Shaping Milton's Next Five Years

This summer, Milton is deciding what kind of place it wants to be — and at the end of the month, you get a say.

The city is wrapping up a refresh of its Comprehensive Plan, the long-range blueprint behind nearly every big call Milton makes: where growth goes, how roads get built, what stays rural. Georgia requires every city to update it every five years, and Milton has been at it for months.

If that sounds abstract, it isn't. It's the document underneath the debates you've read about here — from the Arnold Mill growth fight to this month's 30-day pause on data centers. This round isn't a rewrite but a focused update on four fronts: land use, transportation, economic development, and sustainability. It also folds in the plans the city has adopted since the last update — the Arnold Mill Small Area Plan, the Comprehensive Transportation Plan, the District at Mayfield concept, and the Destination Deerfield initiative — and takes stock of what's actually been done.

The real payoff is the plan's next short-term work program: the prioritized, fundable list of projects that will steer the city through 2031. In other words, the things that actually happen.

A 16-member citizen committee has shaped the draft so far. Now it's everyone else's turn. The city is hosting a drop-in open house Monday, June 29, from 6 to 8 p.m. at City Hall — stations on each topic, staff to answer questions, and your chance to weigh in before the draft heads to the state this summer and the Council votes on it in October.

Source: City of Milton. Details and the feedback form: miltonga.gov/2026CompPlanUpdate.

And While You're At It: Birmingham Park

The Comp Plan isn't the only place Milton is asking for input this summer. The city is in line for a $200,000 state grant to upgrade Birmingham Park, and it wants to hear from residents before the money is spent.

The plan: a new restroom building, two trail segments rerouted to be safer, a small bridge replaced, and added parking — including two ADA-accessible spaces. The grant, from the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, would cover about half the cost.

A short feedback form is open now, and the city will pass what it hears along to the state. It takes just a few minutes.

Source: City of Milton. Weigh in at miltonga.gov/BirminghamParkProject.

Around Town

Another heads-up on Hopewell Road — and this is new, separate work. Earlier this month we flagged the city's road rebuild on Hopewell near Birmingham; this is a different project on a different stretch. Fulton County crews start this week replacing underground water lines along Hopewell between the Bethany Bend roundabout and Old Northpark Lane. Expect intermittent single-lane closures and delays for the next five to six weeks, likely wrapping before the school year. One tree comes down; the county says it will notify affected owners and re-set any fences or landscaping it disturbs.

And a heads-up for school families: a new 10-ton weight limit on a Thompson Road bridge — just north of Redd Road — is too low for loaded school buses, so Fulton County Schools rerouted several buses last spring. The city and the district are using the summer to find better routes and to weigh fixing the bridge itself — repair, reinforcement, or eventually replacement — with the goal of easing the squeeze before the new school year.

Sources: City of Milton; Fulton County.

Milton Wants More Residents CPR-Ready

Here's a number worth carrying around: when a person's heart suddenly stops, bystander CPR can double or even triple their chance of survival. Milton's first responders have the results to back it up — the city's cardiac-arrest survival rate was 33% in 2024 and 20% in 2025, both well above the national average of roughly 10%.

That record recently made Milton the only small community in the country to win the International Association of Fire Chiefs' Heart Safe Community Award (in the under-100,000 population category). "They practice medicine, they know what they're doing," Fire Chief Gabe Benmoussa told the City Council, crediting his firefighters.

Now the department wants neighbors ready, too. Milton Fire-Rescue has partnered with the American Red Cross on an official CPR certification — four hours online plus two in person with a Milton firefighter, $45 all in — and the first session is open for sign-ups.

Source: City of Milton. Register at miltonfirstresponders.org.

From a Group Chat to 10,000 Users

A little hometown pride for your Sunday. When Skyler Ventura watched college friends scramble in a group chat to borrow one another's date-night dresses, he saw a business. The Milton resident and Milton High School graduate spent the back half of his senior year at the University of Georgia building an app to do exactly that — let women rent clothing from each other for weddings, nights out, and beach trips.

It caught on. After winning a UGA entrepreneurship competition, Ventura grew the idea, then merged in March with a competitor, E-Closet, where he's now chief financial officer. The combined company has since passed 10,000 users and $60,000 in revenue — with orders rolling in from campuses its four under-27 co-founders have never set foot on. Next up: a tour of SEC schools this fall, and a push beyond college into everyday closets.

"There's no world in my mind where it doesn't work out," Ventura told Appen Media. Not bad for an idea born in a group chat.

Mark Your Calendar

A few things worth a spot on the fridge:

• →Sat, June 27 — LiveLOUD concert on the Green, 7 p.m. at Crabapple Market. Free and family-friendly.
• →Mon, June 29 — Comp Plan open house, 6–8 p.m. at City Hall. Drop in and weigh in.
• →Mon, July 6 — City Council takes its final vote on the FY26 budget, 6 p.m. at City Hall.
• →Sat, July 11 — Interactive Movie on the Green ("Kicking & Screaming"), 7 p.m. at Crabapple Market.
• →Sun, July 19 — Goals on the Green World Cup final watch party, from 1 p.m. at Crabapple Market.

And two ways to have your say right now: weigh in on Birmingham Park, or sign up for CPR certification with Milton Fire.

One More Thing

It's Father's Day, so allow me a personal note. Whatever fatherhood looks like in your house — the dad coaching the 8 a.m. rec game, the granddad who never misses a recital, the neighbor who taught half the street to ride a bike — Milton runs on people who quietly show up, again and again, for the people they love.

To every father and father figure reading this morning: thank you for being some of them. I hope today is slow in all the right ways — good coffee, no agenda, and the people who matter close by. Happy Father's Day.