Clients

New Millenium, Better Mousetrap

The Mousetrap for the New Millennium, he says, is SummerGrove, a 1,430 acre, 2,000-home planned community in Newnan, to be developed over the next decade by Pathway Communities.

Just beginning to rise from the red clay, SummerGrove will have standard-issue amenities found in upscale subdivisions (price range: low $100,000s to $300,000s), plus five miles of walking trails, 100-acre lake and daily-fee golf course.

What sets it apart is that it will be a fully wired community from birth. Every home will have ultra-high-speed (10 megabit) Internet access through a hybrid fiber-optic network -developed with Newnan Utilities-plus tied into a community Intranet. For residents surfing the Internet, connections will be at 1.54 MB or 50 times faster than the average 28.8 KPS modem.

The community 30 miles southwest of Atlanta is believed to be the only one of its kind in the state and one of a very few in the nation. And for the first time in Georgia, a residential community will be marketed not only to individual buyers but to whole companies willing to let their employees telecommute.

"Telecommuting is the most creative way to deal with Atlanta's immediate air-quality problems," says Skinner, whose missionary credentials include a current bully pulpit: presidency of Metro Atlanta Telecommuting Advisory Council (MATAC). "Everything now under discussion, such as expanding use of mass transit, is years away from having an effect. (The irony is), you'd think this type of technology would be found on the north side of town. But there it is in Newnan."

Skinner has a track record. In 1996, he chaired the panel that oversaw creation of the Georgia Library Learning Online (GALILEO) system, a ground-breaking electronic library linking public libraries and universities across the state. In SummerGrove, Clayton students have a case study in the marketing of a residential community to high-tech companies.

"Typically, we've attracted new industry to the Atlanta area by talking about infrastructure, schools and quality of life," says Skinner. "But SummerGrove also offers high-tech companies secure, high-speed Internet access and a wired neighborhood.

"Imagine you're the head of a company that's thinking about moving to Atlanta. You can build a relatively small office wherever you want. Your employees can live out in this wonderful small town and have all the suburban amenities, yet be less than 20 minutes from the world's busiest airport and near a major international city. And by the way, they won't have to drive to work. How would that woo you? It isn't a bad way to attract industry."

The Newnan mousetrap, indeed, may well become a model for economic development. Face it, we've dug ourselves a large recruiting hole with air-quality/congestion problems. Turn-of-century Atlanta is to traffic what Calcutta is to overpopulation.

"If we don't solve our transportation and air problems, we won't continue to grow," says Skinner. "Uncertainty scares industry, and it's what we have today. Georgia is a relatively low-tax state, and if we don't grow, what will happen? We will have cut services at a time when there's growing for new schools and everything else."

In an earlier incarnation, Pathway Communities was Peachtree City Development, authors of the planned community in Fayette County. As golf paths connect homes in Peachtree City, so the Intranet will link SummerGrove residents, says Pathway General Manager Elliott Stotler. "People are becoming more technologically savvy by the day," he says. "Our Intranet is really a website for residents."

Residents will be able to search the community for lawnmowers, babysitters, people of like interest, etc. ("Enjoy medieval history and stock car racing. Listen to Beethoven, Conway Twitty and Gangsta Rap. Anxious to meet same.")

SummerGrove is already attracting interest beyond Atlanta, says Stotler. That's no surprise, in that studies have shown telecommuting dramatically boosts production, because it treats people as if they have a life beyond work. Rather than focus on process- keeping the gluteus maximus glued to the corporate chair for 40 hours a week-it focuses on what the employee does. The worker can catch his son's school play and still crank it out in the off hours.

"It changes the whole corporate mindset from managing people to managing productivity," Skinner says. "Employees have a sense of control over their own lives. Talk to people today and that's what t hey really want." Nearly 50% of U.S. employees can access their corporation remotely. By the year 2000, 55 million Americans will work outside the conventional office setting. These are trends that will only escalate, and no city needs them as badly as Atlanta.

"Telecommuting will be a modest contribution to solving problems in Atlanta, but an important step," says Skinner. "Everybody's been sounding doom-and-gloom. But in the darkest of times, creative people turn problems into opportunities."