The Lanier Islands Parkway Community Improvement District is making its final push this month to create a self-taxing district in South Hall County.

“We’ve brought a couple more members on board to help get some support and signatures for us,” said Mack Burgess, the group’s director, on Sunday.

The goal, at this point, is to turn in all the needed paperwork to the Hall County Tax Commissioner’s Office by April 1.

“We’re very confident we’re going to reach our goal and have a good-sized CID,” Burgess said.

The proposed CID has reached one of the two key requirements in getting the district formed: getting the agreement of property owners making up 75 percent of the district’s total property value.

But there’s another milestone to reach: getting the nod from 50 percent, plus one, of the commercial and industrial property owners in the proposed district.

At this point, “the (boundary) lines are subject to being moved and redrawn, as folks express interest or disinterest,” Burgess said.

The Georgia Constitution enables the creation of self-taxing districts.

An administrative body within the CID can set the tax rate on commercial or industrial real estate within the district to raise money to pay for projects identified by the CID.

The Lanier CID planners are aiming for a tax rate of 5 mills, which would be levied only on commercial and industrial property owners in the district.

In Hall County, 1 mill is equal to $1 for each $1,000 in assessed property values, with property assessed at 40 percent.

“The goal is to get a CID that generates enough revenue to be eligible for the big grants,” Burgess said.

The millage decision won’t be made until after the CID is created and the board is elected. The board election will take place after the tax commissioner’s office verifies the submitted list of properties and property owners.

The board will be made up of five property owners within the CID and representatives from Hall County and the city of Buford.

In addition to setting the tax rate, that group also “will determine which grants we apply for, and then how we allocate our funds once we have them,” Burgess said.

Among the Lanier CID’s plans are “major enhancements” to the Exit 8 bridge over Interstate 985, landscaping and adding “significant decorative lighting and street signage along the parkway,” according to its website.

Lanier Islands officials achieved one major victory in recent weeks, when the Hall County Board of Commissioners voted to rename Ga. 347 between I-985 and Ga. 211/Old Winder Highway as Lanier Islands Parkway.

The mostly residential stretch between I-985 and Spout Springs Road — also known as Friendship Road — won’t be renamed until January 2015, or until a road project happening there now is finished.

Ga. 347 between I-985 and Lake Lanier Islands is now known as Lanier Islands Parkway.

Burgess spoke at public hearings in favor of the proposal, which was otherwise staunchly opposed by Friendship Road residents.

“For our efforts, it’s good for as many people to come in contact with Lanier Islands Parkway as possible,” Burgess said.

“This is going to be a corridor into what we think will be one of the most thriving local economies in the state of Georgia.”

Friendship Road residents also believe their community will change, especially as the two-lane road expands to four and six lanes.

One resident, Carol Bannister, points to once-rural Pleasant Hill Road in Gwinnett County as an example of what could happen to the area.

“I would say it’s at least 90 percent commercial (there),” she said. “All the people have left.”