Smaller Homes Could Be Coming To 500 Block Of Old Peachtree Road Because Of Down Economy
January 27, 2010 by Jamie Ward
Filed under County Government, Gwinnett County
Attorney Lee Tucker argues his case before the Board of Commissioners Tuesday. Despite being denied by the planning department and planning commission, Tucker swayed the Board to reduce the minimum dwelling size from 2,400 square feet to 1,800 square feet for an unstarted development on the 500 block of Old Peachtree Road.
LAWRENCEVILLE — The great recesscion has left development in flux, subdivisions unfinished and countless homes in foreclosure. On Tuesday night at the monthly Board of Commissioners meeting to deal with zoning issues, an unfinished subdivision because of this very economy was the reason Old Peachtree Road Investments, LLC was granted its wish — a change in conditions for an 8-acre piece of property that had already been rezoned in 2007. The property, which already has water and sewer lines installed and will be a gated community when finished, is located on the 500 block of Old Peachtree Road near the intersection with Rock Springs Road.
The Board’s decision by a vote of 3 to 1 (District 1 Commissioner Shirley Lasseter was not present and Chairman Charles Bannister voted against it) will allow Old Peachtree Road Investments to build 1,800-square-foot homes as opposed to 2,400-square-foot homes on what is now 35 lots. They’d asked to build 1,400-square foot homes. The Board’s decision came despite opposition from nearby homeowners and despite the county’s planning department and planning commission’s recommendation of denial. Gwinnett County Planning Spokesman Jeff West said the proposed change was “out of character with the surrounding area.”
According to the developer’s attorney, Lee Tucker Jr. of Mahaffey Pickens Tucker, LLP, the reason the change was necessary was because of the economy.
“The conditions of 2007 and the conditions of 2010 are dramatically different,” Tucker said. “What may have been appropriate at that time is not consistent with the market today.” Tucker said his client’s data showed a pricepoint for homes in the area of around $200,000. He also said the property is still owned by Old Peachtree Road Investments and not a bank and that a development in foreclosure is ”good for nobody’s property values.”
Nearby neighbors who spoke in opposition to the proposal disagreed and said they were worried smaller homes would decrease their property values. Mike Morgan representing the Edgewater Homeowner’s Association submitted a petition with approximately 250 signatures on it in opposition.
“This is totally out of line with what exists in the area now,” Morgan said. “A mistake was made two years ago in rezoning this to the R-ZT classification. It’s directly between R-75 and R-100 lots.” Morgan added that in that 2007 decision, the county’s planning department and planning commission also recommended denial yet the developer still got the R-ZT zoning.
Butch Poss also spoke in opposition to the change. “If we reduce the square footage down we’ll be stuck with it forever and it will devalue our homes and we’re already hurting,” Poss said. “We gave in back in 2007 when we accepted this deal and 2,400-square-feet was all we were able to draw the line on. Edgewater has 3,000 and 3,500-square-foot homes…We just don’t need any less square footage.”
District 4 Commissioner Kevin Kenerly in making his motion to support the project said strangely that he agreed and disagreed with both Tucker and the opposition.
“If we let those lots sit undeveloped on the ground, at the end of the day and we had a briefing on our sewer and water lines, everybody in this room will have to pay for that. The developer will be gone, the bank will sell it and we’ll have to pay for it,” Kenerly said. “It’s not going to devalue anybody’s values at all because of the gated community and all the conditions on here.”
The decision upset Eric Riner of the nearby Briar Point subdivision.
“It’s a travesty. We don’t need this in our neighborhood. We already have home values that have dropped signigicantly and traffic is already bad,” Riner said. “It’s just not right. Somebody is being rewarded in this and it’s just not fair. We have no voice and no representation in our community at all from our elected officials.”
Poss agreed with that sentiment and was asked about Kenerly’s decision despite recommendations for denial by both the planning department and the planning commission.
“We’re used to this. We’ve been in Kevin’s district for 16 years,” Poss said. “This is the way business is done in Gwinnett County, at least in District 4. We just need to get a real person in there who cares about us.”
Kenerly was asked after the meeting to justify his decision to go against the planning staff and planning commission. Click here to hear Kenerly’s justification for voting yes.
In other board business, a request to rezone nearly 46 acres of an old golf course on the 2300 block of Pond Road and the 4600-4700 blocks of Bogie Road was denied because the developer — MPM Development, LLC — didn’t show. Lots of opposition was in the audience to fight the rezoning from R-75 to R-TH (townhomes) and R-ZT.
MPM Development wanted to rezone this old golf course from R-75 to classifications that would allow for smaller homes and townhomes. The request was denied.
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