A man who has already filed three lawsuits in Gwinnett County Superior Court challenging the creation of the city of Mulberry added another complaint, suing the state of Georgia in Fulton County Superior Court to seek a declaration that the law that proposed the city is unconstitutional.
“The City of Mulberry must be declared a nullity,” said Allen Lightcap, attorney for Stephen Hughes, in a news release.
Hughes lives within the 26-square-mile swath of northeastern Gwinnett where voters in May approved the incorporation of Mulberry. A retired safety director for a road building company, he has lived there since 1989.
The city charter approved by voters prohibits Mulberry from imposing its own property tax unless voters amend the charter in another referendum, although state law allows city councils to amend charters without ballot questions. The charter also says the city will provide zoning, storm water management and code enforcement.
Hughes’ lawsuits say those provisions of the charter are unconstitutional because they were proposed under a local law instead of a general law that applies to all cities, and because they infringe on the home rule powers that Georgia grants its cities.
Mulberry is scheduled to become a city on Jan. 1, with about 41,000 residents. It would be Gwinnett’s largest city by land area and second largest by population.
Hughes first sued Gwinnett elections officials in April to stop the May 21 cityhood referendum, but Gwinnett County Superior Court Judge Tadia Whitner stayed that case until after the election. About 8,000 people voted on the cityhood question, with 57% in favor.
After the election, Hughes withdrew his lawsuit and filed two others in Gwinnett.
One, against county elections officials, seeks to stop the Mulberry city council elections scheduled for November. Another, against the county itself, requests Gwinnett officials be prohibited from participating in the new city’s transition process, during which the city takes over certain services and negotiates agreements to provide others.
Hughes’ latest lawsuit seeks an injunction to stop Gov. Brian Kemp from appointing a transition team, as governors have done for other new cities in the state.
Kemp did not provide a response Friday afternoon. A spokesperson for Attorney General Chris Carr did not respond to an email seeking comment.
The lawsuits say Hughes is concerned the city of Mulberry could impose a property tax and forbid him from keeping bees.
State House Majority Leader Chuck Efstration and Sen. Clint Dixon, both Republicans, sponsored the bill that created the new city in response to a developer’s proposal to build hundreds of apartments near the affluent Hamilton Mill subdivision. There is no multi-family housing within Mulberry’s boundaries.
They, and other Mulberry supporters, allege Hughes’ lawsuits are being funded by developers. Lightcap has declined to say who is financing them.
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