Mary Beth Hoopes, a 37-year-old real estate agent, lives off Sardis Church Road in northern Gwinnett County, near the site where developers recently proposed hundreds of apartments.
That proposal, now stalled amid furious backlash, almost single-handedly galvanized Hoopes and others in the area to promise their votes in a referendum to create a new city on next month’s ballot.
“A lot of people don’t feel that our current county approves things that we think are in our best interest,” Hoopes said while she and her children enjoyed the springtime weather at Little Mulberry Park, the namesake of the proposed city of Mulberry. “There are a lot of apartments that are being built in Gwinnett County.”
Voters in a 26-square-mile swath of northeastern Gwinnett will be asked May 21 whether to incorporate as Mulberry, a city with a mayor and four other council members who would decide zoning issues. The new city would also provide code enforcement and storm water services.
Mulberry would be Gwinnett’s largest city by land area and second-largest by population, with about 41,000 residents who would be, on average, far wealthier than their neighbors in any other Gwinnett city or the county as a whole, according to a January study from KB Advisory Group that estimated the median household income at $121,000.
The city would also be about 57% white in a county less than 36% white, according to 2020 U.S. Census data.
Almost 95% of Mulberry’s housing would be single-family detached homes, according to the KB Advisory Group study. The remaining housing is townhomes or mobile homes. The percentage of renters in Mulberry would be half that of the countywide renter proportion, and no multi-family housing exists within the proposed city limits, according to the study.
State House Majority Leader Chuck Efstration, R-Dacula, is leading the charge for the new city, which would count him among its residents. Many of the borders line up with those of Efstration’s district. He and others said the city would primarily give its residents greater control over zoning.
“If residents feel that the city is unnecessary, they will vote no, but if in fact they feel their voices are not being heard when they contact Gwinnett County, and they feel that there is not the infrastructure to support proposals that have been approved or are under consideration, they will vote in favor,” he said.
Efstration also cited the proposed Poole Mountain project of more than 1,000 single-family detached homes east of Little Mulberry Park as an example of “out-of-control zoning.”
Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC
Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC
The Gwinnett County Board of Commissioners in January unanimously passed a resolution urging legislators to “carefully consider the impact” of the incorporation on residents — in both the proposed city and the county, which has produced its own study that estimates a $9.1 million revenue loss if the city is incorporated, according to Gwinnett spokesman Joe Sorenson.
The creation of a new city would require Gwinnett to renegotiate its contracts for services, such as police and parks, with all 17 cities in the county including Mulberry.
The proposed city’s revenues for administration, zoning and code enforcement include about $3 million in insurance premium taxes that the county now collects from unincorporated residents for the Gwinnett County Police Department. That creates a scenario where county police would be expected to patrol the vast Mulberry area with $3 million less in revenue, Sorenson said.
Efstration noted the county’s overall budget is $2.5 billion.
“I’ve seen no credible evidence that creating a new City of Mulberry will have a detrimental impact on Gwinnett’s finances,” he said.
Mulberry’s proposed charter also states the city council could not levy a property tax without a referendum, but experts and the Legislature’s attorneys have said charters cannot limit city councils’ ability to raise taxes — or excuse them from offering more services, such as police, should the need arise.
Efstration, a lawyer, disputes those opinions. Peachtree Corners, the newest and most populous city in Gwinnett, rewrote its charter several years ago after the University of Georgia’s Carl Vinson Institute of Government flagged similar questionable language.
Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC
Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC
The area’s county commissioner, Republican Matthew Holtkamp, would not live in the new city. He joined his Democratic colleagues on the board in voting for the resolution expressing concerns. State law prohibits commissioners from taking sides on the issue.
“I’m personally neutral on this city because, whether it becomes a city or if it doesn’t, I’m still your commissioner, and if it succeeds, I am going to work and do everything I can to make sure that it’s successful,” Holtkamp said at a recent town hall at Seckinger High School.
Cobb County voters two years ago cited potential taxes and an actual lack of feared density when they rejected three proposed cities. Those ballot questions were also pitched to populations wealthier, whiter and more politically conservative than Cobb County as a whole, to wrest control over zoning and development from the board of commissioners. Both counties’ commissions have been dominated in recent years by Democratic people of color.
In the parking lot of the 890-acre Little Mulberry Park, a sign touted Gwinnett County for allocating sales tax revenue to the popular recreational space. Cityhood advocates envision the county will still maintain the park. Marcus Henderson, an information technology consultant who lives in the nearby Hamilton Mill subdivision, praised Gwinnett’s stewardship of it but said he supported taking power in general away from the county and giving it to residents more locally.
“I think Gwinnett County has lost touch with its constituents because it’s so large,” Henderson said.
Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC
Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC
Digital storytelling editor Charles Minshew and staff writer Taylor Croft contributed to this article.
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