Resistance is increasing in northern Gwinnett County to multiple developments with hundreds of apartments, months after the area was consolidated into one county commission district where many residents voice concerns about high-density housing growth.
In approving one apartment complex near Coolray Field recently, Democratic county commissioners cited a persistent housing shortage and a comprehensive plan that calls for denser development in certain areas of north Gwinnett. But the battle blurs partisan lines: some apartment opponents are Democrats, as is one commissioner who sided with them against the 300-unit complex.
The pushback heralds potential future conflict from Gwinnett’s sparser areas as the county attempts to meet housing demand, faced with projections that it will by 2040 become Georgia’s most populous county.
“We’re probably guilty of being a little bit of NIMBYs,” said Steve Brown, president of the Rivershyre homeowners’ association off Buford Drive, referring to the acronym Not In My Back Yard. “There’s been a lot really quickly. The danger is that the infrastructure isn’t keeping up. ...We’re not against housing. We’re not against building some apartment units.”
The Buford Drive development approved last month and another controversial project, with 700 apartments in the Hamilton Mill area next to the county’s newest high school, were both proposed by Brand Properties — a prominent developer that has built many apartment complexes in northern and western Gwinnett. CEO and Chairman Brand Morgan declined to comment on his projects for this story.
The Buford Drive project proved unusually divisive. The county’s planning department approved the rezoning application with conditions, but the planning commission, a volunteer advisory board, recommended denying it. Neighbors attended hearings in red shirts to oppose it. The Gwinnett County Board of Commissioners approved it in a series of 3-2 votes.
It will include 307 apartments and 6,000 square feet of commercial space at the intersection of Rock Springs Road, across from a Northside Hospital medical facility under construction, and between the minor league baseball stadium and the Exchange shopping center. Several other apartment complexes surround Coolray Field, some developed by Brand Properties.
Jennell Talley, who lives about a mile from the site, cited the already infamous traffic on Buford Drive as she argued against the project to the Board of Commissioners.
“I am fine with apartments existing in my neighborhood,” she said. “Having diverse housing opportunities makes sense, but we are saturated with apartments.”
District 4 Commissioner Matthew Holtkamp, who represents north Gwinnett as the board’s lone Republican, echoed Talley’s concerns and said he would prefer townhomes or condos there for seniors looking to downsize. He introduced a condition increasing the apartments’ minimum size, but ultimately opposed the project.
District 3 Commissioner Jasper Watkins, who represents parts of southern, eastern and central Gwinnett, also voted against the project. He did not respond to a request for comment. During a June hearing, he asked the developer’s attorney whether condominiums had been considered.
Brand Properties submitted the rezoning application last year, when the site was in Commissioner Kirkland Carden’s District 1. Carden made all the motions last month in support of the rezoning. He cited the planning department’s recommendations and last year’s Gwinnett housing study, which said 76% of housing demand would go unmet through 2040 at current supply rates.
“My vote was rooted in the planning documents, the studies that we paid a lot of money, put a lot of time in, to prepare,” Carden told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
The Hamilton Mill development, which would spread apartments across 14 buildings and includes 15,000 square feet of commercial space, is scheduled to come before the planning commission and Board of Commissioners this month.
Darlyn Wilkerson, who lives about two miles away, has been organizing community opposition and a petition with more than 1,000 signatures against the proposal.
“If they get a toehold in Hamilton Mill with high density, Hamilton Mill will no longer be Hamilton Mill, a hometown, as it was sold to the 2,100 residents,” Wilkerson said. “It will become Hamilton Mill, an urban center. ...We didn’t move 40 miles from the city to live in the city.”
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