Developer Sues City of Sugar Hill Mayor, Council, and Planning Director Over Rezoning Denial
On June 9, developer Jason Nam Kim filed a petition in Gwinnett Superior Court asking the Court to review the City’s May denial of case RZ-22-007, a request to rezone his property at the corner of Sugar Ridge Drive and Highway 20 from RS-100 (medium-density single-family residential) to BG (general business district).
According to the lawsuit, Mayor Brandon Hembree and City Council Members Taylor Anderson, Marc Cohen, Mason Roszel, Alvin Hicks, and Jenn Thatcher “erred and exceeded their lawful authority by arbitrarily, capriciously, without any rational basis, and without due process of law by refusing to rezone the Property from the RS100 zoning district, and by continuing to enforce the RS-100 zoning on the Property.” It says that they “have not articulated any standard or criteria or any objective factual basis to support their denial of RZ 22-007.”
It also says that they “erred and exceeded their lawful authority by unlawfully delegating their authority to neighbors and other property owners” in violation of the Georgia Constitution and that they “in bad faith attempted to prevent development of the Property in order to curry political favor with neighbors and other residents in the City and in unincorporated Gwinnett County.”
The lawsuit asks the Court to do the following:
Reverse the City’s denial of the rezoning.
Issue a declaratory judgment stating that the City violated the developer’s rights.
Block the City from enforcing the RS-100 zoning that the City left in place for the property.
Require the City to reconsider and approve the rezoning without conditions.
Require the City to reimburse his expenses for the lawsuit.
The Court has ordered the City of Sugar Hill “to send up all of the files, applications, pleadings, records, transcripts, and other documents associated with the Application (RZ-22-007)” for review.
