Sugar Hill Planning Commission to Hear Case for Annexation, Rezoning to LESS Dense Category

At the April Planning Commission Meeting, the SHPC will take up case AX 23-001, an annexation of 75.8 acres off of Kennedy Road and Ramey Road. The property is currently zoned as RS-100 with Gwinnett County. The applicant wants to rezone the property to RS-150 for the future development of 12 new single-family detached homes, ranging from 1.4 acres to 3.9 acres, that will be accessible from a private gated drive.

The notable feature of the case is that rather than going from less-dense zoning to one that's often much denser, the City is considering going the other way and making the annexed area LESS dense!

Yes, you read that right. And remember this time, because right after this, I suspect they're back to rubberstamping townhouse and apartment zonings in a forceful frenzy to urbanize the hell out of Sugar Hill.

This unique case contrasts sharply with the recent examples of developers using the City's newly created and new favorite R36 zoning, a denser zoning used to build townhouses next to all the plebeians.

Perhaps the favorable rezoning is because the people selling the property are staying in the immediate area. However, I know of another case like that (the new Creekside Meadows off of Whitehead Road, approved in March 2021). They didn't do townhomes there. But, they still rezoned from less dense zoning with Gwinnett County (RS-75) to a denser zoning with Sugar Hill (RS-72), a change that allowed them to go from 2.75 units per acre to 3 units per acre. This week will be my fourth anniversary of attending every City meeting and observing the City's actions, and I can't recall a single case in that time where they went to less dense zoning.

Is the more favorable rezoning in this related to the fact that City Manager Paul Radford and Council Members Taylor Anderson and Marc Cohen live in adjacent Wild Timber, the most expensive subdivision in town?

You decide.