The original application was for a 152,000 square foot "big box" type retail anchor with about 30,000 square feet of smaller retail in strip type footprint supported with 692 parking spaces. The applicant had developed for Wal-Mart in the past and was working independently on speculation that Wal-Mart would agree to lease the "big-box". The County was not informed that Wal-Mart would have been the tenant so any denial was not based on opposition to Wal-Mart.
The developers walked away from the project. We don’t know what caused them to do so. There were a number of reasons that could have caused them to abandon this project. These include problems with the topography, traffic signaling, stream buffer and flood plan problems. Access from Jimmy Carter Blvd. would have required a bridge and a reorientation of the building. The architectural requirements of the Peachtree Corners Overlay District added costs to the project. And at least two homeowners associations were opposed. All of these combined may have deterred the developers.
However, even though the project was abandoned, the application for rezoning of the Sturbridge Square property from RM to C-2 was legally filed and advertised, which means that it could not be withdrawn and had to follow the public hearing process to conclusion, even though the project had been abandoned. Therefore, both the Planning Commission and Board of Commissioners heard the application in an advertised public hearing. The results were: Planning Commission recommended denial of the application and the Board of Commissioners voted to deny.
In any case, the developers representing Wal-Mart did not “shelve” their plans because “The Gwinnett planning board disagreed”. They abandoned the plan well before they had a hearing before the Planning Commission. There will be no additional litigation of this particular zoning issue.
Adopting the Gwinnett County zoning ordinances upon initially forming the City and then careful modification by the City Council is the best approach to limit legal challenges and win those that do occur, reasonably quickly. Creating a Peachtree Corners Master Plan identifies areas where the community wants development and those areas that are not available.
