More than two years ago, Billie J. Elliott and her neighbors succeeded in fending off a proposed QuikTrip at the entrance to their Gwinnett County neighborhood.
Now, they’re battling again.
Tuesday, county leaders will hear another proposal to build a QuikTrip gas station and convenience store next to Elliott’s house, at the intersection of Jimmy Carter Boulevard and Hayes Drive outside Norcross.
Residents hope they’ll succeed in convincing county leaders that the project still does more harm than good.
County commissioners in 2018 rejected a plan that would have put a nearly 6,000-square foot building on three acres with 54 parking spaces, four entrances, 10 gas pumps and cafe-style outdoor seating.
This year’s proposal is a nearly 5,000-square foot building on 3.4 acres with 55 parking spaces, three entrances and nine gas pumps.
“It appears to me to be substantially the same,” said Rich Edinger, a planning commissioner who has twice voted to reject QT’s rezoning requests. “They really did not address the neighbors' concerns.”
Residents, who also pushed back against an attempt to get the project approved at the county’s Zoning Board of Appeals, say their working-class neighborhood will be hurt by the traffic and noise that would come from a gas station.
While QuikTrip could already build on some of the property, the company would have to rezone two residential lots next to Elliott for a commercial driveway to get they project they want, tearing down two houses in the process and putting Elliott directly next to the 24/7 establishment.
“I’ve had a wonderful life here, no trouble at all,” said Elliott, 87, who has lived in her house for 52 years. “If they put a road beside my house and traffic 24 hours a day, that would be terrible. I don’t know how I would take that.”
Aisha Jefferson-Smith, a QuikTrip spokesperson, said the company will continue to work with the neighborhood to make the project “beneficial to everyone.” But Jefferson-Smith said there was no compromising on the gas station’s hours, and she wouldn’t say what concessions to the neighbors the company might be willing to make.
“We’re just trying to clean it up,” she said of the area. “We just want one of our beautiful locations there.”
Neighbors note that a home on Hayes Drive that’s boarded up is owned by QT, and had people living in it before it was purchased by the company. Andrea Nelson, who lives in the neighborhood, said it “doesn’t seem quite right” that the company is maintaining homes in a blighted condition so they can profit off the blight.
“They’re creating the problem in the first place,” she said.
Edinger, the planning commissioner, said the company didn’t take “great care” of the properties it had purchased. It showed a disregard for the neighborhood, he said. The planning commission in an 8-1 vote recommended county commissioners reject QuikTrip’s plan again.
Amy Hillman, an attorney who represented the community in its first fight, said they neighbors have “just been abused by this process.” She called the new proposal egregious, saying that the additional traffic the gas station would bring to the entrance of the neighborhood would be detrimental to neighbors.
Linda Dunlavy, an attorney who is representing them now, called the changes QT made “window dressing.”
“QuikTrip pushing this through despite opposition leaves a bad taste in my mouth,” she said. “People feel like they’re getting dumped on.”
Lynette Howard, who used to represent the area on the county commission and voted to reject the first QT proposal, said the project “really doesn’t make sense.” County Commissioner Ben Ku said the residents have been “fighting tooth and nail” against the proposal.
With good reason, Nelson said.
“We’re fed up and we’re tired,” she said of going up against QT and another proposed development. “It’s been tough. This is the third time since 2015 we’ve had to do this. It’s getting old.”
