A new development that could bring nearly 300 apartments to the Gwinnett Place area cleared a major hurdle Tuesday — and county Commissioner Tommy Hunter did too, even though he wasn’t there to witness it.
For the first Board of Commissioners meeting since Jan. 17, no one came to protest against him.
Minus Hunter and Chairman Charlotte Nash, the commission approved Tuesday night the rezoning necessary for developers to bring as many as 292 units to a 20-acre property on Satellite Pointe near Duluth. The site is less than two miles west of Gwinnett Place Mall and just north of I-85, near a Dave & Buster's and several other apartment complexes.
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Plans submitted to the board called for as many as 10 separate buildings that would be three or four stories. Marian Adeimy, an attorney representing the property owner, said the target demographic will be "professionals and young Gwinnett residents."
Adeimy said the design would be “modern” and “urban.”
With neither Nash nor Hunter present for the meeting, the vote to approve the project’s rezoning was a unanimous 3-0. District 4 Commissioner John Heard said Nash was “doing business for the county over in Germany” and Hunter was "out West somewhere."
For the first time in months, no protesters spoke out against Hunter during the meeting's open public comment period. The commissioner has been under constant fire since calling U.S. Rep. John Lewis a "racist pig" on Facebook on January 14.
The number of anti-Hunter protesters had been dwindling in recent weeks. Hunter was publicly reprimanded last month by his commission colleagues. His lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the ethics board that recommended his reprimand was shot down but he has filed an appeal to the Georgia Supreme Court.
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