UPDATE: The Board of Commissioners approved both townhome projects during their Tuesday night meeting.
ORIGINAL STORY, published March 27: Two separate proposals on the Gwinnett Board of Commissioners' Tuesday night agenda would bring hundreds of new townhomes to the county.
One proposal would enable to construction of 190 attached townhomes on roughly 35 acres near Brown Road and I-85, about two miles east of the Mall of Georgia. The residences would be “senior-targeted,” according to planning documents submitted by developer Satilla Capital Partners.
The county’s planning department has recommended denial of the rezoning request necessary for the project to move forward, saying the project “could be considered inconsistent with the existing and proposed residential development pattern of the area and could set a precedent for future higher density requests.”
The planning commission has also recommended denial.
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A second proposal scheduled to be considered Tuesday night would pave the way for a townhome development on about 18 acres near the Lawrenceville-area intersection of Ga. 20 and Russell Road.
The original proposal from developer Fieldstone Homes called for about 140 townhomes of at least 1,600 square feet.
The county planning commission, however, recommended approval of the necessary rezoning request only if the development was held to a maximum of 118 units, each with a minimum of 2,000 square feet of floor space.
“This portion of the Buford Drive corridor is characterized as a mix of low density housing,” commission documents said. “[But] a townhome development may be consistent with the development pattern of the area if developed with the attached conditions.”
The Board of Commissioners will meet at 7 p.m. Tuesday in the auditorium of the Gwinnett County Justice and Administration Center, 75 Langley Drive in Lawrenceville.
The meeting is also likely to feature protesters, who have been regular fixtures at each board meetings since Commissioner Tommy Hunter called U.S. Rep. John Lewis a "racist pig" on Facebook in January.
