Petition Launched to Oppose 50-Unit Personal Care Facility

A Hamilton Mill homeowner has launched an online petition in hopes of stopping a proposed rezoning for property located at 3751 Jim Moore Road in Dacula. Applicant Jeff Sutton has filed a request to have his .

Debbie Hogan’s Change.org petition has more than 90 signatures to date. Hogan said she hopes to obtain at least 100 signatures and plans to email the petition letter along with the signatures to the planning commission members and the Gwinnett County Board of Commissioners later this week.

In the petition letter, Hogan listed her reasons for opposing the proposed rezoning which include her concern that the case could set a precedent for other property owners in the area.

“Hamilton Mill is a residential community and is not zoned O-I (office-institution),” Hogan wrote in the online petition. “Allowing a 50-unit personal care facility into our community … could enable other large property owners a chance to rezone within our Hamilton Mill community.”

Hamilton Mill resident Elane Tullis shares Hogan’s concerns.

“I have to respect the man’s right to do what he wants to do with his property as long as it is within existing zoning guidelines,” Tullis said. “My primary concern is about the rezoning.”

If the parcel is rezoned, Tullis worries the owners of other nearby properties might also seek to have their properties rezoned from existing residential classifications.

“A lot of things could happen,” she said. “I just don’t feel that type of zoning is appropriate in a residential area.”

With all the vacant and still undeveloped property in the area, Tullis feels there are more appropriate places to build what she describes as a small hospital.

“There’s a lot of good places for development and growth around here,” she explained. “It doesn’t have to be right in the middle of a neighborhood.

Tullis also expressed concern about the possibility of future downzoning should the rezoning request be approved.

“One thing I have learned from the years I’ve lived in Gwinnett is that when things are rezoned, what is originally proposed to be built when the commissioners approve it, goes by the wayside,” she said. “If this is rezoned to O-I and something happens and he doesn’t put a residential care facility there, then what?”

Tullis and other Hamilton Mill area residents . The 33-acre parcel,  was proposed as an upscale shopping center. The property later went into foreclosure and the new owners have requested a change in zoning conditions to remove prohibitions against 24-hour sales, automotive parts stores, group and congregate personal care homes, full and self-service automotive car washes, drive-in and drive-through restaurants and emission inspection stations.

That case, according to Gwinnett County Planning Commission Chairman Chuck Warbington, will be heard in August. The case was originally scheduled to go before the planning commission in July, but is being moved to August at the request of the applicant.

For now, Tullis, Hogan and other Hamilton Mill area residents remain focused on the Jim Moore Road personal care facility case.

“If the rezoning goes in and that one little piece of property becomes office-institutional, we’re just opening up a can of worms for this whole little pocket down here off of Braselton Highway when there is a ton of property sitting up there vacant,” Tullis said. “Let’s build where we’ve already plowed down all the trees and started construction.”

The Gwinnett County Planning Commission hearing for the rezoning application (case number RZC2012-00011) and special use permit request (case number SUP2012-00042) is scheduled for July 3.

To sign the online petition opposing the rezoning, visit the petition page on Change.org. Community members may also offer feedback by contacting members of the Gwinnett County Planning Commission. Dacula, which is part of Gwinnett County District 3, is represented on the planning commission by Chuck Warbington (chuck@gwinnettvillage.com) and Teresa Cantrell (Teresa.Cantrell@gwinnettcounty.com). Other members of the planning commission are Lynn Thorndyke (Lynn.Thorndyke@gwinnettcounty.com), John Winters (John.Winters@gwinnettcounty.com), Matt Houser (Matt.Houser@gwinnettcounty.com), Omar Zaman (Omar.Zaman@gwinnettcounty.com), Clint Dixon (Clint.Dixon@gwinnettcounty.com), Tommy Hunter (Tommy.Hunter@gwinnettcounty.com) and Don Shillington (Don.Shillington@gwinnettcounty.com).

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