High-profile zoning cases return at year-end

By Mathew C. Quinn
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 12/05/04

The chickens are coming home to roost.

Just when the outgoing county commissioners might have hoped to glide into the holidays and slip out of office quietly, they face a crunch of highly controversial, resurrected zoning cases.

returned for decisions in the next 10 days, one last lick at the outgoing commissioners.

"I guess I shouldn't be surprised," said Commissioner John Dunn with resignation. "But there it is."

Among the cases that might have been forgotten or left for newly elected commissioners to decide are:

• A mixed-use development on U.S. 78 near Snellville that at one time was shaping up as a test case on whether local communities can block developments over the potential for public school overcrowding.

• A proposed nine-acre subdivision in the Brookwood school district that was cited in the firing of a Planning Commission member for allegedly aiding neighborhood opponents improperly.

•  A proposed shopping center and subdivision near Suwanee which was so heavily litigated that a stay-at-home mom who opposed the project had her e-mails subpoenaed and was grilled for seven hours by the developer's attorneys.

In all three cases, developers sued the county after the County Commission denied their rezoning applications. The applications are now being reconsidered under consent orders from Gwinnett Superior Court intended to head off potentially lengthy and expensive lawsuits.

One application is for a mixed-used development planned by the Morsberger Group in Snellville. In September, the commission agreed to drop its argument that a development could be blocked solely because of the impact on school enrollment.

They agreed to rehear the case, but initially planned to delay the vote until January, after new commissioners are seated. Then there was a change of heart when Commission Chairman Wayne Hill proposed a hearing date of Wednesday instead.

"Wayne said it's our loose end and we need to take care of it," said Commissioner Marcia Neaton, who leaves office in January along with Dunn and Hill.

James Corcoran, vice president of the Morsberger Group, which has pressed to develop the 40-acre site for more than a year, said the company is "cautiously optimistic" the project will finally be approved.

Another hot-button zoning case, involving a small but controversial subdivision in the Brookwood school district, has also followed its own tortured path.

For more than a year, neighborhood activists have been fighting developer James Galiah's plans to build 31 homes on a nine-acre wooded acres off Arnold Road. Too much density for their leafy neighborhood, they said. The commission voted 5-0 to deny rezoning, but Galiah sued.

Dunn cited the case, among others, when he fired Planning Commissioner M.B. Strickland last year for improperly aiding homeowner groups and plotting against him politically. Strickland sued and won reinstatement, but when her term expired, Dunn picked a replacement.

Not much was heard about the case until last month, when the commission agreed to rehear it.

More than a dozen neighbors showed up at the commission on a rainy night two days before Thanksgiving for what was supposed to be the climactic vote. But the commission put off a vote until an afternoon meeting Dec. 14. Afternoon meetings are not popular with neighborhood activities because they are difficult for working people to attend.

Commissioners are expected to revisit another tangled case during an evening meeting on Dec. 14.

The Commission voted last year to deny rezoning for a shopping center and subdivision at the corner of Buford Highway and Suwanee Creek Road, prompting a lawsuit from MQ Developments.

Attorneys for the developer subpoenaed neighborhood opponent Mary Rogelstad for e-mails, phone records, phone messages and notes pertaining to the proposed project. They came up with an e-mail the stay-at-home mom received from Neaton, who voted against the project, stating Rogelstad deserved a "pat on the back and a beer" for speaking out.

Rogelstad sat for a 7 1/2-hour deposition with lawyers for Andersen, Tate, Mahaffey & McGarity. Neaton's e-mails from her home computer were also subpoenaed.

But before the case could come to trial, the commission agreed to reconsider. Neaton said she's still angry over what she regarded as heavy-handed tactics of intimidation by the lawyers.

"I wanted this little puppy to go to court," Neaton said.

"We did the right thing."

Instead, Neaton gets to hear the case again Dec. 14. Rogelstad plans to speak out again. It is the commission's last scheduled public meeting of the year.

"It's going to be siege day," Dunn predicted.