Under the Hood Sponsored section ►►PAGE 22
Chamber Afterhours
Business people network and nosh ►►PAGE 25
Voodoo-licious funky tunes
Paula Deen on comeback
Local band gains momentum ►►PAGE 32
Put some south in your mouth ►►PAGE 24
August 21, 2014 | northfulton.com | 73,500 circulation Revue & News, Johns Creek Herald, Milton Herald & Forsyth Herald combined | 50¢ | Volume 18, No. 33
‘Jilted’ City Council defers townhomes Abbotts Bridge property remains in zoning limbo By HATCHER HURD hatcher@northfulton.com
HATCHER HURD/STAF
JCAC art show pure ‘Serendipity’ Johns Creek Arts Guild President Cynthia Wicker, left, and Johns Creek Arts Center Executive Director Gail Hisle are excited about a new art show for the center, Summer Serendipity. Between them hangs the entry, “New England Harbour,” done in oil by Christopher Sherry, priced $1,200. See story, Page 14.
JOHNS CREEK Ga. – The Johns Creek City Council felt like the date stood up on Saturday night, when the developer didn’t show and sent only his lawyer instead. The Aug. 18 rezoning hearing for 50 townhouses on Abbotts Bridge Road just west of Jones Bridge Road was supposed to be a compromise settlement of a lawsuit filed by developer Charlie Roberts. Last September, the City Council denied a petition to develop the property with 74 apartment units with about 15,000 square feet of retail/ commercial space. The property has been the subject of a lawsuit, and this plan had been brought by Roberts and JEH homes as a
compromise. The lawsuit in Fulton County Superior Court has been placed in abeyance to see if this plan would ZAPROWSKI be acceptable to both parties. Attorney Josh Belinfante was there to represent the plaintiffs, but he did not have much authority to negotiate any of the details of the plan, and there were several items brought up by the community. Not the least of these was a request brought on the residents’ behalf by David Kornbluh, president of the Johns Creek Community Association, that the townhouses be limited to 35 units. He reasoned that the property is on the cusp of two city character areas. One
See JILTED, Page 6
Tech Park residential zoning rejected By HATCHER HURD hatcher@northfulton.com
This is what Johns Creek Technology Park hoped to build on McGinnis Ferry Road, but was denied by the City Council.
JOHNS CREEK, Ga. – The Johns Creek City Council loved Johns Creek Technology Park’s plan for 19.4 acres on McGinnis Ferry Road just east of Medlock Bridge Road, but it wants to preserve its commercially zoned property more. That is why it denied in a 5-2 vote (Councilmembers Kelly Stewart and Brad Raffensperger dissenting) a plan to put 53 single-family lots on the property. Tech Park attorney Nathan “Pete” Hendricks
noted the property at the 6900 block of McGinnis Ferry is fronted on the other side by residential, and all of the surrounding property on the site has been developed commercially. “But this site is bisected by a creek that flows year round. It has been zoned commercially since 1983 and has not been marketed,” Hendricks said. As late as 2008, Tech Park spent $1.6 million to make the property “pad ready” for development, and it has still had no buyers.
See REJECTED, Page 5