Proposed Suwanee Residential Development Moves Forward

The Suwanee residential land tract that was the focal point of a controversial lawsuit is a step closer to hosting a residential development.

City of Suwanee planning and zoning officials have recommended that developers be allowed to apply for a Special Use Permit to build homes on the 36.3-acre tract on Moore Road between Settles Bridge Road and Meadowbrook Circle. This is in the 4000 block of Moore Road.

The permit would allow development of 44 single-family homes on the tract -- not the 61 that the developers had sought. Current zoning regulations allow for just seven homes to be built on the land. The full Suwanee City Council must approve the permit, and that could come as soon as the July 23 meeting.

A group calling itself Spartan 1 Investors LLC owns the land and applied for the development permit. The group appears connected to the former Bowen Family Homes company; the application with Suwanee lists a Sugarloaf Parkway address in Duluth, and applicant Carter Richardson lists a "bfhcompany" email address.

Also, Richardson's letter to Suwanee officials was on letterhead from Homesouth Communities LLC.

Spartan 1/Homesouth purchased the land from a group known as Settles Bridge Farm LLC. The latter group had sought to sell the land to Notre Dame Academy in Duluth in 2008, for a school development. But that sale fell through, and led to a lawsuit against the city that was concluded earlier in 2013.

However, Spartan 1 Investors was seeking to build 61 homes on the tract, through rezoning from R-140 to R-100. Suwanee's Special Use Permit recommends that the zoning remain at R-140.

Planning Director Josh Campbell noted that the developers have submitted a proposal for a 44-lot subdivision.

-- Do you want to see more homes developed in this area? Tell us in the comments below.

See also:

• Suwanee Land From Developer Lawsuit is Sold