The Gwinnett County Board of Commissioners approved the County’s proposed Unified Development Ordinance (UDO) late Tuesday night. The vote was the culmination of work by Commissioners, County staff and stakeholders over the past 3 years.
The UDO consolidates all of Gwinnett County’s current zoning, subdivision and land use regulation into one document, while also making these regulations easier to read and understand. In formulating the UDO, the County has also made needed additions and improvements that:
1) account for changes in the County over the last several years and minimizes obstacles for future development;
2) address current inefficiencies or redundancies in the regulations; and
3) formalize the community’s vision for the future as express primarily by the 2030 Unified Plan.
The UDO was created in line with the County’s 2030 Unified Plan, and expresses County objectives driven by this Unified Plans to meet the needs of the community. The objectives conveyed by the UDO are:
- Maintain Economic Development and Fiscal Health
- Foster Redevelopment
- Maintain Mobility and Accessibility
- Provide a Variety of Housing Choices
- Keep Gwinnett a Preferred Place; and
- Create a better organized, user-friendly, and contemporary ordinance.
The UDO retired several outdated base zoning districts while creating seven new districts. In addition, it created three new Mixed-Use Districts, added new Design Guidelines and revised Architectural Design Standards, and improved the readibility of the regulations to increase user friendliness.
The Council has been engaged in all parts and phases of the UDO development process as part of the UDO Committee. In addition, Council staff and members have provided input to County Commissioners and staff on various occasions at several of our Advisory Committee meetings last year, and we met separately with Gwinnett Planning and Development Director Bryan Lackey to provide input as the UDO was being developed.
The Council supported the final draft of the UDO, and respectively voiced our support to the Gwinnett County Board of Commissioners. We commend the Board of Commissioners for voting to approve the UDO, and would like to thank the Commissioners, Mr. Lackey and his staff and other stakeholders for their work on the UDO over the past several years and the commitment to sustainable growth in Gwinnett County. The Council will continue to promote balanced and responsible growth in the Metro Atlanta region, and we look forward to continuing our partnership with Gwinnett County Commissioners and staff in the future.
To see the Executive Summary of the Gwinnett County UDO, clickHERE.
To see the Approved UDO*, click HERE.
*NOTE: The final version of the UDO has not yet been released by Gwinnett County government. The Council will send out an update with the final version of the UDO at a later date.
