Snellville council approves 70-home Lenore Church Road development with conditions

On May 12, 2025, the Snellville Mayor and Council approved RZ 25-03 and LUP 25-01, permitting a single-family residential development by Revive Land Group LLC at 2587 and 2597 Lenore Church Road. The approved plan covers a 15.149-acre site and calls for 28 single-family detached homes and 42 single-family attached townhomes (70 units total), a gross density the city records as about 4.62 units per acre.

The council’s action reads as a zoning change from RS-30 (single-family residential) to RX (mixed residential) and an amendment to the Snellville 2045 future land use map from residential low density to residential medium density. The ordinance approvals associated with the vote were listed as O-2025-08 (rezoning) and O-2025-07 (land-use plan). The council approved the project with a set of conditions that the planning director described as changes made after public comment and technical review.

Why it matters: The project redraws the future land-use designation and changes allowable housing types on the site. Council members and staff emphasized screening, tree protection, stormwater setbacks and street geometry to reduce traffic and maintenance impacts on neighboring properties.

Key conditions placed on the approval include: preservation of additional green-space pockets in the northwest and southwest corners except for necessary grading/utilities; a 10- to 20-foot planted landscape strip with evergreen screening between the stormwater pond and Lenore Church Road; protection measures for private trees identified in the tree survey and replacement plantings where the 15-foot external buffer is disturbed (staggered 12-foot-tall, 4-inch-caliper trees); a minimum street-radius alignment shown on the concept plan (50.5 feet) to meet Gwinnett County fire code; a restriction preventing homeowners from adding bedrooms or bathrooms after construction without city (and where applicable county) permits; installation of a low-maintenance fence on properties that abut the 15-foot planted buffer to prevent encroachment; and no-parking zones on the interior radii at the northwest and southwest corners of the development as approved by the director of planning and development.

Council member Linsky recused from the consideration and left the room because the proposed development abuts his property. The motion to approve (including the variance from UDO section 201-1.6 d(1) regarding driveway frontage) carried by voice vote: 4 in favor, none opposed; 1 recusal. The council explicitly tied the variance request to the ordinance language that accompanied the rezoning application.

The planning director said the applicant adjusted the detention-pond edge, removed two hammerhead dead-end turnarounds to improve service vehicle movement, and tightened certain corners while adding no-parking restrictions to avoid creating backup problems. The council recorded a requirement that landscaping disturbed during construction be replanted and that specimen/private trees identified in the required tree survey be protected during development.

The applicant and property owners listed in the application are Revive Land Group LLC (applicant), Chris Duzik (property owner), and the Soren S. Thomas Living Trust (property owner). The planning director, city staff and council said the final engineering and permitting must comply with Gwinnett County fire code and other applicable standards before occupancy.

Council members and staff did not identify a construction start date at the meeting. The city will require permits, inspections and the tree-protection measures described in the conditions before issuing final approvals.