The mayor of the City of Brooklet is suing the city.
Nikky Gwinnett, mayor of Brooklet and owner of G3 Ventures LLC, is suing the City of Brooklet over a zoning matter.
The suit, filed in Bulloch County Superior Court, seeks a ‘direct review de novo’ with regard to a zoning decision, which is allowable under state law.
Background
Gwinnett has been at odds with the city since it was discovered he was operating a business without a business license. A license could not be issued to G3 Ventures because the property on Cromley Road is zoned R-1 and is not suitable for a cabinet shop.
R-1 under Brooklet’s Code of Ordinances is listed as ‘single-family residential district,’ which is defined as property “to provide single-family residential areas with minimum lot sizes of 22,000 square feet, said areas being protected from the depreciating effects of small lot development and excessive density and from the encroachment of those uses which are incompatible to a desirable residential environment.”
In March 2024, then-city attorney Hugh Hunter sent Gwinnett a letter:
“You have been adamant that you believe you have the right to continue to use this property as a cabinet shop based upon several reasons that you believe to be legally correct. One of those reasons is that you believe you have some sort of vested right to continue to utilize the property that is zoned R-1 because it was historically used as a cabinet shop. We have previously verbally requested that you present evidence of this historical use to demonstrate that the use of this property as a cabinet shop would qualify as a nonconforming use under the city’s zoning ordinance. To date, I am not aware of any such evidence having been presented.”
Gwinnett also requested the property be rezoned from R-1 to C-2, a request which was denied because a cabinet shop is not permitted under C-2.
C-2 under Brooklet’s Code of Ordinances is listed as ‘general commercial district’ for “those business activities which are larger users of space than commercial uses serving the central commercial district and to provide for those business activities which cater to the needs of individual neighborhoods, and highway business areas.”
Under Brooklet’s zoning ordinance, a cabinet shop must operate in either I-1 (light industrial) or I-2 (heavy industrial) areas.
In March of 2024, Gwinnett was given sixty days to cease violating the city’s zoning ordinance, though Gwinnett continued to seek rezoning to C-2.
On April 9, 2024, the Brooklet Planning and Zoning Commission unanimously voted in opposition to the application and recommended denial to the Brooklet City Council. The city council denied the application on August 15, 2024 in a 3-2 vote.
G3 Ventures LLC
According to the Georgia Secretary of State, G3 Ventures LLC was incorporated in February 2021. Legal documents list Sandra Gwinnett as the registered agent for the business as of 2022 and the Gwinnett’s home address, another property on Cromley Road, is listed as the principal office address.
G3 Ventures, LLC is the listed property owner of the parcel for the cabinet shop, however, the property was listed in other names between 2016 and 2021.
2006 – Sold to Nuvu Properties LLC & True Vision Inc.
(Nuvu Properties LLC was a foreign entity out of Texas registered to James R. Gwinnett)
(True Vision Inc was registered to Sandra Gwinnett)
2016 – Sold by Nuvu Properties LLC & True Vision Inc. to Betsy Gwinnett
(True Vision is administratively dissolved by SOS in August 2016)
2021 – Transferred from Betsy Gwinnett to Nuvu Properties LLC & Sandra J Gwinnett
In 2018, Nicky Gwinnett was listed as the authorized signer for Nuvu Properties LLC with the GA SOS
In 2020, Betsy Gwinnett was listed as the authorized signer for Nuvu Properties LLC with the GA SOS. She is the last listed authorized signer for the business filings with the state before the business revocation.
2021 – Transferred from Nuvu Properties & Sandra J Gwinnett to G3 Ventures LLC on April 23, 2021 – 60 days after the incorporation of G3 Ventures, LLC.
Gwinnett’s previous cabinet business, Kitchen Craft Cabinets, Inc., operated at 407 North Cromley Road for years, but records show the business was administratively dissolved by the state in August 2017.
It is unclear from documents provided in previous open records requests or court filings which cabinet business and under which legal business name Gwinnett operated on Cromley Road from 2017 to 2021.
Lawsuit
In documents filed in Superior Court, Gwinnett’s legal counsel states that Gwinnett sough to have the parcel rezoned from R-1 to C-2 commercial so he could “continue to exercise his right to operate a commercial cabinetry business, as had been historically and continuously done with the parcel before zoning classifications were enacted in the City of Brooklet.” Neighboring landowners, the filing says, have either consent to use of the parcel for commercial cabinetry business or have not shown an objection.
The filing seeks superior court intervention to stop adverse and negative impacts caused by the denial of the request for rezone, citing an inability to fully enjoy the use of the property.
G3 Venture LLC’s lawsuit contends that city council’s decision was ‘arbitrary’ and violates Gwinnett’s rights as a landowner. It also claims that the city’s denial of the rezone ‘manifestly abused their rezoning power…amounting to a taking of Petitioner’s property rights without just and adequate compensation…”
“The existing classification …is arbitrary, capricious, without rational basis, unsupported by any evidence, and constitutes an abuse of discretion that unreasonably restricts the parcel’s development.”
Citing a lack of adverse impact, ‘no adverse economic impact on property values,’ no ‘significant water, traffic or density problems’ for the City, and no need for utility, road up grades, or site improvements, the suit seeks an injunction on the city of Brooklet with regard to enforcement of the zoning ordinance.
According to court records, Mayor Pro Tem Rebecca Kelly and City Manager Carter Crawford were to be served with the suit.
It remains pending, awaiting further action.
