By Elliott Brack
Editor and Publisher, GwinnettForum
OCT. 10, 2025 | All of a sudden, there’s a lot of contention and squabbling within the City of Norcross, primarily brought on by the antics of its city council.
With two seats open in this November’s election, it may be an unsettling time for two councilmen to seek re-election.
A recent city action is already in place, the erection of three dining parklets built by the city in front of three restaurants on Jones Street. While some city residents like these outdoor eating areas, others were appalled at their being built on heavily-traveled Jones Street.
The restaurants did not propose them, and once built, the city had the gall to require the restaurants to sign a contract and charge these three restaurants to use them! So far, we have seen few people dining in these eye sores.
Then the city began charging other South Peachtree eateries for their tables on the sidewalk, for which they had never been charged before.
A new development came up in City Council Monday night. The city has its regular meeting on the first Monday in each month, at which time it can vote on all matters, including charges to its ordinances. Then on the third Monday, the city has a work session, where they can discuss issues, but no binding voting is allowed until the next regular meeting on the first Monday.
The wording in the ordinance reads:
Norcross rules for meeting 2-36(b)(2): Regular Mayor and Council meeting. The final meeting of the cycle is the regular Mayor and Council meeting which is held in the courtroom downstairs at City Hall at 7:00 p.m. on the first Monday of each month. This meeting is the only meeting (other than a special called meeting) that official actions are taken.
Monday some Council members had on the agenda a change in the city ordinance. The change would allow bringing new issues to this work session, but also would also allow voting on that issue on the same night. That would mean that there would be no public input between the proposed idea and voting on it at the same time.
This certainly smacks of less transparency by the council, and absolutely no prior public knowledge of what the council would bring up at the work session! It essentially kills open government, and raises vital concerns of what the ordinary citizen would think of its council.
It would be an unwise change in local ordinances, with no way the ordinary citizen can have input with councilmen before the meeting since any new suggestion had never been heard before.
In another matter, for years, the Norcross council has often discussed ways to provide more public parking for its businesses, particularly at night when its eight downtown restaurants are busy. Read Lynn Ward’s letter in today’s GwinnettForum.
The city wants to open parts of two lots on Wingo Street for parking. While at the same time, the city is building a new police station at the former library site on Buford Highway. Removing the police car parking from the City Hall will allow 18 more spaces for those visiting downtown Norcross to park.
You might wonder how so many more parking places Wingo Street would provide, when the City Hall, without police cars, would provide lots of more parking spaces.
Norcross likes to describe itself as “a place to imagine.” The council is going overboard in imagining these days.
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