City Council voted 4-0 to rezone 19.9 acres off Georgia 316 for a 158,000-square-foot Costco with 854 parking spaces and 32 gas pumps. What comes next.

Lawrenceville has approved a Costco warehouse on Georgia 316. The City Council voted 4-0 on Sept. 28 to rezone about 19.9 acres for a 158,000-square-foot store with a gas station.

Mayor David Still, Mayor Pro Tem Randy Travis and council members Victoria Jones and Bryant Harris voted yes, according to the minutes of the Sept. 28 meeting, which the council adopted Oct. 26. No one spoke for or against the plan at the public hearing, the minutes show.

Updated Nov. 8: the council adopted the Sept. 28 minutes on Oct. 26. No Costco site plan or Lightnin Drive item has been on a council agenda since; the next meetings are Tuesday, Nov. 17.

What was approved

The site sits on the south side of Georgia 316 between Park Access Drive and Lightnin Drive, near Buford Drive. Its address of record is 2555 University Parkway. The city’s staff report in the council packet sets out the plan:

  • a warehouse of about 158,000 square feet
  • a gas station with 32 fueling positions
  • up to 854 parking spaces
  • three driveways: one on Park Access Drive and two on Lightnin Drive, including a realigned and extended stretch of Lightnin Drive to the north
  • a maximum building height of 32 feet

The land was split between light manufacturing and general business zoning. The vote put all of it in the general business district, case RZC2026-00003.

The land is publicly owned. The staff report lists the City of Lawrenceville as the owner. Costco’s letter of intent, filed July 2, says the five parcels belong to the Downtown Development Authority of Lawrenceville.

What Costco was allowed to do differently

The council granted three variances with the rezoning, according to the conditions in the packet:

  • Metal walls. City design rules allow metal only as an accent. Costco may use architectural metal panels as the main exterior material.
  • Bigger signs. The limit for a building this size is 400 square feet of wall signs. Costco may have up to 853 square feet, and in return it will put up no ground signs.
  • Stream buffer. The store may disturb part of the 50-foot undisturbed stream buffer and the extra 25-foot setback, subject to state approval.

City staff called the stream buffer variances “less compelling” than the other two. Staff recommended them only with “enhanced stormwater management and mitigation measures” and all state permits in place.

Other conditions ban tents, banners, balloons, sign twirlers and parking lot sales. Graffiti must be removed within 72 hours.

The traffic

The staff report estimates the store will bring 6,988 trips a day, counting each car in and each car out. That is under the 10,000-trip mark that would have triggered a regional review by the Atlanta Regional Commission, the report said.

Costco’s traffic study looked at 13 intersections, according to the Planning Commission’s Sept. 8 minutes. They include Buford Drive, Collins Hill Road, Hurricane Shoals Road and every site driveway. Most of the new traffic would use Georgia 316 and Buford Drive, with less on Collins Hill Road and Hurricane Shoals Road.

Every intersection stayed at level of service A to D “with proposed mitigation,” the minutes said. Level of service grades traffic flow from A, free-flowing, to F, gridlock. The minutes do not list what that mitigation is.

Buford Drive near the site carries about 42,300 vehicles a day and Hurricane Shoals Road about 14,100, according to Costco’s letter of intent.

The gas station will open during store hours, plus one hour before and one hour after, Costco told the Planning Commission. The commission recommended approval 4-0 on Sept. 8.

What it means for you

  • No opening date yet. The city’s record does not give one. Costco still needs final site, building and landscape plans approved by the city’s planning director.
  • Watch Lightnin Drive and Park Access Drive. These are the store’s three entrances. Expect construction there first.
  • Road work notices will appear on our road construction and closures page.
  • Other zoning cases are tracked on our building permits and zoning page.

Also approved Sept. 28

The council also approved:

  • 40 townhomes on about 6.61 acres at 0 Sugarloaf Parkway, annexed into the city from unincorporated Gwinnett County, with chain-link fencing banned
  • a contract of up to $632,725.50 with Ohmshiv Construction for the Downtown Lawrenceville Streetscape Project
  • an amended speed camera agreement with Blue Line Solutions
  • an agreement with Gwinnett County allowing police and firefighting exercises on city-owned property