Developer Scraps 112-Home Cumming Project, Withdraws Annexation Request

A developer withdrew an annexation request and abandoned plans to build 112 homes on a 137-acre parcel west of Cumming, capping months of public opposition over traffic, overdevelopment, and environmental damage to the Big Creek watershed.

The property at 1381 Kelly Mill Road, roughly 2 miles west of Cumming, includes a pond, wetlands, and forests. Traton had initially proposed a 121-lot subdivision at a density of about 0.88 units per acre, a plan that drew sharp criticism at an Oct. 28 Planning Commission meeting. The developer revised the proposal down to 90 lots before the Forsyth County Commission voted at its Feb. 5 meeting to approve rezoning the land from agricultural to residential use, with a mandatory conservation easement permanently protecting all common areas and open space outside the lots.

Commissioner Todd Levent said the outcome, a density of 0.65 units per acre paired with binding environmental protections, was unlike anything he had seen come before the board. "It's unheard of," Levent said. "To me, this is the only one I have ever seen." He attributed the lower density and conservation conditions to sustained conversations between his office, the developer, and neighboring residents, noting those protections matter given what he called rampant growth and diminishing quantities of undisturbed land in the county.

Not everyone was satisfied. Bob Slaughter, founder of Smart Growth Forsyth County, a nonprofit focused on environmentally responsible and well-planned development, told commissioners he had worried from the start that the project would generate significant impervious surfaces, reducing water quality in the Big Creek watershed and harming the habitats that depend on it. Madelyn Davis, another resident who spoke against the proposal, framed the issue in starker personal terms.

"We may not be calling Forsyth home for much longer if it continues at this pace," Davis said. "I do not want to sit with my kids in traffic for 30 minutes trying to get to their day care."

The annexation withdrawal and the abandonment of the 112-home plan leave the project's precise trajectory unresolved. The Feb. 5 rezoning approval, the revised 90-lot plan, and the separately reported withdrawal of a 112-home annexation request represent distinct procedural actions whose exact chronological relationship remains unclear. What is documented is that the commission's approval came with conditions neighbors had demanded for months, and that a larger version of the project will not move forward.