No new Wal-Mart in Buford

BUFORD - The Gwinnett County Planning Commission has turned thumbs down to plans for a Wal-Mart and other stores off Hamilton Mill Road in Buford.

The panel voted unanimously to support rezoning only the front 600 feet of the road for commercial uses. The land would have been used to build a 208,000 square-foot building, which would have been surrounded by other commercial developments.

The move comes as good news to people who live around the tract. They say squeezing the shopping area in between them and an already overloaded intersection would have lowered home values and worsened traffic.

About 100 of them attended the planning board meeting at which the issued was discussed.

The County Commission is set to vote on the proposal Tuesday.