Metro Atlanta's got mixed-use mania, with projects throughout the city and suburbs serving up live-work-play lifestyles to the masses. It's been happening for years, but the trend is starting to surge alongside the overall economy. Often the projects are heralded for their potential to bring a slice of walkability to otherwise suburban settings. Many of these mixed-use utopias have been proposed in Fulton County in cities like Sandy Springs, Alpharetta and Roswell, but a new proposal out near Grayson on Loganville Highway shows that mixed-use seems to have hit the mainstream like it's 2005 or something. David Bowen hopes to bring more than half-a-million square feet of retail space and more than 600 homes out to the far reaches of Gwinnett County. Not everyone is happy about it. And to express their discontent, they're invoking the "A" word ...

The Gwinnett Daily Post reports that at a Planning Commission meeting last week, more than 150 residents came to voice concern over a development that would consume 345.9 acres. One frustrated neighbor predictably bemoaned all the potential traffic the development could bring, saying, "If I wanted to live in that kind of jungle, I'd live in Suwanee or Atlanta" — which was coincidentally the first time anyone has ever mentioned Suwanee and Atlanta in the same sentence when discussing cities. Probably. Others in attendance simply feared the proposal represented gross overbuilding, and that the shopping component would be largely vacant and a magnet for kids up to no good.

Commissioners recommended that all the homes be approved, but that only one-fifth of the retail be constructed. May 5 will bring the commission's final decision, which could shape growth patterns of the area, either bolstering or banishing density in the vicinity. If approval is granted for the full project, the developer expects it to take a decade to come to fruition.

· Residents, developer face off at public forum on proposed Loganville Highway development [Gwinnett Daily Post]

· Behold The 21-Acre 'Sandy Springs Gateway' Project [Curbed Atlanta]

· Alpharetta Wants to Link New Walkable District to Avalon [Curbed Atlanta]

· 'Riverwalk Village' Proposal Aims for Amsterdam in Roswell [Curbed Atlanta]