With the recent inauguration of the nation’s 47th president, many people feel that is the office citizens should pay the most attention to. Even though that office holder is perhaps the most powerful individual in the world, he is focused on big picture issues that affect millions.
If you want someone to weigh in on property taxes, potholes in the streets or vandalism at the local parks, officials right here in Gwinnett County are the ones to turn to.
Peachtree Corners Magazine recently talked with Gwinnett County District 1 Commissioner Kirkland Carden about what the county can, and will, do for residents and how to make your concerns known.
Carden, a 20-year resident of Gwinnett County, graduated from Duluth High School in 2007, went to Georgia State University and still lives in Duluth.
“In fact, I live maybe a little more than two miles down the road from the house I grew up in,” he shared. “So, I’m still around. I’m raising my 3-year-old son in a community that I grew up in and that I have the opportunity to serve on the board of commissioners.”
Serving the community
Carden served on the Duluth City Council for a little more than two years and served on a number of different boards and authorities prior to that. In 2020, he was elected to the Gwinnett County Board of Commissioners and in November 2024 was re-elected to another four-year term.
“I’m thankful to have the opportunity again to serve on the county commission in a community that I’ve lived in for the last two decades,” he said. “I’ve seen it evolve before my eyes.”
Carden mentioned a few changes he helped bring about. One project he is most proud of is the addition of warming shelters in the county.
“If you remember in 2019, we had unusually cold weather that winter. I noticed that a number of localities, cities and counties were providing warming shelters for the homeless and housing-insecure populations in their community, but Gwinnett County was not offering that service at that time,” he said. “That was something I worked to lobby the county commission to see if they would offer warming shelters for folks who need it. Let’s be real, Gwinnett County has one of the largest homeless populations in the state of Georgia.”
Homelessness and substandard housing
Despite the perception that many parts of the county, especially in his district, have a higher standard of living, Carden is willing to acknowledge and help the less fortunate.
“In the Department of Community Affairs’ annual list of communities with the largest homeless population, Gwinnett County ranks somewhere in the top five or top three in the state for any given year,” he said. “People have perceptions or stereotypes about where the homeless populations actually are in the state. Then you show them facts and numbers to show it’s actually closer than you think. The issue’s not down 85 or 75 or down by the airport or in rural Georgia.”
Through Carden’s efforts, the county now supports five warming locations for those seeking shelter in below freezing temperatures.
Another change he helped bring about is cracking down on substandard housing.
“In July of 2023, a new ordinance focusing on cracking down on slumlords came about,” he said. “It gives our code enforcement and county staff the legal authority to do internal inspections in multi-family or rental communities.”
Of course, the county has no problem with developers who build quality, multi-family products, but Carden pointed out that there are some who use the property as a cash cow and slap a band-aid and a coat of paint on it, ignoring major structural and functional issues.
The entire board voted to pass the law that improves the quality of life.
Planning for growth
At such a granular level, Carden pointed out that issues aren’t as divided by political party lines.
He pointed to the redevelopment of the old Gwinnett Place Mall as a decision that everyone agreed upon.
“When I was campaigning in 2019, I was preaching that the county needs to be more active in the redevelopment of the mall,” he said. “We shouldn’t just let it sit there and deteriorate.”
Carden and his fellow commissioners launched a number of different planning documents, bought different parts of the mall and laid the underground infrastructure to improve capacity for a future redevelopment.
“We have a global village concept that people can review online. We’re actually going to release the RFP (request for proposals) for private sector developers to begin to come with their visions for redevelopment of the mall,” he said.
“Gwinnett Place Mall was this activity center for many years. The goal is to redevelop the area to make it something more attractive, make it something that’s a value add for our community, something that will contribute to the county’s tax digest and something that will stand the test of time.”
An increase in housing demand
Those plans could be put to the test sooner than many may realize. As of July 2024, Gwinnett County officially has a population of more than one million people, Carden said.
“The county leadership over the years focused on the infrastructure like the water [and] roads, and then they focused on the job growth and retention,” he said. “They figured that housing would work itself out, so they had a hands-off approach to let the private sector build the homes.”
But now, with Gwinnett being one of, if not the fastest growing county in the state, housing has become a big problem.
“Market demand is three times greater than what we’re actually producing, which leads to the housing affordability problem because there are so few homes,” he said. “That means new families, new individuals coming to Gwinnett, get into bidding wars over the existing inventory, and they wildly inflate the cost of that home.”
To help alleviate that issue, the commission came up with a plan.
“In 2023, we established an affordable housing trust fund, and we took $18 million of ARPA money — leftover federal assistance from COVID — and put it in a separate account,” he said. “We worked with our planning staff to build parameters. The private sector can submit applications and, depending on how well the project scores and what needs they’re trying to address, the county will give them a subsidy to help offset the cost of development or purchasing land.”
Interaction with residents
One thing that Carden plans to improve upon during this term is interacting with constituents.
“If anyone has questions about the county, I’ll be happy to sit down with my staff and work to answer their questions or address their situations,” he said.
But he’d like to do even better. He’ll be planning periodic town hall meetings to allow residents to gather and discuss what they’d like to see in their community.
“Thankfully, I have a talent to hear people out, hear what they’ve got to say and hopefully nip some problems in the bud,” he said.
Crime rates within the county
Carden has sat in on some of the public forums looking at crime and safety and usage at Jones Bridge Park.
“When I took office in 2020, there was the COVID crime wave — an increase in property crime, violent crime such as homicide, murder, rape,” he said. “This was a situation not indicative to just Gwinnett. This was something we were seeing across the country.”
He reported that by the end of 2024, there was a 16% reduction in crime across the entire county.
“And as for District One specifically, [during COVID] we saw an increase in car break-ins and property crimes, but as a result of proactive police work, they’re up for an award this year,” he said.
Additionally, with the help of many jurisdictions inside and outside of the county, metro Atlanta police collaborated to bust up a crime ring that had been plaguing the area. Carden said that with that kind of team work and the use of technology, criminals will continue to be taken down in this area.
“By the numbers, you can see that this group of commissioners is taking public safety seriously, and we’re making steps in the right direction.”
District 1 Commissioner
Kirkland Carden
770-822-7001
Kirkland.Carden@gwinnettcounty.com
