East Cobb Zoning & Development Archives

Revised Holly Springs Road senior living proposal reduces number of units

January 31, 2019 2:27 PM by Wendy Parker

Holly Springs Road senior living proposal

An initial look at the Cobb zoning calendar for February shows a significant revision to a proposed senior living development on Holly Springs Road that was held by county commissioners in December.

Loyd Development Services had sought zoning for a 16-unit single family subdivision for seniors 55 and older on 4.3 acres near the Davis Road roundabout, but nearby residents complained about traffic and density concerns.

Commissioner JoAnn Birrell asked the applicant to consider an R-15 residential zoning instead of RSL (residential senior living) to get under the Cobb zoning staff’s recommendation of 2.5 units an acre.

A stipulation letter filed with Cobb zoning office on Jan. 22 does more than that in reducing the number of units from 16 to 10.

Those 10 units would come to 2.32 units an acre, and Loyd has revised the application to seek R-15 rezoning.

Garvis Sams, an attorney for Loyd, indicated in his letter the developer is continuing to meet with residents in adjoining neighborhoods.

Part of the new site plan is a 20-foot buffer between the Loyd development and homes on Intrepid Close, an adjacent street.

Here’s the full letter, with additional stipulations and the revised site plan.

The Cobb Planning Commission meets next Tuesday, but this case doesn’t have to go back before that board and will be heard by Cobb commissioners on Feb. 19.

Here’s Tuesday’s full agenda. Individual case files can be retrieved at the Cobb zoning office website. (The county website is being overhauled and for now this is how zoning cases are being organized.)

A couple of East Cobb cases to note: The zoning staff is recommending denial of an application by Mohammed Vasigh to rezone 3.4 acres on Paper Mill Road at Gateside Place from low-density residential to R-15. Currently, one home is located there, and the applicant wants to build a 7-home subdivision.

There is R-15 zoning in the Gateside neighborhood, but the land up for consideration is in the low-density category on the Cobb future land use map. Vasigh also has hired Sams in a case that has been continued.

Something from the December zoning hearing that also was delayed is a proposed sports stadium at the Post Oak Tritt Road campus of Mt. Bethel Christian Academy that has drawn community opposition.

There’s nothing new in the case files on that and we’ll update that story when we get more. The Mt. Bethel proposal also will be heard on Feb. 19 since it’s in the “Other Business” category that doesn’t go before the planning board.

The Planning Commission meeting starts at 9 a.m. Tuesday in the 2nd floor meeting room of the Cobb government building at 100 Cherokee St. near the Marietta Square.

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Cobb economic incentive proposals delayed by commissioners

January 23, 2019 6:49 PMJanuary 23, 2019 5:27 PM by Wendy Parker

After adopting several economic incentive policies last year to spur business growth and relocation, Cobb commissioners have put on hold their approval of several proposals stemming from those changes.

Four of the five proposals, totaling more than $400,000 in county incentives, were withdrawn at Tuesday’s Cobb of Commissioners meeting because they are in District 2 and commissioner Bob Ott was absent.

But after a sometimes pointed discussion, commissioners also agreed to withhold the other incentive package on the agenda, for a planned office building in District 3 in northeast Cobb.

Last February, commissioners implemented the Special Economic Impact Program, which reduces or waives certain fees for companies that meet specific criteria for moving to or expanding in Cobb.

The companies must be in the financial, insurance and professional services sectors (including legal and accounting), as well as transportation, manufacturing and emerging technologies industries.

They also must add at least 150 jobs, invest $30 million or more in the county and pay average salaries at least 1.25 times the county average, as determined by the Georgia Department of Labor.

Qualifying companies also must agree to invest in Cobb for a minimum of 10 years or the incentives are revoked.

District 3 commissioner JoAnn Birrell and Chairman Mike Boyce were strongly in favor of a county incentive package totaling nearly $125,000 for Edison Chastain Office, LLC, which wants to build a 152,000-square-foot office building on Chastain Meadows Parkway near Bells Ferry Road.

“I think this is a good fit for this program,” Birrell said.

The incentives for Edison Chastain would cap development permit fees (proposed incentive agreement here). According to the Cobb Community Development Agency, Edison Chastain would invest $35 million and create 150 jobs once the building opens.

But commissioner Lisa Cupid of South Cobb questioned the wisdom of allowing breaks on fees for companies when the county has had major budget problems in recent years.

Community development officials estimate the break-even point for the Chastain Meadows incentives would be in 2022.

“I have grave concerns that five [economic incentive proposals] are coming up at one time,” she said, “when it might take several years to recoup [the incentive amounts]. At the same time, we’re struggling year-to-year to provide core services.”

Birrell responded that the facility eyed by Chastain Meadows was initially slated to be a warehouse. “Now it’s an office building. It’s eligible and it meets the requirements,” she said.

Boyce said such incentives will help the county enrich its tax digest, which is the best way to meet increasing service needs.

“Getting the resources depends on getting those companies to come here,” he said. “The [tax] millage rate brings in a certain amount, but [a growing] tax digest brings in even more.”

Cupid asked if the county was “doing things in a healthy way,” then tried answering her own question by saying that “I don’t see it at all.”

Replied Birrell: “If [qualifying companies] are not here, we’re not going to get the revenue at all.”

She agreed to withdraw the Edison Chastain proposal and asked interim community development director Michael Hughes for background information on the incentive program.

*Floor & Decor wants to relocate its HQ to a near-vacant building at Wildwood.*

Two of the four incentive proposals previously withdrawn are in Windy Ridge Parkway area near East Cobb:

Floor & Decor, which wants to relocate its headquarters from Smyrna with plans to add 420 jobs, is seeking $38,750 in savings in development permit fees (previous ECN story here);
Bio IQ, a healthcare IT firm, is pledging to add 500 jobs over 10 years in relocating its national headquarters from California, and is seeking $85,830 in incentives with caps on business license and development fees (previous ECN story here).

Also seeking incentives are Home Depot ($213,750) for expansion in and around its headquarters in the Cumberland area, and construction firm Brasfield & Gorrie ($90,798) for renovating its new headquarters near SunTrust Park.

The county incentives are unrelated to tax abatements that the companies have sought with the Development Authority of Cobb County.

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Mapping the future of the Johnson Ferry-Shallowford community

January 21, 2019 4:34 PM by Wendy Parker

Johnson Ferry-Shallowford community

With all kinds of maps abounding all around them—for land use, stormwater management, traffic and more—a few dozen citizens from the Johnson Ferry-Shallowford community turned out last week to continue efforts at developing a master plan.

After some input meetings last spring, Cobb County officials decided to come back this winter to solicit more feedback. At the first of those meetings, at the Chestnut Ridge Christian Church, commissioner Bob Ott explained how the “JOSH” master plan process—short for Johnson Ferry-Shallowford—is similar to those that have taken place previously and that have involved his constituents.

“Instead of consultants, we have community meetings and you help design the plan that you want,” he said.

That’s what has happened in the Powers Ferry Corridor, and with “urban design” guidelines on Johnson Ferry Road between Roswell and Lower Roswell elsewhere in East Cobb.

The high-density and mixed-use development that’s accelerating along Powers Ferry, or in the case of the Johnson Ferry Urban Design plan, the use of language, have concerned some in the JOSH area about what may be in store for where they live.

Bob Ott, JOSH — *Commissioner Bob Ott said a master plan “isn’t perfect but it’s better than not having a master plan.” (ECN photos by Wendy Parker)*

It’s a community with overwhelmingly single family residential homes, a population that’s older and a higher median income average than the rest of Cobb County.

It’s also new territory for Ott, whose District 2 was redrawn in 2016 to include JOSH. He referenced another master plan in his district that is similar to what he’s seeing for JOSH.

The Vinings Vision MasterPlan was developed out of an interest in preserving the feel of an older community surrounded by high-scale commercial growth in the Cumberland area.

The Vinings plan, Ott said, was deemed a “protection plan” when it was finished.

“This also appears to be a protection plan instead of a redevelopment plan,” he said of JOSH.

In Vinings, citizens took an additional six months to finalize that plan. Two more meetings are scheduled over the next two months for the JOSH master plan. Cobb Community Development Agency staff will present a preliminary plan on Feb. 12, and a draft plan on March 12, and public comments also will be sought.

Both of those meetings also will be at Chestnut Ridge Christian Church (2663 Johnson Ferry Road), starting at 7 p.m.

Jason Gaines, Cobb Community Development The master plan will include future land use, infrastructure, stormwater, parks and recreation, building design and more (JOSH outline here).

Last spring, some citizens objected to an image preference survey that included photos of high-density development. Ott asked community development staff to rework the survey.

Jason Gaines, the community development agency’s planning division chief (above), broke down some of the JOSH demographics (boundary map here):

Population: 26,600
Employment: 4,400
Median Age: 44.9 years (Cobb median: 36.5)
Median household income: $119K (Cobb: $72K)
Median per capita income: $51K (Cobb: 36K)
Housing: 9.4K units; 98.2% owner-occupied; 99.5% single-family residential detached (Cobb: 66.2%)
Median home value: $347K (Cobb: $219.7K)

Phillip Westbrook of the planning division said 86 percent of the land in the JOSH map that’s included in the proposed master plan is residential (mostly low-density) and has only two major commercial areas: at the Johnson Ferry-Shallowford intersection, and on Shallowford near Lassiter Road.

Much of the current future land use map for the JOSH area hasn’t changed much over the last 25 years. Perhaps the most closely-watched case is at the southwestern intersection of Johnson Ferry-Shallowford, where a proposed residential zoning application was withdrawn in 2017. In addition to high-density issues there also have been concerns over stormwater, since the 30-acre property includes a lake.

“What’s going on that property we don’t know,” Ott said. “But this map is going to change.”

JOSH map

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In changing Powers Ferry Road corridor, citizens worry about community impact

January 9, 2019 6:00 PM by Wendy Parker

A public hearing on Tuesday to consider amendments to Cobb County’s Comprehensive Land Use Plan turned into a plea of sorts by citizens in the Powers Ferry Road corridor.

They’re being affected by major development changes all around them, and wonder what will happen to their community in transition, as higher-density commercial and residential projects are being approved or are being earmarked that way for the future.

The linchpin of the evolving corridor, the forthcoming MarketPlace Terrell Mill mixed-use development, was among those properties up for consideration Tuesday by the Cobb Planning Commission.

(Read them all here)

The board voted 3-1 to recommend amending the Cobb future land use map for the 24-acre tract at Powers Ferry and Terrell Mill roads for the Regional Activity Center with a high-density residential node that county commissioners approved last year.

Changing the future land use plan is typically a formality after rezoning, but some citizens who spoke Tuesday weren’t sure what the amendments meant.

“My area has gone through a lot of change,” said resident Kim Strickland, who got emotional as she spoke. “I would like to know how you’re going to change my community again.”

That was a reference to how she says the area has changed since SunTrust Park opened nearby two years ago.

The MarketPlace Terrell Mill project includes a Kroger superstore on the former site of Brumby Elementary School, as well as shops, restaurants, a nearly 300-unit apartment complex and a self-storage facility.

“Another storage unit in my backyard,” Strickland said. “I’ve got more storage units than Waffle Houses right now. We need to keep low- and medium-density homes that we love.”

That’s a concern that’s been echoed by other residents in the Powers Ferry corridor.

But the area, which includes some single-family homes among a wide array of condominium and apartment complexes, is being eyed for higher-density development, especially of the residential variety.

Just down Powers Ferry, on land known as Restaurant Row, commissioners also last year voted to rezone that property for a mixed-use development, also with multi-family and senior housing, shops and restaurant space.

Planning Commission member Andy Smith, whose District 2 includes the Powers Ferry area, said that the amendment process is simply “looking at matching the future land use to what the zoning already is.”

“We’re not zoning any property here,” added Planning Commission chairwoman Judy Williams.

CP-2-1, Cobb future land use plan amendments — *The 370 acres eyed for future Regional Activity Center zoning is in brown, with the MarketPlace Terrell property noted at ZD-12.*

Another proposed amendment by District 2 Cobb Commissioner Bob Ott, would change the future land use of 370 acres in the Windy Hill-Terrell Mill-Powers Ferry area from Community Activity Center, High Density Residential and Park/Recreation/Conservation (PRC) to Regional Activity Center/retail service, Regional Activity Center/high density residential, and Regional Activity Center/open space and recreation.

Dan Davids, who said he has lived in the area in a single-family home “for an extended period,” understands that “change is inevitable. But we ask the question: Where do we fit in? We’d like to continue to live in the area.”

Another resident, Nick Johnson, wanted to know why RAC designation was being sought: “What are the plans?”

Smith explained that there’s not a development proposal now, but “there is a vision for that area that it’s going to be developed in a denser way. What it does is allow a more unified development” in the future.

The community also is being affected by the planned Windy Hill-Terrell Mill Connector. A number of apartment and condo units have already being condemned, and commissioners on Tuesday approved a measure to allow Cobb DOT to condemn four more if negotiations with property owners fall through.

A woman wondered if the amendments would prompt her to move, but Planning Commission member Galt Porter said “this doesn’t mean anybody is going to be kicked out of their house.”

Strickland later apologized for the confusion and acknowledged efforts to “better our area” and “not tear down our homes.”

The Planning Commission voted 3-1 to recommend approval of Ott’s proposed land use change, with Fred Beloin, the appointee of new commissioner Keli Gambrill, opposed.

Cobb commissioners will have the final say, voting on the land use plan amendment proposals next Tuesday.

*The former Brumby Elementary School site is being cleared on Powers Ferry Road.*

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UPDATE: Johnson Ferry-Shallowford Master Plan meetings resume

January 7, 2019 4:12 PMJanuary 7, 2019 9:21 AM by Wendy Parker

Johnson Ferry-Shallowford community, Johnson Ferry-Shallowford Master Plan

We noted last month that another round of public meetings for the Johnson Ferry-Shallowford Master Plan were resuming in early 2019.

The first meeting next Tuesday, Jan. 15, at 7 p.m., at Chestnut Ridge Christian Church (2663 Johnson Ferry Road). Additional meetings are scheduled for Feb. 12 and March 12, at the same time and venue.

Representatives from the Cobb Community Development Department and other county government agencies will be on hand, and this first meeting will include a presentation to “re-familiarize” the public with the master plan scope and process, followed by breakout sessions.

Topics include land use, parks and recreation, transportation and stormwater management.

The master plan concept that is developed from the JOSH meetings will be incorporated into the Cobb 2040 Comprehensive Plan.

Citizens can offer feedback online, and view documents, maps and other information related to the study area, by visiting the Cobb government website with JOSH information.

The master plan process is similar to others done in the county at the behest of district commissioners. District 2 commissioner Bob Ott, whose constituency now includes the Johnson Ferry-Shallowford area, has had previous master plans conducted for the Powers Ferry and Johnson Ferry corridors and Vinings.

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East Cobb mixed-use properties among future land use proposals

January 5, 2019 2:31 PM by Wendy Parker

Powers Ferry-Terrell Mill properties, MarketPlace Terrell Mill, East Cobb mixed-use developments

Two notable East Cobb mixed-used developments approved during the last two years are located on property that county commissioners will be considering this month as part of their annual Comprehensive Plan updates.

They include land zoned last year for the MarketPlace Terrell Mill project (above) at Terrell Mill and Powers Ferry roads, and for the Sandy Plains Marketplace on the former Mountain View Elementary School site on Sandy Plains Road that was rezoned in late 2017.

Commissioners don’t hear zoning cases in January, but they adopt amendments, including future land use changes, to the 2040 Cobb Comprehensive Plan.

The first of two public hearings on the proposed amendments is scheduled for Tuesday at 7 p.m. by the Cobb Planning Commission. Cobb commissioners will hold a hearing and adopt any changes at 9 a.m. on Jan. 15.

Both meetings are in the second-floor board room of the Cobb government building, 100 Cherokee St., in downtown Marietta.

(Here’s a link to the complete agenda.)

Revising the future land use plan is fairly routine following zoning cases. But those East Cobb cases, along with other proposed future land use plan amendments up for consideration, reflect lingering issues over density in the area, and the county in general.

The MarketPlace Terrell Mill project—which is to include a Kroger superstore, nearly 300 apartment units, restaurants and retail space—was opposed by residents of a nearby condominium complex.

Others opposed the assemblage of 24 acres that included the former Brumby Elementary School site into the Regional Retail Commercial category, a rare one in Cobb County that is denser than most surrounding property in a busy commercial corridor.

The future land use designation for the land is Regional Activity Center with high-density residential.

The MarketPlace Terrell Mill Project is regarded as a linchpin of redevelopment in the Powers Ferry corridor.

In its analysis for the future land use plan amendments, however, Cobb community development staff noted that “considering the changing conditions on site and the intensity that the proposed development will generate, a more appropriate future use designation may be Regional Activity Center with a sub-category of high density residential (RAC/hdr).”

The “changing conditions” is a reference Kroger’s attempts to seek tax breaks from the Development Authority of Cobb that were invalidated by a Cobb judge last fall. The grocery chain has appealed as other parts of the $120 million project are underway.

Also under construction is the Sandy Plains Marketplace project. Ground-clearing has begun, and all that’s left of the old Mountain View school is the sign at the entrance.

Sandy Plains Marketplace

That project will include a Publix GreenWise Market as its anchor, and other tenants have been announced.

The current future land-use designation is public institutional, since it was a school site. The proposed amendment would change it to the Community Activity Center category that matches the rezoning change.

Some residents of an adjoining neighborhood expressed concerns about some aspects of the project, including a three-story self-storage facility that would be constructed near their property lines.

Another high-density East Cobb rezoning is on the proposed amendment list. That’s four acres on Olde Towne Parkway that were converted from Community Activitity Center to High Density Residential.

Commissioners approved rezoning to RM-12 for four-story townhomes that nearby residents said were too high and too intense for the area.

Cobb commissioners have proposed several future land use plan amendments. Bob Ott of District 2 in East Cobb is proposing changing 370 acres in the Powers Ferry-Terrell Mill-Delk Road area to a mixture of designations.

Currently the land (map below), which houses a number of commercial and multi-family developments, is designated for Community Activity Center, High Density Residential and Park/Recreation/Conservation (PRC). CP-2-1, Cobb future land use plan amendments

He wants that property to be reclassified to the following categories: Regional Activity Center/retail service, Regional Activity Center/high density residential, and Regional Activity Center/open space and recreation.

The area includes some of the planned Windy Hill-Terrell Mill Connector project and a proposed extension of the Bob Callahan Trail network along Rottenwood Creek.

Other proposed Comprehensive Plan amendments would designate land purchased by commissioners last year for future green space to PRC. They include properties on Ebenezer Road and part of the Tritt property next to East Cobb Park.

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Zoning and development

Ming's Asian Kitchen Opens, East Cobb restaurants — *Ming’s Asian Kitchen, at Lower Roswell and Woodlawn, was among the newcomers to the East Cobb dining scene in 2018. (ECN file)*

Restaurant news

Burger's Market closing — *Vine-ripe tomatoes are among the popular produce items that have drawn customers to Burger’s Market since the 1970s. (ECN file)*

Other business news

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Holly Spring Road senior living proposal, Mt. Bethel Christian stadium case delayed to February

December 18, 2018 1:25 PMDecember 18, 2018 12:12 PM by Wendy Parker

Holly Springs Road senior living proposal

The Cobb Board of Commissioners Tuesday voted to hold a proposal for a senior living community on Holly Springs Road until February.

The applicant, Loyd Development Services, wants to build 16 single-family homes on 4.3 acres on the east side of Holly Springs, just below the roundabout at Davis Road.

The Cobb Planning Commission voted earlier this month to deny the request for RSL (residential senior living) zoning, saying it was too dense and a category not compatible with nearby residences.

Commissioner JoAnn Birrell concurred, and made a motion to hold the case until February, suggesting an R-15 (single-family) category that would meet the 2.5-home-per-acre recommendation by the county zoning staff.

“You can still have the buffers that they’re asking for and address the drainage a little better,” she said.

The land is zoned R-20 with two existing homes, and is part of the Margaret A. Keheley Living Trust.

A resident in the nearby Ashmore community supported the plan, but others were opposed, pointing to density concerns and the fact that the nearest RSL developments are in busier commercial areas.

The proposal would call for 3.7 homes per acre, while a nearby subdivision has homes on around three-quarters of an acre.

Another major East Cobb case on the commissioners’ agenda Tuesday also was delayed.

Mt. Bethel Christian Academy is proposing to build an athletic stadium on its upper school campus on Post Oak Tritt Road, and at the meeting asked for a continuance until February.

Residents in the adjacent Holly Springs subdivision have objected to the proposal, which would include lighting and permanent seating that were restricted when Mt. Bethel obtained the initial land use permit for the 33-arce property in 2013.

Jim Ney, the Mt. Bethel attorney, told commissioners the school has had “a wonderful opportunity to meet with the neighbors” and said discussions will be continuing.

Commissioners denied another residential zoning case in the Northeast Cobb area in a request that was previously withdrawn.

Richard Duncan was seeking an R-12 category for 3.1 acres on Cajun Drive and Piedmont Road to build six homes, refiling his application after initially wanting eight homes.

But Birrell said the revised plan was still incompatible for the area. There was some discussion about holding the case, but Duncan didn’t want to wait until February.

His property changes from the current medium-density residential category under the county’s comprehensive land use plan to low-density status in January.

Before presenting his case, Duncan indicated he was reserving his right to issue a constitutional challenge regarding the use of his property.

The vote against his application was 4-1, with outgoing commissioner Bob Weatherford voting against.

Cobb doesn’t hear zoning cases in January.

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Proposed Mt. Bethel Christian Academy stadium draws opposition

December 18, 2018 12:26 PMDecember 15, 2018 10:24 AM by Wendy Parker

Mt. Bethel Christian Academy

When Mt. Bethel Christian Academy got approval from Cobb commissioners to open a high school campus on Post Oak Tritt Road in 2013, one of the restrictions pertained to the development of an athletic stadium on the back of the 33-acre property.

The special land use permit granted to the school prohibited any field from having lights and permanent seating. Four years after the school opened, Mt. Bethel wants to remove that stipulation in a site plan amendment that’s on the Cobb Board of Commissioners zoning hearing agenda Tuesday.

UPDATED: We understand this case is being delayed until February and are seeking confirmation.

The Mt. Bethel application seeks permission to amend the site plan “to develop a multipurpose field with lighting and permanent seating for a competitive high school.”

The proposal also calls for a reconfiguration of other buildings on the campus to “create a more efficient layout,” with most of the buildings clustered in the interior of the property. The proposed revision also calls for 32 additional parking spaces on campus.

Mt. Bethel isn’t asking to increase an anticipated maximum enrollment of around 450 students (currently 150 students attend grades 9-12). The school currently has a footprint of 230,700 square feet of classroom, activities, recreational and other space.

The proposed site plan revision is shown at the top, and the full agenda item can be found by clicking here. The file also contains details of the 2013 special land use permit process and correspondence.

Nearby residents have been urging their neighbors to write to commissioners in opposition to the stadium. Here’s a letter a resident of the Holly Spring subdivision sent to us:

MBCA stadium letter

Mt. Bethel purchased the land, located near the northwest corner of Post Oak Tritt and Holly Springs Road from the Marcus Jewish Community Center of Atlanta, which operated a preschool and camps on the site of the former Shirley Blumenthal Park.

In a letter to Cobb Zoning staff from Mt. Bethel’s attorneys dated Nov. 12, the school explained its plans to develop a field that would be used for soccer, lacrosse, track and other high sports competitions. The revised site plan request also includes room for a 9,400-square foot fieldhouse.

Currently Mt. Bethel has high school boys and girls soccer, high school coed track and field and boys and girls lacrosse at the middle school level.

Some Mt. Bethel teams complete at the academy’s 44-acre lower school campus on Lower Roswell Road.

In the letter to Cobb zoning staff, Mt. Bethel attorneys Jim Ney and Ryan Pulley said that their client “does not foresee any harm to come to the neighboring properties and will take great efforts to ensure that the multipurpose field will be a reasonable and a non-injurious addition.”

Mt. Bethel says in the letter it will present details of a light study it is conducting at Tuesday’s meeting, and will maintain all current setbacks and an 85-foot buffer from surrounding properties.

We’ve left word with Mt. Bethel attorneys for more details and will update when we hear back.

Mt. Bethel got approval last year to amend the high school site plan to permit a temporarily modular classroom.

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Senior living proposal near Holly Springs-Davis roundabout rejected by Cobb Planning Commission

December 4, 2018 1:13 PMDecember 4, 2018 12:38 PM by Wendy Parker

A proposed single-family subdivision for seniors near the Holly Springs-Davis roundabout got a recommendation of denial Tuesday by the Cobb Planning Commission.

The board voted 4-0 against a proposal by Loyd Development to get a residential senior living (RSL) designation to build 16 free-standing homes on 4.3 acres near the southeast intersection of the roundabout.

The land, currently zoned R-20 (single-family residential) is part of the Margaret A. Keheley Living Trust, and two homes are currently located there.

The developer wants to build homes between 2,000 and 2,500 square feet with a cost range between $550,000 and $600,000, according to Garvis Sams, a zoning attorney representing the applicant. The buyers would be age-restricted, from 55 years old and up.

(Read the case file here.)

The density would be 3.7 homes an acre, but Cobb zoning staff recommended a reduction to 10 homes, or 2.5 an acre, closer to nearby neighborhoods that have a density of 2.3 homes an acre.

The county’s future land-use map calls for the property to remain low-density residential. All other neighborhoods in the vicinity are zoned R-20 or R-15.

Loyd also is seeking a reduction of the minimum 15 feet between homes to 10 feet, and reducing the side setback distance to five feet.

Some residents of the Ashmore subdivision supported the application, but others spoke out against it.

Randy Shaw of the Hudson Pond subdivision said Holly Springs traffic in that area during the day “is a nightmare” and that placing a new neighborhood so close to the roundabout “is going to add to the problem.”

“This is just not a good access point,” he said.

Amy Diaz of Cobb DOT said her agency believes the proposed subdivision entry on Holly Springs is far enough away from the roundabout to minimize those concerns.

Patrick Burns, a resident of Chestnut Oaks, said such a high-density development is incompatible with the community and will have a major impact on traffic.

“This will not be neighborhood we know and love” if it is built, he added.

Charles Sprayberry of the Cobb County School District also expressed the district’s concerns about the RSL category because of the county’s senior property tax exemption.

Cobb DOT estimates that nearly 12,000 cars use Holly Springs Road in the roundabout area daily, and nearly 4,000 travel along Davis Road in that vicinity, for D and C levels of service, respectively.

However, those are estimates from 2011, before the roundabout was built.

Planning Commission chairwoman Judy Williams, whose District 3 includes the Keheley land, said while she generally likes RSL zoning, “this RSL almost looks like a density grab to me.”

She said she preferred R-12 (another low-density single-family use), but “there is no plan before me.”

Williams said she’d like to see the developer to continue to work with the community to revise the proposal.

The planning board’s vote is advisory; the Cobb Board of Commissioners is scheduled to take action Dec. 18.

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Additional Johnson Ferry-Shallowford community meetings scheduled for early 2019

December 3, 2018 2:11 PM by Wendy Parker

Johnson Ferry-Shallowford community

Earlier this spring we reported from an open house (photo above) designed to gain citizen input for future land use and development possibilities in the Johnson Ferry-Shallowford community of East Cobb.

Also known as JOSH, the master plan project is being led by officials from several Cobb government agencies, including community development, parks and recreation, transportation and stormwater management.

Part of the process has included asking citizens to fill out an image preference survey of potential future buildings, and some people balked at the choices as too dense and not in keeping with the community surroundings (including the multi-family housing example offered below)

The Cobb Community Development office was asked to redo the design guidelines at the request of commissioner Bob Ott, whose District 2 now includes the JOSH area. JOSH image preference survey

The JOSH study is similar to other corridor master plan projects in his district, including Johnson Ferry (between Roswell and Lower Roswell), Powers Ferry and Vinings.

Now the community development office is getting out word it’s holding some more public meetings after the first of the year.

According to comprehensive planner Phillip Westbrook, three meetings will be held “to refamiliarize everyone with the JOSH study and provide more opportunities for additional feedback.”

The specific dates haven’t been announced, but are being tentatively planned for January, February and March.

The master plan concept that is developed from the JOSH meetings will be incorporated into the Cobb 2040 Comprehensive Plan.

Citizens can offer feedback online, and view documents, maps and other information related to the study area, by visiting the Cobb government website with JOSH information.

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East Cobb Biz Notes: More Sandy Plains Marketplace tenants include Bad Daddy’s Burger Bar

October 29, 2018 2:02 PMOctober 29, 2018 8:43 AM by Wendy Parker

The teardown of the old Mountain View Elementary School is almost complete, and the construction signs around what’s left of it are hinting at what’s to come in what’s being called the Sandy Plains Marketplace mixed-use development. Bad Daddy's Burger Bar, Sandy Plains Marketplace

The anchor of the Fuqua Development project is a Publix GreenWise organic store, as noted here last month.

The Atlanta retail site ToNeTo is reporting that other tenants include several restaurants with growing presences in the metro area, including a Bad Daddy’s Burger Bar and MOD Pizza.

Food joints also include First Watch and Jim ‘N Nick’s Bar-B-Q and there’s going to be another Hollywood Feed, a boutique pet supply retailer, which also opened in East Cobb in January at Woodlawn Square.

Fuqua, which is the developer of The Battery Atlanta, developed a concept similar to the Sandy Plains Marketplace called the Kennesaw Marketplace. That’s recently opened and is anchored by a Whole Foods Market (prompting the closure of Harry’s on Roswell Road this time a year ago).

Last October Cobb commissioners gave the greenlight to rezoning the former Mountain View school grounds, on nearly 14 acres. Fuqua and East Cobb-based Brooks Chadwick Capital LLC also had to come back to the commission to get approval for a self-storage facility near the back of the property that was opposed by some residents of the adjacent Hunters Lodge neighborhood.

Grand opening

Flooring Atlanta has moved into East Cobb at 2214 Roswell Road, and is having a grand opening celebration Saturday from 11-3. There will be free food and drinks in addition to music, including a live Mariachi performance at 1.

Flooring Atlanta, the new name for what had been Carpet Surplus, also has showrooms in Kennesaw, Roswell and Norcross.

Business of the Year

The East Cobb Business Association has named EAST COBBER magazine its 2018 business of the year at a luncheon last week that surprised publisher Cynthia Rozzo.

She’s marking 25 years since beginning the monthly lifestyle magazine, and recently staged the 23rd EAST COBBER parade and community festival. Rozzo also will receive an ECBA Honorary Lifetime Membership.

Bells Ferry Road senior living development approved by Cobb commissioners

September 18, 2018 10:38 AM by Wendy Parker

A Bells Ferry Road senior living development was approved Tuesday by the Cobb Board of Commissioners, on a chunk of green space that’s been eyed for a variety of uses over the years.

They voted to rezone 35.8 acres of low-density residential land on Bells Ferry Road and North Booth Road at I-575 for 155 single-family, detached homes for seniors 55 and older. Here’s the agenda item packet.

The vote was 4-0, with commissioner Bob Ott absent.

It was one of two major zoning cases on Tuesday’s agenda that asked for the Residential Senior Living (RSL) category, which is becoming a more frequent request from developers in Cobb.

There was no formal opposition to the application by Jim Chapman Communities Inc., which had initially proposed 178 units. The homes will range between 1,600 and 2,400 square feet and will have an attached two-car garage. The request was supported by the Bells Ferry Civic Association.

District 3 commissioner JoAnn Birrell of Northeast Cobb wanted to have the case heard due to some e-mails she had received.

Before making a motion to approve the request, she noted that the land had drawn the interest of developers for other types of development, including commercial, which she opposed to due nearby residential communities.

The land is located across North Booth Road from Chalker Elementary School. She also said the property had been nominated to be purchased as county parkland, but that use was rejected.

“The applicant asked for what we wanted,” Birrell said of the Jim Chapman proposal. “RSL is the best fit for this area.”

Among the stipulations as part of the rezoning include a right turn lane to be built from Bells Ferry Road southbound onto North Booth Road, and for sidewalks to be constructed along the frontage for both roads.

Before that case, commissioners approved a similar rezoning near Powder Springs, for 123 senior homes on 53 acres on Old Lost Mountain Road, that drew opposition from nearby residents for traffic and density reasons.

Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!

East Cobb Taqueria Tsunami restaurant gets to keep old sign

September 18, 2018 10:41 AMSeptember 17, 2018 5:46 PM by Wendy Parker

East Cobb Taqueria Tsunami restaurant

One of the stipulations that was included in a revised site plan last year for the East Cobb Taqueria Tsunami restaurant was that an existing frontage sign had to go.

But the owners of the popular Asian-Latin fusion spot at 1275 Johnson Ferry Road have already attached their logo to the old round frame in front of what was the Caribou Coffee and Einstein Bros. Bagel eatery.

UPDATED: Commissioners approved the request, which was on the consent agenda.

On Tuesday they’ll be asking Cobb commissioners to amend that stipulation (agenda item packet here). It’s included in the other business portion of a zoning hearing that begins at 9 a.m. on the 2nd floor of the Cobb government building, 100 Cherokee St., in downtown Marietta.

Taqueria Tsunami opened its doors in East Cobb in May, and the sign went up over the summer.

East Cobb restaurant scores

Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!

Wigley Road rezoning approved for 91 homes on former family farm

August 22, 2018 3:12 PM by Wendy Parker

After more than a year of delays, revised site plans and other changes, a Wigley Road rezoning case was approved Tuesday by the Cobb Board of Commissioners.

The case file was numbered Z-56 of 2017, and it was Oak Hall Companies’ project to build single-family homes on a sloping tract of land that once was part of the Wigley Farm in Northeast Cobb, just below the Cherokee County line.

Commissioners approved most of what the Cobb Planning Commission recommended earlier this month: A total of 91 homes on 96 acres. Because of the hilly topography, however, only about half of that acreage will be developed.

The rezoning request was for R-30 OSC, or low-density residential in an Open Space Community. The land has been in the estate of Audra Wigley.

There will be conservation easements and other buffers and measures to limit stormwater runoff that was a major concern, and responsible for some of the delays.

“This is the best we’re going to get,” said District 3 Cobb Commissioner JoAnn Birrell, who represents the area.

Had the developer wanted to stick with the R-30 category already in place, not only would rezoning not be required, but around 105 homes would have been allowed without any mandate for buffers or protective space.

The initial rezoning request called for 96 homes, but that was reduced to 91 by the planning commission.

Commissioners approve East Cobb Restaurant Row rezoning request

August 21, 2018 6:49 PM by Wendy Parker

Powers Ferry Restaurant Row project

By a unanimous vote Tuesday county commissioners approved an East Cobb Restaurant Row rezoning request to transform a long-existing eyesore in the Powers Ferry Road corridor.

After a lengthy discussion, which included a history of the area’s changing demographics, commissioners made few changes to the request by Powers Ferry Road Investors LLC to convert 8.8 acres to a regional retail commercial category that’s used for large mixed-use projects.

In moving to approve the request (agenda item packet here), District 2 commissioner Bob Ott included conditions that reduce the maximum number of apartment units from 290 to 280 and senior living units from 181 to 171.

The development will contain 578,885 square feet, all but 10,000 of it for residential buildings, with the rest for restaurant and retail space. The multi-family building will be six stories, and the senior building will have five stories. A 3-story parking deck and other parking on the property will provide 711 spaces.

East Cobb Restaurant Row, Wigley Road zoning cases up for action Tuesday

August 21, 2018 10:35 AMAugust 20, 2018 1:10 PM by Wendy Parker

Chance Powers Ferry, Powers Ferry corridor, Powers Ferry Restaurant Row — *Rendering of a proposed 290-unit apartment complex on Powers Ferry Road at Windy Ridge Parkway, where the vacant TGI Friday’s building sits.*

Just a quick final glance at items we’ve tracked previously that are on Tuesday’s Cobb Board of Commissioners zoning hearing (agenda summary here), which includes the East Cobb Restaurant Row and Wigley Road applications, with information updated as of Friday:

Here’s the agenda item packet for the Restaurant Row application on Powers Ferry Road, which got a 4-1 vote to recommend approval from the Cobb Planning Commission but still has some vocal opposition.

Here is additional correspondence posted Friday, including a revised stipulation letter from Garvis Sams, attorney for Powers Ferry Investors LLC, the applicant, on Thursday, and a letter from Sheldon Schlegman, an architect with a practice nearby on Windy Ridge Parkway and a resident of the adjacent Horizons condominium building and who is against the application as presented.

Also in the Restaurant Row correspondence file are more traffic concerns about development in the Powers Ferry corridor and addressed to Cobb DOT by Patricia Zerman. She’s the president of the Salem Ridge HOA, which opposed the MarketPlace Terrell Mill project, and that county officials admitted would create more traffic problems in a clogged area:

“I am curious as to how the Cobb DOT plans on addressing the appalling outrageous increase in congestion, not withstanding the [MarketPlace] Development.”

Another Powers Ferry Road case, in fact just across the street from the Restaurant Row tract, also is on the docket. Here are the file details for the Chance Powers Ferry application to tear down the old Powers Ferry Woods office park for a mixed-use project on less than four acres, with 300 multi-family housing units and office space. The planning board also recommended that delayed request for approval.

Here is the agenda item packet for the Wigley Road application that was whittled down to 91 single-family homes when the planning board voted 4-1 to recommend approval.

A few East Cobb-area cases that won’t be heard Tuesday, after being continued by Cobb zoning staff to September:

A long-delayed application for a regional retail commercial project on Terrell Mill Road near Water Place;
A residential senior living proposal for 178 units at Bells Ferry Road, North Booth Road and I-575.

The Cobb BOC zoning hearing starts at 9 a.m. Tuesday in the 2nd floor boardroom of the Cobb government building, 100 Cherokee St., in downtown Marietta.

Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!

Powers Ferry Restaurant Row rezoning opponents begin petition drive

August 15, 2018 2:17 PM by Wendy Parker

This just in from Eric Meadows, a resident of the Horizons at Wildwood condominiums who spoke against the Powers Ferry Restaurant Row rezoning proposal before the Cobb Planning Commission last week:

Earlier today a coalition of residents from Wildwood, the Powers Ferry area, the Cumberland Improvement District and Cobb County, GA came together to launch a petition that opposes the redevelopment of Z-47 2018, or Restaurant Row because it is not good for Cobb County, the Community or the Chattahoochee River.

The petition is titled:

Z-47 is Not Good for Cobb County, the Community or the Chattahoochee

Additional details are available at:

https://www.ipetitions.com/petition/z-47-is-not-good-for-cobb-county-the-community

The Cobb Board of Commissioners is scheduled to act on the matter next Tuesday, Aug. 21.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Series on Cobb County growth issues misses the mark

January 1, 2022 1:00 PMAugust 14, 2018 6:06 AM by Wendy Parker

Ebenezer Road park preview, Cobb growth issues — *Cobb commissioners spent $1.7 million this year to buy Ebenezer Road property for a future passive park. (East Cobb News photos by Wendy Parker)*

Last week a national organization that examines municipal and local governance concerns published a series of posts about Cobb County growth issues, especially in the years since the recession.

The organization is called Strong Towns, which I have not heard of before. It describes itself as a non-profit media organization that’s based in Brainerd, Minn., a small town with a population of 13,000 or so, not close to a metropolitan area.

On Tuesdays I like to focus on local government, since that’s when many Cobb Board of Commissioners meetings take place. Today’s meeting has been cancelled, and I thought I’d delve a little into this interesting, but flawed examination.

The five-part Strong Towns report, which has gotten some chatter on Cobb citizens social media groups, refers to Cobb as “a suburban region that epitomizes the folly of going into debt to build more and more infrastructure with no ability to pay for it.”

Cobb growth issues — *Condominiums along Powers Ferry Road are part of a high-density community spreading out from SunTrust Park.*

While that’s certainly how many locals around here feel about what’s happening in the county, I think the premise is faulty, and I’m skeptical of some of the claims made in this report.

Strong Towns misses one of the biggest points of all: Cobb remains a very attractive magnet for jobs because of its diversified economy and a well-educated workforce, the partial byproduct of another major attraction here, excellent public schools.

Cobb isn’t as “addicted to growth,” as the initial post is titled, as much as new residents and employers are continuously drawn by quality services and low taxes. A heavy pipeline of development bottled up during the lean years of the recession is taking shape.

These realities were not examined by Strong Towns, but I will link to all the posts in this series so you can read for yourself:

In an evergreen post elsewhere on its site, Strong Towns claims that many cities and counties in America are falling for a “Growth Ponzi Scheme,” which it further asserts as “the dominant model of suburban growth since the mid-20th century.”

The final post about Cobb started off with a reference to Bernie Madoff, who’s serving prison time for defrauding investors.

Really? To try to make a link between criminal behavior and the development and financial issues of a bustling suburban county, albeit one with major budget problems, borders on being irresponsible, as well as willfully misunderstanding.

I will always detest the Atlanta Braves stadium deal because the process was a total sham. But that doesn’t explain the county’s budget, tax and spending issues, which go back many years.

The county wasn’t chasing growth as much as it wasn’t sufficiently funding the growth that was already here or on the way, or was having trouble keeping up with the pace of the growth.

(Here’s a good example: When our family moved to East Cobb in the early 1970s, our home was still on septic tank, with the Sope Creek sewer line still under construction.)

There is an anti-suburban sentiment behind this report, and this is the biggest problem with it:

“Much of Cobb County . . . feels like nowhere. It has no center of gravity. It has no thriving urban core to serve as a tax-revenue cash cow.”

Ironically, the area around SunTrust may prove to be just such a place. Cobb does have many misplaced priorities, symbolized by the Braves deal, and which I wrote not long ago stripped away the illusion of supposedly fiscally conservative government.

Instead of really trying to understand the unique challenges facing a Sunbelt community that has gone from mostly rural to suburban and now urban in many spots, and in about a half-century or so, Strong Towns wants Cobb to be more like Brainerd, I guess (a place where I’ve never been).

From what I’ve read about this organization, it wants every place to be like small-town America, with bucolic downtown cores, pedestrian-friendly shops and restaurants and adaptable to a “traditional development pattern.”

While that sentiment does have some conservative support, and it’s appealing to me as I continue on in middle age, it has never really come about in Cobb, for better or for worse.

It’s a nice ideal, but it doesn’t offer any practical solutions. Strong Towns produced a lot of words about Cobb County but with little real local knowledge on the ground about its subject.

That matters.

Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!

Long-delayed Wigley Road rezoning case clears initial hurdle

August 8, 2018 3:21 PM by Wendy Parker

After more than a year of delays, the Cobb Planning Commission Tuesday recommended approval of a Wigley Road rezoning case that would convert hilly, rocky former farm terrain into a single-family subdivision.

The commission vote was 4-1 in favor of an application by Oak Hall Companies for single-family homes on 96 acres on what once was the Wigley family farm. The land abuts the Cherokee County line to the north, and is north of Sweat Mountain, Jamerson Road and Summitop Road.

The planning board initially heard the case in May but placed a 60-day hold on the application, which was once again delayed in July.

The developer wanted to build 95 homes for a community to be called Provence Estates, but the commissioners recommended 91 instead. Parks Huff, an attorney for Oak Hall, noted the rarity of a proposal for single-family homes that is around one to an acre.

Since the planning board recommended the R-30 OSC category, roughly half the tract would be placed in a conservation easement.

The land is from the estate of Audra Mae Wigley and was part of the Wigley Farm in Northeast Cobb. Initially, the Oak Hall application was for 55 acres, but both pieces of the former farm property were put together in a single request earlier this year.

Some neighbors were opposed for traffic as well as for stormwater runoff issues, and it was a factor outgoing planning commissioner Thea Powell cited for her vote against the request.

The Cobb Board of Commissioners will have the final say on the rezoning request on Aug. 21.

Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!

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