Marietta City Council denies Powers Ferry rezoning requests

After months of delays and a torrent of opposition from nearby residents, the Marietta City Council on Wednesday quickly nixed two proposed redevelopment projects in the Powers Ferry Road with little discussion.

By unanimous 7-0 votes, the council rejected rezoning requests by Nexus Gardens and Nexus Marietta for a mixed-use and housing developments, respectively, along either side of the South Marietta Parkway.

The projects would have been built by Macauley Investments, an Atlanta developer, on assembled land parcels owned by real estate investor Ruben McMullan and his related interests.

Several times the rezoning requests were tabled or otherwise delayed, including last month, after the Marietta Planning Commission voted to recommend denial.

Residents who turned out for the meeting implored the council beforehand to reject the rezonings, saying they’re too dense, provide access through their narrow neighborhood streets and will devastate their quality of life.

The Nexus Gardens project, according to Anna Holladay, a resident of nearby Virginia Place, “will ruin the lives of everyone in this neighborhood.”

Cloverdale Heights resident Brian Peters, who lives near the proposed Laurel Park residential project, said he moved from Buckhead a decade ago to to escape “runaway development” and was aghast he was fighting it in Marietta.

“We’ve had enough,” Peters said, referring to the constant delays in the rezoning case. “We’re pushing back. End of story.”

Before Wednesday’s council meeting, Kevin Moore, an attorney for both projects, submitted a revised plan for Laurel Park, scaling down what had been a mainly townhome project of 204 units to 134 units, with 84 townhomes and 50 single-family homes.

He said the Loop corridor between Roswell Road and Interstate 75 hasn’t seen new development in 50 years. The Nexus Gardens project, Moore said, is an opportunity that “would be fantastic for the city and fantastic for the nearby community.”

In addition to the density of the Nexus Marietta project—two five-story apartment buildings totalling 280 units served by a three-story parking deck, a five-story senior-living building with 160 units, 39 townhomes and restaurants and retail space—nearby residents in unincorporated Cobb objected to a single point of access, along Meadowbrook Lane.

City council members were unconvinced of Moore’s claim. Michelle Cooper-Kelly, whose district includes the Nexus Gardens land, told residents that “you guys came together as a community. You’re doing exactly what democracy is designed to do.”

After acknowledging the heavy amount of e-mails she received about that rezoning case, Cooper-Kelly said that “I don’t think this project is right for this community.”

She made a motion to deny the request, and the vote was unanimous with no further discussion.

Council member Joseph Goldstein, whose district includes the Laurel Park property, said even less, commenting that the rezoning proposal was inappropriate” as he made a motion for denial.

None of his other colleagues offered comments before the vote.