Revised ‘JOSH’ conceptual plan based on community feedback

A Cobb Planning Commission member on Thursday presented a conceptual site plan for a mixed-use development at Johnson Ferry and Shallowford roads based on feedback from nearby residents.

Tony Waybright, who represents District 2 on the planning board, said that his working plan is not an official proposal.

“It’s just a concept, not the developers’ new site plan,” he said during a virtual town hall organized by Commissioner Jerica Richardson.

(You can watch the town hall in its entirety by clicking here.)

The town hall presenters included Kevin Moore, an attorney for North Point Ministries, which wants to build a church on a portion of a 33-acre tract at the southwest corner of the Johnson Ferry-Shallowford intersection.

North Point’s rezoning case, which has been continued to March, would include 125 townhomes and a small amount of retail, as well as a parking deck for the church.

What’s being proposed as East Cobb Church would include a sanctuary with a capacity for 1,300 people.

More than 400 people logged in online to watch the town hall, and more than 500 offered comments. Many of those opposed to the rezoning are against the townhomes, and especially the number of town homes, saying it’s too dense for an area that includes an adjacent single-family neighborhood.

Others said they welcomed a church coming to the area and for that property to be improved.

(Petitions for and against the rezoning have been created; and we also talked to East Cobb Church Pastor Jamey Dickens earlier this week.)

Waybright has suggested adding some single-family detached residences as a buffer (in green on the map), extending Waterfront Circle (blue line) to address traffic issues and reconfiguring the church building (gold square block) to blend in with design and streetscape guidelines in the Johnson Ferry-Shallowford master plan.

That was approved in 2020 after a two-year process, with a focus on redevelopment of the land at the JOSH intersection. Most of the tracts in the 33-acre property are owned by prominent attorney Fred Hanna and his wife’s non-profit ministry. (See our interview with them here.)

That land was assembled for a 2016 rezoning case for a residential development, but was withdrawn. Moore has said an all-residential use for the land is economically unfeasible.

Most of the parcels contain small, older homes that are occupied by low-income residents served by Lynn Hanna’s True Vine Experience. Some of the lots are empty, including one that included the home of former Gov. Lester Maddox on Johnson Ferry Road.

Community greenspace also would be incorporated into the concept presented by Waybright, who based his map on what he’s heard from the community in recent weeks.

The JOSH master plan, he explained, included “creating a sense of place.”

Moore said in response to questions about the church and the parking lot that both would be built into the topography along Shallowford Road.

“We believe that we can succeed with the community and we will continue with those efforts,” Moore said.

He didn’t say what revisions there might be to the number of townhomes, which would be built by Ashwood Development, an upscale builder with projects in the city of Atlanta and Florida.

North Point would acquire all the property and then sell a portion to the developer. Moore said a starting price point for the townhomes may be in the $500,000 range.

East Cobb Church was created in 2019 and last year became part of North Point, which has several similar non-denominational churches in metro area, although this one would be smaller. Church members have been meeting at Eastside Baptist Church.

During the Q and A session, someone asked about a traffic study. Moore said one has been completed by an independent engineer under the auspices of Cobb DOT and has been submitted for review. (It’s not included in any of the existing filings.)

Moore said the recommendations include turn lanes and other measures designed to improve traffic flow in the busy JOSH intersection, and that what’s being proposed would yield less traffic than a purely residential development.

Dickens said East Cobb Church will have off-duty police guiding traffic on Sundays, and there will not be a pre-school or other activities during the week.

The Cobb zoning staff recommended denial of North Point’s initial application for land-use, traffic, density and stormwater issues.

Waybright said that conclusion is based on a “conservative approach” to evaluating those factors and others.

He also noted that a church was not included in the JOSH Master Plan, which like the land-use plan isn’t law but a guide for planners and decision-makers.

Waybright said the task at hand is to find a balance between the rights of the property owners and the community, and that reflects the land-use plan and master plan.

Planning commissioners and county commissioners do not take public positions on zoning cases before their votes. The planning board is scheduled to hear the case March 2 and Cobb commissioners on March 16.

When asked where she stood on the matter, Richardson said her office is cataloging every e-mail and other message.

“I’m listening, just like you,” she said.

Related stories

• Petitions created to support, oppose East Cobb Church zoning
• East Cobb Church zoning: ‘What we’re doing is ever-evolving’
• North Point East Cobb Church plans: 4 stories, 1,300 seats
• Land owners: East Cobb church plans ‘good for the community’
• Johnson Ferry-Shallowford proposal: Church, townhomes
• Johnson Ferry-Shalloword master plan adopted by commissioners