Sprayberry Crossing proposal

Sprayberry Crossing proposal drops apartments for townhomes

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Sprayberry Crossing proposal
For a larger view of the new Sprayberry Crossing site plan, click here.

Just a few days before going back before the Cobb Planning Commission, the Sprayberry Crossing developer has produced another new site plan, and it’s a major change.

Atlantic Realty is dropping plans for a 125-unit apartment building as part of the mixed-use redevelopment and is adding 62 townhomes to the 44 previously proposed.

A senior apartment building that originally called for 125 units now is proposing 172 units.

While keeping 34,000 square feet for a grocery store, the new site plan also has eliminated other retail space and green space.

The Cobb Planning Commission, an advisory body to the Cobb Board of Commissioners, voted in April to hold the application for a month. Kevin Moore, an attorney for Sprayberry Crossing, also submitted a new stipulation letter on Wednesday.

Reaction to the last-minute revisions have been mixed on social media channels devoted to the Sprayberry Crossing redevelopment issue.

Joe Glancy, creator of the Sprayberry Crossing Action Facebook page, said he’s been told “the developer made this change because they were told by Commissioner [JoAnn] Birrell last week that she would not approve the apartments.”

Participants on another Facebook group, ROD-1 Residents Against Apartments at Sprayberry Crossing (named after the zoning application number) said they’re still opposed because of the senior apartments, as well as for traffic and density concerns.

Tim Carini, a leader of that group, told East Cobb News “the new site plan still has apartments, and several other unresolved items, so we will be speaking on Tuesday.”

At the April Planning Commission meeting, Deborah Dance, Birrell’s new appointee, asked Moore if the developer would be “open to [consider] more ownership opportunities” instead of rental units.

She also said she had been getting slightly more messages opposed to the previous site plan than those in favor.

The Sprayberry Crossing case is one of two major applications in East Cobb to be held to Tuesday’s meeting.

The other, involving North Point Ministries’ request for East Cobb Church and residences at the Johnson Ferry-Shallowford intersection, also has a new site plan that was submitted last week.

That includes 59 single-family homes and 72 townhomes.

The Tuesday Cobb Planning Commission meeting begins at 9 a.m. and can be seen on CobbTV, the county’s government access channel, as well as its Facebook and YouTube channels, and on Comcast Channel 24.

The full agenda and individual items can be found by clicking here.

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Sprayberry Crossing proposal to have ‘substantial changes’

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Revised Sprayberry Crossing plans

On Tuesday morning Joe Glancy of the Sprayberry Crossing Action group said the proposed redevelopment plans for the blighted retail center are expected to have what he termed “substantial changes.”

He said he spoke Monday with Richard Aaronson of Atlantic Residential, and “although I have agreed to not share what I strongly believe may be changing, what I will share is that the change to the plan will be significant, and I believe most of the surrounding community will enthusiastically support the change (if it in fact happens).”

Since Atlantic Residential unveiled details of its mixed-use proposal on Sept. 13, some residents have expressed opposition in particular to a 195-unit apartment building. Others were concerned about the fate of the Mayes Family Cemetery, located in the back of the 15-acre property on Sandy Plains Road near East Piedmont Road, and that could be slated for relocation.

According to the site plan (above) released by Atlantic Residential, 62 townhomes would go up in and near the current cemetery site.

Glancy said Aaronson “made it clear that they want to be sensitive to the concerns of those who have family members buried in the cemetery—and that they have no intention of forcing a cemetery move against the wishes of the community. They care about the reputation of their firm, and are not interested in fighting with a large contingent of angry community members. They want dialogue—they want to communicate their plans with regard to the cemetery – and they want to LISTEN to the concerns of those who object. They have already begun to have those talks with individuals connected to the cemetery.”

Glancy and Shane Spink, another leader of the Sprayberry Crossing Action group, had said they’d like to schedule a town hall with the developer, possibly in October. But today Glancy said due to the site plan changes and the cemetery issue, “I don’t think it makes sense to force a community meeting when there is so much up in the air.”

East Cobb News has been hearing from opponents to the apartments since the original site plan was released. In addition to concerns about putting so many rental units near single-family neighborhoods, they said such a development would add to traffic woes and school crowding in the area.

Some also said their concerns were being ignored by Glancy’s group and that in some cases their Facebook postings were being taken down.

Craig Blafer of the nearby Harper Woods subdivision said the Atlantic Residential proposal would create density of 26.5 units an acre, which he claimed is one of the highest figures in the county, and that the plans would change precedent in the area.

“While I laud the efforts of the guys who got us this far, communications have turned into a one-sided sales brochure,” Blafer said. “The community opposition to this project is overwhelming. Nobody wants apartments and nobody wants density.”

A Facebook group, Residents Against Apartments at Sprayberry Crossing, was recently started.

Glancy said in response that Blafer’s density claim “is not even close” to being accurate. He also said “that I have heard from many varying opinions from so many members of our community. There is not overwhelming opposition to apartments.”

Glancy also disputed charges that commenters opposed to apartments have had their comments taken down. The Sprayberry Crossing Action Facebook group, Glancy said, “has hundreds of comments from the anti apartment folks.”

The only messages that have been deleted, he said, involved personal attacks or commenters starting new threads.

Glancy said while he understands that “the concern about apartments at that property is reasonable . . . the factors that the community should be considering are nuanced and require careful, informed and respectful discussion.”

 

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