There’s precious little empty land in East Cobb, which isn’t a surprise. But the amount that’s undeveloped due to being in a flood plain, wetlands or parkland or designated for conservation protection shrinks those totals even further.
Cobb County government annually updates a map of undeveloped land and recently released its 2019 estimates, broken down by the four Cobb Board of Commissioners districts.
Districts 2 and 3 have the fewest acres of undeveloped and underdeveloped lands in the county (illustrated by the green spots), a total of less than 5,000 acres combined, as seen in the chart at the bottom.
In addition, developable land in District 2 comes to just 980 acres, with only 2,599 acres available in District 3.
That’s a staggering 96.8 percent of land in District 2 that’s considered developed, and only 2.3 percent that is developable. In District 3, those figures are 93.5 percent and five percent, respectively.
The maps reflect land only in unincorporated Cobb; a good chunk of the city of Marietta is in District 3, while District 2 contains most of the city of Smyrna. District 2 also contains the Cumberland/Vinings area, which is the most urbanized portion of Cobb County.
The percentages are in double figures in District 1 and District 4, northwest and south Cobb, respectively.
It’s in those areas of the county where the most contentious zoning cases are taking place. East Cobb, especially that portion of District 2, has seen more sparring over proposed development on smaller tracts, as well as site plan changes and redevelopment cases.
One trend that doesn’t show up on undeveloped land maps or in county zoning files is residential redevelopment as it relates to teardowns. It’s not hard to find older ranch homes being leveled all around East Cobb, to be replaced by larger homes, sometimes in multiple numbers on a single lot.
The demand for housing has become so acute that commercially zoned land is prime for residential development.
On Tuesday, the Cobb Planning Commission recommended approval of an application to rezone 6.6 acres on Canton Road from office and industrial for 39 single-family homes. The developer, Smith Douglas Homes, had proposed 61 townhomes, but altered its plans after meeting community opposition.
In remarks before the planning board, Garvis Sams, an attorney for Smith Douglas, said there simply isn’t the demand for more commercial space like there is for residential.
A similar situation is occurring regarding the proposed redevelopment of the run-down Sprayberry Crossing Shopping Center. Atlantic Residential, which specializes in building upscale rental properties, wants to build apartments and a senior-living community on the Sandy Plains Road property, with a small amount of retail.
Some nearby residents have pushed back against apartments as well as the density of the project, and say they want more shopping than what’s been presented.
Atlantic Residential is going back to the drawing board for reasons that also include a cemetery. Those in favor of the plans say there isn’t as much demand for those commercial categories.
The Sprayberry Crossing land isn’t on the new undeveloped land map (it’s on a separate county inventory of properties eligible for tax incentives if redeveloped). But it illustrates concerns some East Cobb residents have over what may transpire with redevelopment in the future.
Some have pointed to redevelopment in Sandy Springs and Roswell, which have overhauled their zoning codes in recent years.
Those concerns also have been expressed in connection with an East Cobb cityhood effort whose figures include some individuals with development backgrounds.
Keep in mind that a number of green spots you see on the map in East Cobb are parkland and conservation areas or are located along flood plains or in wetlands. Other parcels on the new map may not be completely up-to-date.
A collection of nearly 100 acres of former Wigley Family farm land that abutts the Cherokee County line was approved for rezoning last year for 91 single-family homes (where the blue arrow is pointing).
The property is an assemblage that includes hilly terrain, leaving only half of the land for development, and which was zoned for low-density residential in an open space community category.
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