Cobb County government is sending out word that you might see some smoke and fire this afternoon along a stretch of Sandy Plains Road.
There’s no need to be worried, because the Cobb Fire and Emergency Services Department is conducting what’s called an “acquired structure burn” for training purposes Wednesday at an empty homesite on Pete Shaw Road.
That’s scheduled to go on until 6 p.m. at 3100 Pete Shaw Road, near the intersection of Sandy Plains Road and Wigley Road.
According to the Cobb Tax Assessor’s office, the two-story brick home was built in 1976.
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The Cobb Neighborhood Safety Commission is getting out the word about COVID-19 fraud, and offers suggestions and resources to help you prevent from becoming a victim:
Be aware that criminals are attempting to exploit COVID-19 worldwide through a variety of scams.
Be on the lookout for antibody testing fraud schemes. Never share your personal or health information to anyone other than known and trusted medical professionals. Learn more about what to avoid.
Be cautious of unsolicited healthcare fraud schemes of testing and treatment through emails, phone calls, or in person. The U.S. have medical professionals and scientist working hard to find a cure, approved treatment, and vaccine for COVID-19. Learn more about what to avoid
Be wary of unsolicited telephone calls and e-mails from individuals claiming to be IRS and Treasury employees. Remember IRS first form of communications is by mail – not by phone. Learn more about fraudulent schemes related to IRS
Criminals will likely continue to use new methods to exploit COVID-19 worldwide. Stay alert and stay informed about common fraud schemes related to the COVID-19 Pandemic. Find out more about types of scams. If you think you are a victim of a scam or attempted fraud involving COVID-19, you can report it without leaving your home by calling the Department of Justice’s National Center for Disaster Fraud Hotline at 866-720-5721 or via the NCDF Web Complaint Form.
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A zoning category that’s being requested for the proposed Sprayberry Crossing redevelopment in East Cobb was dropped from the Cobb County Code by commissioners on Tuesday.
In making code amendment changes, commissioners eliminated the ROD-1 category (Redevelopment Overlay District), although it won’t affect the status of the Sprayberry Crossing application.
That remains pending, and is scheduled to be heard in March after several continuances. The change to drop ROD-1 is effective immediately, so new new applications will be taken.
Commissioner JoAnn Birrell of District 3, which includes the Sprayberry Crossing area, said “I feel like [the zoning category] is not needed” and that anyone seeking to redevelop properties on the county’s designated redevelopment list could apply for other zoning categories.
Atlantic Residential, an Atlanta-based apartment developer, has proposed converting the run-down shopping center at Sandy Plains Road and East Piedmont Road into a mixed-use development with apartments, townhomes, senior living, a grocery store, other retail and community space.
That application was first filed last fall, and has been revised several times, including a new site plan in January that eliminates green space (see below).
The latest site plan calls for 125 apartments, 125 senior living apartments, 44 townhomes, 36,000 square feet of retail and 8,000 square feet of office space. Most of the retail space would be for a grocery store.
The apartment numbers have been reduced from nearly 200 and the story height has come down from five to three.
This is the first zoning case brought under ROD-1, which was created in 2005 and is designed to spur redevelopment of blighted properties.
Sprayberry Crossing has long been included on a redevelopment list approved by commissioners.
ROD-1 projects are “site plan specific,” meaning that there aren’t minimum lot sizes, setbacks and buffers that are required in most rezoning cases.
At least 10 percent of the housing units in an ROD-1 project must be set aside for residents making no more than 80 percent of an area’s average median income.
Sprayberry Crossing still has a few businesses open, but is largely empty, and nearby residents have been organizing for years for its redevelopment.
But other residents have been opposed to Atlantic Residential’s plans, some for traffic reasons but many because of the apartments.
Some have also asserted that the ROD-1 provisions don’t allow for apartments at all.
The commissioners’ vote to scrap ROD-1 was 5-0. Birrell asked that the code change be made effective immediately instead of March 1, as had been in the code.
“There could be something filed between then and now,” she said.
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We’ve been asked by some readers about the status of tax filing assistance that’s been provided by the AARP at Cobb libraries for the last few years, and today got some answers.
Due to COVID-19 restrictions, the Cobb County Public Library System announced Monday that those AARP Tax-Aide sessions will not be taking place.
Retired accountants had been on hand at various branches to help citizens with their tax filings, but some of those sessions last year were cancelled when the pandemic began.
The library system said in a release late Monday afternoon that 1040 federal 2020 tax forms will be provided as long as supplies last.
But like everything else you do with the libraries for the moment, you’ll have to order those materials in advance for curbside pickup.
The branches have been closed to patrons since December due to rising COVID case rates, but checked-out materials have been available on weekdays
Those pickup hours are Mondays from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Tuesdays through Fridays from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Contact your specific library branch to order tax forms.
Here’s more from the library system’s release:
“Curbside service for library items reserved in advance is offered at all CCPL locations except the Switzer Library in downtown Marietta as the facility is under renovation and the Sweetwater Valley and Lewis A. Ray libraries.
“Cobb libraries will also offer limited free printing of federal and state forms when contacted in advance by phone and given the form number or name. This service will not include instruction books. Library staff is unable to answer tax questions or provide advice about which forms to use.
“Residents are encouraged to review tax-filing information at irs.gov and dor.georgia.gov for details that apply to individual circumstances, including virtual resources for tax-filing assistance. Tax season has been delayed as the IRS and Georgia Department of Revenue announced 2020 tax filings will be accepted beginning on February 12, a few weeks later than normal tax-filing schedules.”
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Last week East Cobb Tavern said it was closing temporarily, but initially a reason wasn’t given.
That led to some speculation of a COVID-related closure, but the restaurant located in the Shallowford Corners Shopping Center said on its social media channels it’s because there’s an ownership change in the works.
The messages didn’t say when the restaurant will reopen. We left a message seeking more information and were told that there’s nothing definite yet.
After customers left well-wishing messages on the restaurant’s Facebook page, owner Sean McCall responded that he was hopeful the tavern’s general manager and kitchen manager would purchase the business.
“They’re great operators but Covid hurt us,” McCall said. “My wife and I are proud of the space but we can’t sustain anymore losses.”
East Cobb Tavern opened in Jan. 2020 after replacing Keegan’s Irish Pub, with a revamped menu that included items beyond traditional pub fare.
The tavern also had become the venue for dedicated sports team followers, including Notre Dame football.
The expanded tavern concept got a new addition in East Cobb in August with the opening of McCray’s Tavern at Parkaire Landing.
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After conducting socially distanced outdoor graduations for the Class of 2020 in July at McEachern High School, the Cobb County School District is doing the same thing for the Class of 2021.
The district has announced its graduation schedule, which goes from May 24 to June 4, and could extend to June 5 for weather reasons.
The district chose McEachern’s Cantrell Stadium last year because it has the largest football stadium seating capacity in the 17-high school district.
That plan was created after parents balked at original plans to have student-only graduations at Wheeler and Harrison high schools.
Before COVID-19, Cobb schools held most of its graduations indoors, at the KSU Convocation Center and some churches. Wheeler had been holding its graduations in Wildcat Arena.
This year’s schedule at McEachern is similar to 2020, and some details are still up in the air:
“Ceremonies are not scheduled on Sunday, May 30, or Memorial Day, Monday, May 31. Ceremonies are only scheduled for mornings and afternoons to avoid the heat of the afternoon.
“Tickets will be limited due to public health guidance. Specifics about ticket allocations and distribution will be provided by the individual high schools in late March. To accommodate family and friends who are unable to attend, each ceremony will be streamed live.
“More detailed information about the ceremonies including public health measures, venue information, parking, and streaming links for live viewing will be available through this web page by early May.”
Here’s the graduation schedule for the six high schools in East Cobb:
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KIDS CARE, a Marietta based nonprofit who creates, supports & implements youth community service projects, is hosting a FOOD DRIVE NOW – FEB 13, 2021. Non-perishable food items are being collected to distribute to people who are homeless & food insecure in Cobb County.
All donated food that is collected will be given to Cobb Senior Service, Center for Family Resources, The Salvation Army, and M.U.S.T. Ministries. These organizations, and many others in Cobb County, are graciously feeding the many people in our community who are food insecure.
Donations can be made in three ways. 1. In kind donations can be dropped off at the one time Drive Thru Drop Off . 2. In kind donations can be dropped at Drop Off Boxes located around town. 3. Monetary donations can be made directly to the KIDS CARE food drive-this money will be directly used to purchase food which will then be donated to the above organizations. https://kids-care2018.org/donate-1
DRIVE THRU DROP OFF: FEB 13th 11 am – 3 pm @ Marietta High School Performing Arts Center Parking Lot. Please use the Manning Rd. entrance/exit.
DROP OFF BOXES are now available during business hours now thru Feb. 13, 2021 at:
West Cobb School of Rock (West Cobb – Kennesaw)
Hawg and Ale Smokehouse (Marietta Square)
Medalyn Salon & Med Spa (Wholefoods plaza Kennesaw)
Families, youth, schools, churches, gyms & individuals are encouraged to help us in this community service mission & provide food for those in need. Please help us gather donations from friends/family/co-workers and deliver them to our Drive Thru or Drop off locations. We will then pass your food donations onto those in need in Cobb County. THANK YOU FOR HELPING US HELP OTHERS!
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 realtor Janice Overbeck with Tom Gonter of MUST Ministries.
Submitted information:
On February 18, 2021, The Atlanta Business Chronicle will hold their virtual ceremony recognizing Janice Overbeck as the 2021 Leadership in Corporate Citizenship “Rising Star” recipient. According to The Atlanta Business Chronicle, this program recognizes individuals who have found the perfect intersection of social good and corporate success by integrating relevant societal concerns into their core operating strategies and embracing them as positive for businesses, customers, employees and the metro Atlanta community. This award was only presented to three recipients including Overbeck.
She will be recognized for her efforts to support animal activism, raising funds and awareness for Emory ALS Research Center, serving as a Child Ambassador for World Vision, serving on the boards of Fix GA Pets, Georgia Pet Foundation, Keep Cobb Beautiful, and The German School of Atlanta. Much of her charitable work is done through the Janice Overbeck Real Estate Team charity JO Gives, Inc. which was founded in 2016 and is a non-profit organization.
Janice believes deeply that her company operates first and foremost as a community center that just so happens to sell real estate. In an interview with Atlanta Business Chronicle Janice stated,
“As business leaders, we have a duty to corporate social responsibility. If you do what is right and go above and beyond to give back locally and make your local community a little brighter, then, at some point, you will likely be seen and recognized for your work. Although you should initially do these things altruistically (and probably because it makes you feel good to do so), others will see the good. I strive to live by this quote from Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, “If you want to be a true professional, you will do something outside yourself, something to repair tears in your community, something to make life a little better for people less fortunate than you. That’s what I think a meaningful life is — living not for oneself, but for one’s community.”
The Janice Overbeck Real Estate team holds over fifty events a year such as poker nights, wine tastings, art shows, pet adoptions, low-cost vaccination clinics, and more to raise money for various programs including the Homeless Pets Foundation, Emory University, Chin Up Foundation, and Project Mexico.
The team was also named the 2020 Stewardship Partner of the Year with Cobb County in honor of their environmental and sustainability practices. “It is very important to me as a business owner to reduce our carbon footprint as much as possible here at the business and also conserve water and reduce single use plastic” said Janice Overbeck. The team places a heavy emphasis on setting achievable monthly goals that turn into big yearly goals and ultimately result in reaching their biggest goals.
JO Gives, Inc. is focused on low-cost pet vaccination clinics in which they have raised over $100,000 for animals in need since 2016. Since April 2019, JO Gives, Inc. has been working to spay and neuter over 2,000 cats and dogs by the end of 2020. JO Gives, Inc. also works in conjunction with a local veterinarian to build after-school programs that teach humane education of animals to children.
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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!
No new appointments are available this week [Feb. 8-13] for COVID-19 vaccinations at Jim R. Miller Park. The supply to Cobb and Douglas Public Health is still too low to schedule new appointments.
They continue to work to give people second doses and handle rescheduled first doses.
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!
The following East Cobb food scores from Feb. 1-5have been compiled by the Cobb & Douglas Department of Public Health. Click the link under each listing for inspection details:
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On Friday the Cobb County School District said it would open another choice window for parents between in-person and remote learning from Feb. 15-28.
The options families choose will begin starting March 15 and will continue through the end of the 2020-2021 school year.
Students whose parents do not make a choice during the latest window will continue learning as they began with the spring semester in January.
The district announced in November another window would become available, given the uncertain status of COVID-19 in the county. Nearly 66 of Cobb’s 107,000 students reported for in-person classes for the spring.
But one week in January was all-remote due to growing COVID-19 case numbers and staff and students in quarantine.
To make your classroom selection, families should follow the steps below:
1. Make sure the adult who first enrolled each student (the enrolling adult) completes the choice process. Attempting to complete the process as another adult will not work.
3. Log in with your username and password. If you have forgotten your password, click the Forgot Password link on the login page.
4. Once you are signed in to ParentVUE, direct your attention to the left-hand side menu and select the Back to School Choice menu item.
5. On the Back to School Choice page, find each of your registered students listed, along with the two learning options (FACE-TO-FACE or continue FULL REMOTE) for each.
6. Choose the option that best fits the needs of your student(s) and family.
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Walton has reported 99 confirmed COVID cases since last July, the most in the Cobb County School District.
As COVID-19 case rates drop in Cobb County, so have the numbers of confirmed new cases in the Cobb County School District—but only slightly.
The district reported on Friday 331 new cases, the lowest one-week total since 470 were confirmed the week of Jan. 15.
Since the district began reporting cases last July 1, there have been 3,499 cases among students and staff. Most have come since students returned for in-person classes in October.
Walton High School in East Cobb had 18 of this week’s new cases, the most for any school in the 113-school Cobb district.
Since last July, there have been 99 cases recorded at Walton, 85 at Lassiter, 83 at Pope and 74 at Kell. At Walton, 64 of those cases have been reported since Dec. 18.
The Cobb school district does not break down the number of students and staff who get COVID, nor does it disclose how many individuals are out due to quarantine.
For a week in January, classes went all-remote due to what the district said were high absence rates for those testing positive and in quarantine.
That also came after the deaths of three Cobb school district teachers since Christmas, and pleas from other teachers to stay virtual.
Nearly two-thirds of the district’s 107,000 students are taking in-person classes during the spring semester that began Jan. 6.
Metro Atlanta school board members and superintendents, including from Cobb, have asked Gov. Brian Kemp to consider moving teachers up in line to receive the COVID-19 vaccines.
But on Wednesday, he said during a press conference in Marietta that the state is running extremely short on vaccine supplies for everyone, including seniors.
“We want to expand the criteria, but it’s just not feasible now,” Kemp said.
The seven-day moving average of COVID-19 cases has fallen in Cobb County from 576 on Jan. 12 to 275 on Thursday, according to the Georgia DPH daily status report
The level of community spread also has dropped significantly in Cobb, to a 14-day average of 562 cases per 100,000 people. In January, that figure was over 1,000.
Cobb reported 268 new cases on Thursday and seven deaths, following 11 deaths reported on Wednesday. Since the COVID pandemic began last March, there have been 51,668 cases in Cobb County and 723 deaths.
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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.
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.
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Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp looked behind him at the COVID-19 vaccination set-up at Jim Miller Park on Wednesday and pointed to a trickle of cars coming through one lane, and another with no traffic at all.
“If we had more supply, that lane that is empty would be full of cars,” Kemp said during a news conference at the site that Cobb and Douglas Public Health has set up for the public to receive vaccines.
“This operation is exemplary, said Dr. Kathleen Toomey, the commissioner of the Georgia Department of Public Health.
The problem is there aren’t many vaccines to distribute, so it’s a venue that isn’t very busy right now.
That’s because of a severe supply shortage of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines that arrived in early January.
The issues aren’t just limited to Cobb and Georgia, but the time being, Cobb and Douglas Public Health isn’t booking new appointments.
This is what the Georgia Department of Public Health is calling Phase 1A+ and those eligible are seniors age 65 and older, first responders, law enforcement personnel and health care workers.
Of the 1 million vaccines distributed by Georgia DPH—or roughly two-thirds of what the state has received from the federal government—502,393 have been first shots for seniors.
While Kemp said he was happy with that progress, it’s far from being enough. He said that Georgia’s weekly allotment of vaccines from the federal government is being pushed up from around 120,000 doses to more than 154,000 doses, starting as soon as next week.
But with 2 million people eligible in Phase 1A+, including 1.3 million seniors, there’s still a long way to go.
“The supply does not meet the demand that we have in our state,” said Kemp, who was joined by Toomey, Cobb and Douglas Public Health director Dr. Janet Memark and Cobb Commission Chairwoman Lisa Cupid.
The additional supplies are welcome, he added, but “it’s not going to change our shortage.”
Cobb and Douglas Public Health had been vaccinating around 700 people a day in Phase 1A+, but stopped taking new appointments last Friday, when it was able to give out only 400 shots.
Memark said the vaccine doses the agency has are being used for those people who had previous appointments. In a previous briefing to Cobb commissioners, she was hopeful that Jim Miller Park could distribute around 1,000 people daily.
Valerie Crow, a spokeswoman for Cobb and Douglas Public Health, could not say when vaccine appointments would resume and said “we don’t know what to expect as far as vaccine supply.”
Those eligible can get a vaccine through a medical provider and other locations like pharmacies, but “their vaccine supply has also been limited.”
Crow said those individuals who have received an initial vaccination will be contacted about booking a second appointment. “We have a team working on this now,” she said.
Citizens in Phase 1A+ don’t have to be vaccinated in their county of residence, and Georgia DPH has set up locator site with information on availability. The only requirement, Crow said, is that they be Georgia residents.
While a new variant of COVID-19 is emerging in the metro Atlanta area, case rates are falling throughout the state.
The seven-day moving average has fallen 46 percent in Georgia from its high of 6,353 on Jan. 11.
The level of community spread also has dropped significantly in Cobb, to a 14-day average of 562 cases per 100,000 people. In January, that figure was over 1,000.
Cobb reported 268 new cases on Thursday and seven deaths, following 11 deaths reported on Wednesday. Since the COVID pandemic began last March, there have been 51,668 cases in Cobb County and 723 deaths.
In Georgia there were 6,066 new PCR and antigen tests reported and 141 deaths on Thursday. In the state, a total of 13,048 people have died from COVID since last March.
“We’re still in a deadly race against a very contagious virus,” Kemp said. “This virus is killing too many of our fellow Georgians.”
Kemp and health officials urged the public to remain cautious and practice the 3Ws—washing hands, wearing masks, and practicing social distancing.
“We still have a lot of fighting to do in Cobb County,” Memark said. “We still have a lot of hope that comes with this vaccine.”
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!
PASSION FOR PETS PHOTO CONTEST. Show off the one you love! Submit your photos between Feb. 1-12. Visit The Avenue East Cobb to view the photo window display located between Sephora and Simply Mac. The first 25 entries will receive a silver 5×7 picture frame. All entries will be included in an album on THE AVENUE EAST COBB FACEBOOK PAGE for online voting. Gift Card Prizes announced Monday Feb. 15th. SUBMIT PHOTOS to the Management Office (next to Panera) or Email PCHANIN@POAGLLC.COM.
COMPLIMENTARY PROFESSIONAL PET PHOTO SHOOT. Need a new photo of your pet?Book your pet photo shoot on Wednesday, February 10 from 1PM – 4PM. Your photo will automatically be entered into the Photo Contest. RESERVATIONS REQUIRED. To book your pet photo shoot, call the Marketing Coordinator M-F from 9 am – 5 pm in the Management Office at 770-971-9945 X3.
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!
A mixed-use project that would turn an older single-family neighborhood into apartments, senior living and restaurant space at the intersection of the South Marietta Loop and Powers Ferry Road is being delayed again.
At its meeting Tuesday night, the Marietta Planning Commission agreed to table the proposal by Nexus Gardens, after the developer’s attorney added new stipulations and other changes the day before.
We first reported in November about Nexus Gardens, which would occupy 17.14 acres that also includes undeveloped land that fronts Interstate 75 at the South Marietta Loop exit.
The assemblage includes 17 homes on Meadowbrook Drive and one on Virginia Place that are within the city limits.
Nexus Gardens would include two five-story apartment buildings totalling 280 units served by a three-story parking deck, a five-story senior-living building with 160 units and 39 townhomes.
A commercial building at the center of the project would have a restaurant with outdoor dining. An “alternate” three-story building would contain more restaurant and retail space, event space and a coffee shop. Two smaller retail buildings would line Powers Ferry at Meadowbrook Drive, the lone access point for the development.
The proposal also calls for a variety of amenities in and around the residential buildings as well as a community walking trail, courtyard areas, “gardenesque” landscaping, a dog park and a reflecting pond with water jets.
But plenty of community opposition has mounted since then, including from a nearby neighborhood that’s in unincorporated Cobb. They’ve launched a website, Save Our Marietta.
Among their objections is that Nexus Gardens would have only one access point—on Meadowbrook Lane, which is in unincorporated Cobb.
The Nexus Gardens developers recently commissioned a traffic study (that you can read here) and also submitted into the case filings.
The Save Our Marietta group is claiming the development would bring an additional 800 trips a day through that and other residential streets and is urging the county to ask that the traffic study be reviewed by Cobb and state DOT.
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!
We got a message Wednesday morning from Rachel Bruce, who lives near the mixed-use project at the Johnson Ferry-Shallowford intersection being proposed by North Point Ministries, which wants to build the East Cobb Church there.
Yesterday we posted our interview with East Cobb Church Pastor Jamey Dickens; Bruce tells us she’s part of a group of more than 200 residents opposed to the project who have been gathering online.
They’ve also started an online petition to oppose Z-72, which includes townhomes and retail, “due to the high density, and not being in line with the JOSH study.”
That’s the Johnson Ferry-Shallowford master plan that was adopted last year, after more than two years of community input, and reflects a desire to keep a single-family residential area that way.
A number of the petition’s signatories have expressed that sentiment.
There’s also a petition that’s been created to support the rezoning, saying the project “will bring a community-centric church” and other amenities to property where “dilapidated homes and property have existed for over a decade.”
She’ll be joined by Cobb Planning Commission member Tony Waybright; and Dickens told us the meeting includes a presentation of the project by Kevin Moore, North Point’s attorney.
The town hall also will take questions from the public, pro, con or undecided.
The zoning case, as we noted yesterday, is being continued to March.
You can sign up for Richardson’s town hall by clicking here. Her office will send out an e-mail prior to the meeting with a link to the event and information on the meeting structure.
Dickens said in our interview that numerous changes are in the works, and what they’re including thus far will be presented by Moore at Thursday’s town hall.
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A rendering of the proposed East Cobb Church at Johnson Ferry and Shallowford roads.
While he’s building a faith community during a pandemic, Rev. Jamey Dickens is also taking a crash course in how the zoning process works in Cobb County.
The pastor of East Cobb Church, the newest addition to the North Point Ministries family of Atlanta-area non-denominational congregations, Dickens lives not far from the proposed church home at the southwest corner of Johnson Ferry and Shallowford roads.
His church’s motto is “to love where you live,” and Dickens said in an interview with East Cobb News on Monday that “we want to listen to our new neighbors.”
North Point’s request is for more than a new sanctuary and church-related facilities. More than 100 townhomes and some retail space are planned for the 33-acre site that’s at the heart of the “JOSH” community.
North Point’s zoning case, first filed last fall, was to have been heard Tuesday by the Cobb Planning Commission. But that has been continued to March by the Cobb zoning staff, which initially recommended denial for traffic, density and land-use reasons.
On Thursday, Cobb Commissioner Jerica Richardson and Planning Commissioner Tony Waybright will be conducting a virtual town hall to get public feedback on the project. Dickens said Kevin Moore, North Point’s zoning attorney, will make a presentation that is being revised from the original plans.
You can sign up by clicking here. Richardson’s office will send out an e-mail prior to the meeting with a link to the event and information on the meeting structure.
“What we’re doing is ever-evolving,” said Dickens, who indicated the number of townhomes may be reduced, among other changes.
Those have been in the works after North Point leaders met with nearby homeowners groups, as well as Richardson, Waybright and others in the community.
Dickens said he understands some of the concerns that have been expressed—especially about traffic from the church as well as the townhomes.
East Cobb Church is planning a facility with a four-story building and sanctuary for up to 1,300 people, as well as a parking deck.
Dickens said the parking deck, which would front Shallowford Road, will be at surface levels, as will all other parking areas.
North Point’s plans are to acquire the entire 33-acre site from prominent attorney Fred Hanna and his wife’s outreach ministry, which they tried to assemble for a residential project in 2016 that was withdrawn.
The church would then sell the portion of the land for the townhomes to a developer that North Point is currently negotiating with.
Rev. Jamey Dickens in his role as student pastor at Buckhead Church.
As for church activities, Dickens said only Sunday mornings will pose any traffic issues. Like the other North Point congregations, East Cobb Church will not have a pre-school during the week.
The East Cobb Church sanctuary is smaller than most of the other North Point churches, and Dickens said as is the case at the other locations, this one will have off-duty police who will “prioritize all traffic.
“If our people need to wait, then fine,” Dickens aid.
He said he’s hopeful that Thursday’s town hall will clear up some of the “misconceptions” about North Point’s plans.
“I don’t feel like that on our side it’s a battle,” he said. “I feel confident that we’re going to find a version of this that works.”
The Johnson Ferry-Shallowford site wasn’t something Dickens said he initially thought was the right “fit” for East Cobb Church, which became part of North Point Ministries in late 2019 and had been meeting at Eastside Baptist Church.
After serving as the student pastor at Buckhead Church, Dickens was tapped to lead the new congregation, which grew out of having members from various North Point churches who live in East Cobb, and who wanted to worship closer to home.
“We think we have an incredible message, and we know that people want to be connected to a church where they feel at home,” he said.
East Cobb Church has grown to around 800 people (children excluded), and he estimated that typical in-person attendance was around 600. Services have been continuing online during the pandemic.
North Point was founded in 1995 in Alpharetta by Rev. Andy Stanley, the son of retired First Baptist Church of Atlanta Rev. Charles Stanley. Other North Point churches are located in Woodstock, Cumming, Decatur and Buford.
North Point congregations are known for having mid-week Bible studies in the homes of their members, as well as community outreach.
In October, East Cobb Church raised money for and donated a box truck for Simple Needs GA, which provides furniture and other household goods and everyday items for needy families.
While many of the new church’s members are young families like Dickens’—he and his wife have four children—some of the empty-nesters are among East Cobb Church’s most active volunteers.
He said of Thursday’s meeting that he’s hopeful the North Point presentation “will put some people’s minds at ease.”
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The Cobb County School District said Tuesday that all schools in the 113-school district were placed on a “brief lockdown” due to a systemwide issue with its AlertPoint emergency alert system.
In a social media message posted around noon, the district said that the lockdowns were lifted and “there was no threat to students or staff at any time. Teachers are teaching and students are learning.”
The message didn’t indicate how long the lockdowns lasted.
In 2017 Cobb schools began implementing AlertPoint, which allows each employee within a school—including administrators, teachers and other staffers—to activate a device should an emergency occur. This includes fires, active shooters and other intruders, physical altercations and medical emergencies.
When an AlertPoint device is activated, alert information is relayed via computer and mobile devices to school-level administrators and security personnel, as well as at the school district office, within seconds.
The location and identity of the person sending the alert also is transmitted. When a “Code Red” alert is triggered, flashing lights, beeping sounds and voice messages ring out, and the intercom system indicates a lockdown situation is underway.
The AlertPoint system is patterned after existing school fire emergency procedures.
Bells Ferry Elementary School in East Cobb was one of the first schools to use AlertPoint during a proof-of-concept period.
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The Georgia Department of Public Health on Monday said that 19 cases of a COVID-19 variant first detected in the United Kingdom have been confirmed in the state, including in Cobb County.
The nine counties Georgia DPH identified as having variant cases are in metro Atlanta: Carroll, Cherokee, Clayton, Cobb, DeKalb, Douglas, Fulton, Gwinnett, and Paulding.
The individuals diagnosed with the variant are between the ages of 15 to 61. They include eight males and 11 females, according to a Georgia DPH press release, which added that the agency is “working to identify close contacts of the individuals, and will monitor them closely.”
Georgia DPH didn’t break down the number of cases in each county.
Last week, Cobb and Douglas Public Health director Dr. Janet Memark told county commissioners that a mutation of COVID-19 had been detected in Cobb, but didn’t elaborate.
The variant detected by Georgia DPH is called B.1.1.7, which the U.S. Centers for Disease Control said emerged in the U.K. and was first identified in the United States in December. At least 30 states have reported B.1.1.7 cases.
The CDC said that mutation “may be associated with an increased risk of death compared with other variants” and that it may become the dominant strain in the U.S. by March.
The Georgia DPH release said that Pfizer and Moderna, whose vaccines have been distributed in limited quantities in the state, say those vaccines “appear to work against this variant.”
Georgia DPH urged the public to follow familiar habits to prevent the spread of COVID: Wearing masks, washing hands and practicing social-distancing.
The agency also said that “just because [the variant] has not been identified in a particular city or county does not mean it is not there—individuals could be infected anywhere in the state, or in some cases out of state.”
Georgia DPH reported 2,587 new COVID cases and 44 deaths on Monday. In Cobb, there were 236 new cases and one new death, bringing the county’s cumulative totals from last March to 50,928 and 702.
After a serious spike in cases in early January—Cobb reported a single-day record of 981 on Jan. 8—case rates have been falling, both according to the “date of report,” when a positive COVID case is reported to health authorities, and “date of onset,” or the day someone feels symptoms and gets tested.
Also falling are Cobb’s figures on community spread—as seen in the Cobb GIS graphic above. After surpassing a 14-day average of more than 1,000 cases per 100,000 people, Georgia DPH data on Monday show that number is 611 in Cobb.
That’s well above the “high community spread” threshold of 100 cases, but Memark said in her remarks the drop is an encouraging sign.
What’s not encouraging are efforts to vaccine those at high risk in Georgia. Cobb and Douglas Public Health said Friday it is not taking any new appointments for vaccinations because of limited vaccine supplies, and is using what it has for those already with confirmed first appointments, and those people needing second doses.
The agency distributed only 400 vaccines on Friday, after providing nearly 700 on Monday. Memark said increasing the number of shipments may not happen until March or April.
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