After first hearing, Sprayberry Crossing rezoning held again

East Cobb zoning changes

The Cobb Planning Commission is holding both of the major East Cobb redevelopment cases on that were on its rezoning agenda in April.

Not long after voting to delay the East Cobb Church mixed-used project at Johnson Ferry and Shallowford, the planning board voted to do the same thing for Sprayberry Crossing.

Both got their first hearings Tuesday after many months of delays and continuances. They’re tentatively scheduled to go back before the Planning Commission in May, but numerous questions remain, and plenty of opposition surfaced during lengthy presentations.

The Sprayberry Crossing case took up two hours before the Planning Commission, which voted 5-0 to get more updated information for its May meeting.

In making a motion to hold the request by Atlantic Realty for apartments, townhomes, a grocery store and retail and greenspace at Sandy Plains and East Piedmont, planning commissioner Deborah Dance said “it’s hard to mesh all the information that’s coming in at once.”

She referred to a late traffic study that was submitted by the developed on March 31, and comments on them by Cobb DOT that were made only Monday.

Traffic issues include a signalization at Sandy Plains at Kinjac Drive, the main access point for the proposed development, and creating a median at Post Oak Tritt Road to limit access into and out of the project.

Other concerns are over stormwater and water and sewer issues.

Perhaps the most divisive issue, however, is the proposal for apartments. Atlantic Realty is an Atlanta-based developer of upscale apartments, but opponents of the Sprayberry Crossing plans said Tuesday they’re convinced multi-family housing will hurt a community dominated by single-family neighbornoods.

Its proposal includes 125 apartments, 125 senior apartments and 44 townhomes.

Craig Blafer, who lives near Sprayberry Crossing, said that “we think this builder is building badly. This is not the right plan for the property. We can do better.”

Apartments, resident David Stafford said, would attract “transient, lower-income individuals who would bring crime and other problems” to the area.

“This is not the East-West Connector,” he said. “This is Sandy Plans and East Piedmont.”

Kevin Moore, an attorney for Atlantic Realty, was asked by Dance to address that point.

“I don’t believe that to be the case at all,” he said, adding that most of the apartments would be one-bedroom units starting at $1,400 a month.

Atlantic Realty also has asked in its rezoning request to waive a requirement for the redevelopment category it is seeking to earmark 10 percent of residential units for affordable housing purposes.

In his initial presentation Tuesday, Moore said that after a two-year-long process of working with the community, his client has worked to produce a plan with “meaningful” components, including what would be a Lidl grocery store, to make redevelopment on the property successful.

Some residents who have long wanted to see the existing blighted shopping center redeveloped concurred.

Sally Platt, president of the Autumn Ridge homeowners association, said while not everything is perfect about Atlantic Realty’s request, “it’s a wonderful compromise” and that outstanding issues are “not deal-breakers.”

Sprayberry Crossing, Moore said, needs to be redeveloped “badly.” He later said that after nearly two decades of sitting as an eyesore, this may be the last chance to do something about it.

“If we miss this opportunity, we miss it,” Moore said emphatically. “I can’t imagine missing this.”

But Dance, a former Cobb County Attorney who was appointed by Commissioner JoAnn Birrell in January, said that she’s received 145 e-mails in favor of the rezoning and 165 against, with more petitions coming in.

She also asked Moore if the developer would be “open to [consider] more ownership opportunities” instead of rental units.

I live just around the corner from this proposed development. I’m against any housing that isn’t detached, single-family housing.
The proposed median on Post Oak Tritt will greatly impact my ability to skip traffic on Sandy Plains for quick runs to the businesses on the east side of Sandy Plains, though people leaving the proposed area behind McD’s shouldn’t be allowed to make left turns on to Post Oak Tritt for safety, even today.
I’d much rather see 50% of the land turned into a green space, surrounding the family cemetery, with a green buffer to hide new businesses. Don’t really want something like The Avenue in far-east Cobb. Something like the new Greenwise shopping area on Sandy Plains near Shallowford would be good.
Perhaps 30-40 homes could be located in the back on 1/4 acre lots?
$1400/month for a 1 bdr apartment is almost 2x higher than our mortgage for a 4 bdr home on 1/3 acre, though we’ve been here 20+ yrs. When I lived in an apartment, I wanted to be much closer to an interstate.

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