It’s been nearly five years since the Johnson Ferry Design Guidelines were unveiled and revised following numerous public hearings.
As part of the Johnson Ferry Urban Design project from 2009-11, the guidelines were to meant to foster greater aesthetic unity along one of East Cobb’s busiest commercial corridors, ranging from standards for streetlights and sidewalks to landscaping, park benches and other public amenities.
However, those guidelines have never been acted upon by the Cobb Board of Commissioners. That may change at Tuesday’s commission meeting, which includes an agenda item to adopt the guidelines. The meeting begins at 7 p.m. in the second floor meeting room of the Cobb government building, 100 Cherokee St., in downtown Marietta.
UPDATED: The guidelines, which were part of the consent agenda, were passed by a 5-0 vote Tuesday night.
Here’s a brief description of why this is coming up now:
“Recently, discussions between the District Commissioner, staff, and members of the community have occurred to bring the Design Guidelines forward for formal consideration by the Board of Commissioners. If approved by the Board of Commissioners, staff will use the guidelines as recommendations to work with property owners when zoning applications, variance applications, and site plans are submitted for review and/or consideration.”
As was the case when the guidelines were made public in 2013, they would apply to commercial property owners who go through the rezoning process and variance applications, as noted above. The design evolution could take many years.
The corridor area is along Johnson Ferry between Roswell Road and the Chattahoochee River (see below streetscape map from the final urban design guidelines).
What’s on Tuesday’s agenda doesn’t look substantially different from where the issue was left in 2013. According to the introduction, the guidelines are “intended to assist architects, engineers, planners, developers and community members to make more informed design decisions based on community preference.”
They also had the support of the East Cobb Civic Association. The design study was prompted by East Cobb commissioner Bob Ott, who also commissioned corridor studies for the Powers Ferry area and, currently, in the Johnson Ferry-Shallowford community that is now part of his District 2.
Ott said after the vote that the guidelines were held up because “some folks had issues” back in 2013 but said he wanted to get them adopted with upcoming rezonings and variances to consider.
The guidelines will be incorporated into the design plan’s developmental standards.
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