A rendering of single-family homes that will be built on former Wigley Farm land.
After more than a year of delays, revised site plans and other changes, a Wigley Road rezoning case was approved Tuesday by the Cobb Board of Commissioners.
The case file was numbered Z-56 of 2017, and it was Oak Hall Companies’ project to build single-family homes on a sloping tract of land that once was part of the Wigley Farm in Northeast Cobb, just below the Cherokee County line.
Commissioners approved most of what the Cobb Planning Commission recommended earlier this month: A total of 91 homes on 96 acres. Because of the hilly topography, however, only about half of that acreage will be developed.
The rezoning request was for R-30 OSC, or low-density residential in an Open Space Community. The land has been in the estate of Audra Wigley.
There will be conservation easements and other buffers and measures to limit stormwater runoff that was a major concern, and responsible for some of the delays.
“This is the best we’re going to get,” said District 3 Cobb Commissioner JoAnn Birrell, who represents the area.
Had the developer wanted to stick with the R-30 category already in place, not only would rezoning not be required, but around 105 homes would have been allowed without any mandate for buffers or protective space.
The initial rezoning request called for 96 homes, but that was reduced to 91 by the planning commission.
The request approved Tuesday calls for a 40-foot undisturbed buffer surrounding the entire development, which Oak Hall Companies is calling Provence Estates.
The original application came in two pieces, but was combined earlier this year. The acreage is on Wigley Road and north of Summitop Road, where opposition to the rezoning emerged.
Traffic concerns also were referenced by nearby residents (a traffic impact study was done in March, and can be found here), as were stormwater issues.
Some of those citizens who had been opposed urged commissioners on Tuesday to keep their concerns in mind. Among them include erosion and runoff from areas under development, and resident Tony Garcia, a Summitop Road resident, presented photos he took of that activity.
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By a unanimous vote Tuesday county commissioners approved an East Cobb Restaurant Row rezoning request to transform a long-existing eyesore in the Powers Ferry Road corridor.
After a lengthy discussion, which included a history of the area’s changing demographics, commissioners made few changes to the request by Powers Ferry Road Investors LLC to convert 8.8 acres to a regional retail commercial category that’s used for large mixed-use projects.
In moving to approve the request (agenda item packet here), District 2 commissioner Bob Ott included conditions that reduce the maximum number of apartment units from 290 to 280 and senior living units from 181 to 171.
The development will contain 578,885 square feet, all but 10,000 of it for residential buildings, with the rest for restaurant and retail space. The multi-family building will be six stories, and the senior building will have five stories. A 3-story parking deck and other parking on the property will provide 711 spaces.
The only business that is there now is the Rose and Crown Tavern, which is surrounded by three other empty former restaurant buildings occupied by Sal Grosso, Famous Dave’s and TGI Friday’s.
Some of them have been sitting empty for years. Ott noted that the Rose and Crown, which opened in 2013, is different because it is a bar as well.
The land is adjacent to the Wildwood office park.
Commissioner Bob Ott lives near the Restaurant Row area on Powers Ferry Road.
The restaurants did well during lunch hour because of its proximity to Wildwood, but suffered during dinner hours.
“Restaurants don’t survive,” said Ott, who lives in the nearby Terrell Mill Estates community. “It is a blighted property.”
While the Powers Ferry Corridor Alliance supported the request, some citizens living in the nearby Horizons at Wildwood condominiums were opposed, citing density, environmental, traffic and safety reasons.
Eric Meadows, a Horizons resident who has led the opposition, took issue with a claim by James Balli, an attorney for the applicant, that there aren’t any hazards to citizens walking along Windy Ridge Parkway.
As he stated at a Cobb Planning Commission hearing earlier this month, a resident was struck walking his dog on the road, which surrounds the back of the Restaurant Row land, and went to the hospital
“Does it take us for someone to be killed before we do something?” Meadows said.
The Rose and Crown Tavern is slated to become part of the new development on Restaurant Row.
Ott said the Restaurant Row property has been eyed by potential developers for more than two years. Located at Powers Ferry and Windy Hill Road, it once was seen as the nucleus of the corridor.
Another key change over the years has been the string of apartment complexes in the corridor. Many of them were built as adult-only, but were forced to open their doors to families after a court ruling in the 1970s.
That affected nearby schools in the Wheeler cluster, especially Brumby Elementary, but also things like restaurant patronage.
Another condition for the rezoning is for future residents to be notified in their least agreements of potential noise issues, since the area is in the flight path of nearby Dobbins Air Reserve Base.
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Rendering of a proposed 290-unit apartment complex on Powers Ferry Road at Windy Ridge Parkway, where the vacant TGI Friday’s building sits.
Just a quick final glance at items we’ve tracked previously that are on Tuesday’s Cobb Board of Commissioners zoning hearing (agenda summary here), which includes the East Cobb Restaurant Row and Wigley Road applications, with information updated as of Friday:
Here is additional correspondence posted Friday, including a revised stipulation letter from Garvis Sams, attorney for Powers Ferry Investors LLC, the applicant, on Thursday, and a letter from Sheldon Schlegman, an architect with a practice nearby on Windy Ridge Parkway and a resident of the adjacent Horizons condominium building and who is against the application as presented.
“I am curious as to how the Cobb DOT plans on addressing the appalling outrageous increase in congestion, not withstanding the [MarketPlace] Development.”
Another Powers Ferry Road case, in fact just across the street from the Restaurant Row tract, also is on the docket. Here are the file details for the Chance Powers Ferry application to tear down the old Powers Ferry Woods office park for a mixed-use project on less than four acres, with 300 multi-family housing units and office space. The planning board also recommended that delayed request for approval.
The Cobb BOC zoning hearing starts at 9 a.m. Tuesday in the 2nd floor boardroom of the Cobb government building, 100 Cherokee St., in downtown Marietta.
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Earlier today a coalition of residents from Wildwood, the Powers Ferry area, the Cumberland Improvement District and Cobb County, GA came together to launch a petition that opposes the redevelopment of Z-47 2018, or Restaurant Row because it is not good for Cobb County, the Community or the Chattahoochee River.
The petition is titled:
Z-47 is Not Good for Cobb County, the Community or the Chattahoochee
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Cobb commissioners spent $1.7 million this year to buy Ebenezer Road property for a future passive park. (East Cobb News photos by Wendy Parker)
Last week a national organization that examines municipal and local governance concerns published a series of posts about Cobb County growth issues, especially in the years since the recession.
The organization is called Strong Towns, which I have not heard of before. It describes itself as a non-profit media organization that’s based in Brainerd, Minn., a small town with a population of 13,000 or so, not close to a metropolitan area.
On Tuesdays I like to focus on local government, since that’s when many Cobb Board of Commissioners meetings take place. Today’s meeting has been cancelled, and I thought I’d delve a little into this interesting, but flawed examination.
The five-part Strong Towns report, which has gotten some chatter on Cobb citizens social media groups, refers to Cobb as “a suburban region that epitomizes the folly of going into debt to build more and more infrastructure with no ability to pay for it.”
Condominiums along Powers Ferry Road are part of a high-density community spreading out from SunTrust Park.
While that’s certainly how many locals around here feel about what’s happening in the county, I think the premise is faulty, and I’m skeptical of some of the claims made in this report.
Strong Towns misses one of the biggest points of all: Cobb remains a very attractive magnet for jobs because of its diversified economy and a well-educated workforce, the partial byproduct of another major attraction here, excellent public schools.
Cobb isn’t as “addicted to growth,” as the initial post is titled, as much as new residents and employers are continuously drawn by quality services and low taxes. A heavy pipeline of development bottled up during the lean years of the recession is taking shape.
These realities were not examined by Strong Towns, but I will link to all the posts in this series so you can read for yourself:
In an evergreen post elsewhere on its site, Strong Towns claims that many cities and counties in America are falling for a “Growth Ponzi Scheme,” which it further asserts as “the dominant model of suburban growth since the mid-20th century.”
The final post about Cobb started off with a reference to Bernie Madoff, who’s serving prison time for defrauding investors.
Really? To try to make a link between criminal behavior and the development and financial issues of a bustling suburban county, albeit one with major budget problems, borders on being irresponsible, as well as willfully misunderstanding.
Cobb commissioners this spring adopted the long-delayed Johnson Ferry Urban Design Guidelines to guide future growth in the busy commercial corridor.
I will always detest the Atlanta Braves stadium deal because the process was a total sham. But that doesn’t explain the county’s budget, tax and spending issues, which go back many years.
The county wasn’t chasing growth as much as it wasn’t sufficiently funding the growth that was already here or on the way, or was having trouble keeping up with the pace of the growth.
(Here’s a good example: When our family moved to East Cobb in the early 1970s, our home was still on septic tank, with the Sope Creek sewer line still under construction.)
There is an anti-suburban sentiment behind this report, and this is the biggest problem with it:
“Much of Cobb County . . . feels like nowhere. It has no center of gravity. It has no thriving urban core to serve as a tax-revenue cash cow.”
A citizen living near a proposed townhome community near Olde Town Athletic Club demonstrated to county commissioners this spring the building heights that were part of the initial plan.
Ironically, the area around SunTrust may prove to be just such a place. Cobb does have many misplaced priorities, symbolized by the Braves deal, and which I wrote not long ago stripped away the illusion of supposedly fiscally conservative government.
Instead of really trying to understand the unique challenges facing a Sunbelt community that has gone from mostly rural to suburban and now urban in many spots, and in about a half-century or so, Strong Towns wants Cobb to be more like Brainerd, I guess (a place where I’ve never been).
From what I’ve read about this organization, it wants every place to be like small-town America, with bucolic downtown cores, pedestrian-friendly shops and restaurants and adaptable to a “traditional development pattern.”
While that sentiment does have some conservative support, and it’s appealing to me as I continue on in middle age, it has never really come about in Cobb, for better or for worse.
It’s a nice ideal, but it doesn’t offer any practical solutions. Strong Towns produced a lot of words about Cobb County but with little real local knowledge on the ground about its subject.
That matters.
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A rendering of a home in the proposed Provence Estates subdivision on Wigley Road.
After more than a year of delays, the Cobb Planning Commission Tuesday recommended approval of a Wigley Road rezoning case that would convert hilly, rocky former farm terrain into a single-family subdivision.
The commission vote was 4-1 in favor of an application by Oak Hall Companies for single-family homes on 96 acres on what once was the Wigley family farm. The land abuts the Cherokee County line to the north, and is north of Sweat Mountain, Jamerson Road and Summitop Road.
The planning board initially heard the case in May but placed a 60-day hold on the application, which was once again delayed in July.
The developer wanted to build 95 homes for a community to be called Provence Estates, but the commissioners recommended 91 instead. Parks Huff, an attorney for Oak Hall, noted the rarity of a proposal for single-family homes that is around one to an acre.
Since the planning board recommended the R-30 OSC category, roughly half the tract would be placed in a conservation easement.
The land is from the estate of Audra Mae Wigley and was part of the Wigley Farm in Northeast Cobb. Initially, the Oak Hall application was for 55 acres, but both pieces of the former farm property were put together in a single request earlier this year.
Some neighbors were opposed for traffic as well as for stormwater runoff issues, and it was a factor outgoing planning commissioner Thea Powell cited for her vote against the request.
The Cobb Board of Commissioners will have the final say on the rezoning request on Aug. 21.
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The Rose and Crown Tavern is the only existing business on “Restaurant Row” on Powers Ferry Road. (East Cobb News photos by Wendy Parker)
A rezoning to allow a Powers Ferry Restaurant Row project that would raze mostly empty commercial property was recommended for approval Tuesday by the Cobb Planning Commission.
The board voted 4-1 to recommend a request by Powers Ferry Road Investors, LLC, to rezone 8.8 acres to regional retail commercial (RRC) from the current general commercial (GC) category.
Most of the land includes vacant restaurant space, with the exception of the Rose and Crown Tavern at 1931 Powers Ferry Road. The rezoning plans call for that restaurant to be part of the multi-use complex, which would include 290 apartments and 181 senior living units.
Rose and Crown would be expanded from 4,400 square feet to 6,000 square feet in a 10,000-square-foot restaurant/retail building.
“It stays and it gets better,” said Marietta zoning attorney James Balli, who represents the applicant.
The land along Powers Ferry sits between Windy Hill Road and Windy Ridge Parkway and is next to the Wildwood Office Park.
Window signage for the long-departed Famous Dave’s restaurant remains.
Three other free-standing buildings have been empty for years, and once housed the Sal Grosso, TGI Friday’s and Famous Dave’s restaurants.
Balli told the planning board that under the current GC category, the land could be used for adult entertainment businesses, nightclubs, tattoo parlors and even a homeless shelter.
While some nearby residents support redeveloping the property, they objected to the parking density and were upset that no crash data information was provided in the application.
The developer is calling for 711 total parking spaces for the development, far less than the minimum of 783 required by the county code.
Balli said that by comparison, the adjoining Horizons at Wildwood, an 18-story condominium complex, has 442 spaces for 273 units.
Eric Meadows, who lives in the Horizons, said his building has 454 parking spaces (two under code), for a ratio of 1.82, and calculated that the Restaurant Row parking density would come to 1.38 spaces per each apartment unit and 1.08 for the senior building.
The Horizons at Wildwood condos overlook Restaurant Row.
“That’s unacceptable,” Meadows said. “I do not believe it’s a suitable solution.”
He also objected to the front and rear setbacks being reduced from the minimum 50 feet to 15 feet, saying there’s nothing else like that around Wildwood.
Meadows also said Horizons residents and their pets have come close to being hit by cars while walking along Windy Ridge Parkway.
Planning commissioner Andy Smith of East Cobb, who represents District 2, supported the application and requested that a stipulation be included for crash data figures to be prepared when the Cobb Board of Commissioners takes up the request Aug. 21.
“This is head and shoulders above anything I’ve seen for this proposed site,” Smith said.
The only opposing vote came from Thea Powell of East Cobb, and it was her final vote. She said she was being replaced by commission chairman Mike Boyce for publicly opposing his property tax increase.
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Cobb Planning Commissioner Thea Powell, who said she was being replaced by Cobb Commission Chairman Mike Boyce, offered some remarks Tuesday morning before her last meeting.
An East Cobb resident who also served twice on the Cobb Board of Commissioners, said she received a letter from Boyce on July 26 notifying her of her termination, effective at the end of August.
She said Boyce had never expressed to her any disagreements about her votes on zoning issues, and said no reason was given for her firing. Powell noted that the letter came not long after she spoke out as a citizen against his proposed property tax increase.
In her comments, Powell made references to freedom of speech, saying that “no government should have the arrogance to believe that it alone knows what is in the best interest of its citizens.”
She thanked her colleagues on the five-member Planning Commission, who are appointed by county commissioners, and urged them “to continue to listen to all who come before” them.
She also thanked the county zoning staff and citizens and said “you have and will continue to make a difference.”
At the last public hearing before the budget was adopted, on Aug. 17, Powell referred to budget presentation information supporting a tax increase “a dog’s breakfast.”
She said that in spite of a 1.7-mills increase in the general fund that Boyce had sought in a record tax digest year, the county was spending more money than it had, and feared there may a repeat of the same situation next year.
Powell has a long history of public and civic service in Cobb County, starting with the East Cobb Civic Association. She served as a commissioner from Northeast Cobb’s District 3 from 1988-91 and also on an interim basis in the same post in 2010 when Tim Lee resigned to run for chairman.
Powell served on the Cobb Development Authority after being appointed by East Cobb Commissioner Bob Ott. In 2011, he tried having her appointed to the Cobb Citizens’ Oversight Committee.
At the time, there was speculation that she might run against Lee in 2012 (she did not), and her nomination was thwarted by the commissioners. Ott later hired her as his full-time staff assistant.
Powell also was appointed by Cobb Board of Education member David Chastain to serve on the school district’s Facilities and Technology advisory board. In 2016, she was a campaign adviser to Boyce in 2016, when he upended Lee.
After he took office, Boyce appointed her to the planning commission. Powell said Tuesday she looks forward to “having the opportunity to use my freedom of speech unencumbered.”
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A rendering of a proposed six-story, 290-unit apartment building that would occupy long-vacant restaurant space on Powers Ferry Road.
Here’s an update to the Powers Ferry Restaurant Row project proposal we posted about on Friday, which are plans to redevelop 8.8 acres of mostly empty eatery space for a very dense, mostly rental residential complex with some retail, and that’s getting an initial hearing Tuesday before the Cobb Planning Commission:
Powers Ferry Road Investors, LLC, the developer, has provided revised and conceptual landscaping plans and its attorney, James Balli, has filed a stipulation letter (you can read the whole thing here) that would increase the proposed parking from 510 spaces to 711 spaces.
The parking situation was among the concerns expressed by the Cobb Zoning Office analysis, which recommends approval of the nearly 500,000-square foot mixed-use project to regional retail commercial (RRC).
The 471 apartment units (290 multi-family, 181 senior active adult living) are still proposed, with the former (see rendering at top) taking up six stories, and the latter (see below) encompassing a five-story building.
The 10,000 square feet of mostly restaurant and retail space is still proposed for the center of the property, and would include the expansion of the current Rose and Crown Tavern from 4,400 to 6,000 square feet.
Most of the apartments will be studio, or one-bedroom units, and some will have two bedrooms.
The proposed 181-unit senior living building adjacent to the Sage Woodfire Tavern on Powers Ferry Road.
The Powers Ferry Corridor Alliance, a civic group, has filed a response to the proposal, and has expressed concern over a growing and overwhelming trend in the area toward rental housing.
While eager for “Restaurant Row” redevelopment, the group suggested a moratorium for more apartment construction: “Is there REALLY no market at all for owner-occupied units in a truly mixed-use development that could go on this site?”
The citizens group noted the development would be located next to a premium condominium high-rise complex on Powers Ferry.
The PFCA was strongly in support of the MarketPlace Terrell Mill project approved earlier this year that includes 298 apartments. But the group has estimated that since 2015, a total of 1,152 apartment units have been approved for the corridor, as opposed to only 155 owner-occupied dwellings.
If the Restaurant Row project is approved as presented, that would add up to 1,623 rental units, a ratio of 10.43 multi-family units to one owner-occupied unit.
A conceptual landscaping plan filed by the developer and that was submitted on Thursday.
The PFCA also wants to see the development reconfigured to include more retail, since more than half of the proposed space for that part of the project would be taken up by Rose and Crown, an existing business.
The civic group also has made numerous landscaping, parking, lighting and walkability suggestions: “The residents of each building should not have to exit from the parking lot or parking garage to go to the restaurant or out to the street at Powers Ferry Road. There should be attractively lit and maintained footpaths going from the buildings to the sidewalk on Powers Ferry Road.”
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Plans call to demolish four restaurant buildings on Powers Ferry Road for a nearly 500,000 square-foot, mostly residential complex near Wildwood Office Park, in upper right. (From Cobb Zoning Office case file.)
A proposed Powers Ferry Road development that would include nearly 500 residential units and restaurant and retail space comes before the Cobb Planning Commission Tuesday.
The rezoning request by Powers Ferry Road Investors, LLC, would raze a string of vacant restaurants and build 291 apartment units and 181 upscale senior active dwellings in between a 10,000-foot restaurant building, according to a filing with the Cobb Zoning Office (agenda packet item here).
The project would include three buildings totaling 438,555 feet near the Wildwood Office Park.
The 8.8 acres along Powers Ferry between Windy Hill Road and Windy Ridge Parkway currently houses only one active business, the Rose & Crown Tavern, which will remain and be “enlarged” in the new development, according to a zoning impact statement included in the case file.
Surrounding it are empty restaurant spaces that were once Sal Grosso, Famous Dave’s and TGI Friday’s. The Sage Woodfire Tavern location that opened last fall in the former Houston’s space on the corner of Powers Ferry and Windy Ridge Parkway is not part of the development.
The site plan calls for a senior living complex on the left, with a large apartment building at the right. The office/retail/restaurant space is slated for the center building. (From Cobb Zoning Office case file.)
(Earlier this week, Sage Woodfire Tavern filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, but no announcements have been made on possible restaurant closings.)
The Cobb Zoning staff is recommending approval of the request to rezone the land with conditions from general commercial (GC) to regional retail commercial (RRC), which is recommended for large developments of 500,000 square feet or more.
The future land use plan calls for regional activity center (RAC).
The developer has included three variance requests that would reduce the front and a side setback from the minimum 50 to 15 feet, and reduce a recommendation of 859 parking spaces to 510.
The Cobb Zoning Staff analysis said while the requested zoning category is compatible with the area, the six-story heights are taller than nearby buildings. The staff also does “not support the reduction of the required parking spaces.”
The cases are the latest major redevelopment projects slated for the Powers Ferry corridor since the opening of SunTrust PArk, and follow the MarketPlace Terrell Mill rezoning approved earlier this year.
The meeting begins at 9 a.m. Tuesday in the second floor board room of the Cobb government building, 100 Cherokee St., in downtown Marietta.
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There was no opposition Tuesday to a Powers Ferry Road corridor rezoning request for a major mixed-use development. But the Cobb Planning Commission put the application on hold for a month to sort out some issues some members had with the project.
The request by Chance Powers Ferry LLC would redevelop the aging Powers Ferry Woods office complex on Shadowood Parkway, near Powers Ferry Road and Windy Ridge Parkway, for an office building and 300 luxury apartment units (here’s the agenda item packet) totalling more than 578,000 square feet.
The 3.6-acre tract is currently zoned O & I; Chance Powers Ferry is seeking RRC (regional retail commercial) designation for the high-density project. The land is surrounded by multi-family housing, and Kevin Moore, an attorney for Chance Powers Ferry, calls the proposal suitable for “a true urban context. . . This is what it’s intended for.”
The site plan calls for the 30,000-square-foot office building to be in the front of the property (in orange below), with the apartment building (in pink) wrapped around a parking deck.
The office building would be three stories high, and the apartment building six stories high.
Among the concerns expressed by planning board members were about some of the variances, including a proposed reduction in front, side and rear setbacks from 50 to 15, 10 and 18 feet, respectively.
Another variance would reduce the number of proposed parking spaces from a required minimum of 631 to 515. Chance Powers Ferry also wants to reduce the landscaping buffer next to another apartment community from the minimum of 50 feet to 10 feet.
“I do like the project, I like the concept,” Planning Commission chairwoman Judy Williams said before suggesting that the request be delayed until August. A motion to hold passed 4-0, with commission member Thea Powell absent.
Not far away, another proposed RRC development was placed on hold by Cobb Zoning Office, which has recommended denial, and it’s been held up before. A request by Elevation Development Group LLC would rezone 12.7 acres on Water Place at Terrell Mill Road and across from Water Village Drive from its current O & I status.
The developer wants to build retail and office space and the Terrell Mill Park Apartments, and is seeking a reduction in required parking spaces from 579 to 468.
The project is in close proximity to the Dobbins Air Reserve Base, which is in opposition due to what it calls an “aviation hazard.” Zoning staff has said it’s concerned about noise and buffer requirements on adjacent properties.
A long-delayed Northeast Cobb zoning case was delayed again on Tuesday. The Cobb Zoning Office has continued a rezoning request for a 92-unit single-family subdivision on 96 acres on Wigley Road until August.
It had been held since May, when the Planning Commission heard a number of concerns about density, traffic, stormwater runoff and the land’s hilly topography.
Also continued was a request for a senior living facility on 35 acres on Bells Ferry Road and North Booth Road near I-575, to September. It’s currently undeveloped single-family residential land. The developer, Jim Chapman Communities, wants to build 178 units.
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Duncan Land Investements’ 3-home rezoning case on Wesley Chapel Road got Cobb commissioners’ approval by a 3-2 vote.
On paper, considering a 3-home subdivision proposal might seem fairly routine. On Tuesday, the Cobb Board of Commissioners did do that, but the Wesley Chapel Road rezoning case they approved came after a good bit of wrangling.
By a 3-2 vote, the commissioners approved a substitute motion to rezone less than two acres on Wesley Chapel next to Garrison Mill Elementary School and across from Loch Highland Parkway to R-20 for a three-home development.
The substitute motion by commissioner Bob Weatherford stripped out a stipulation that would have reverted the property to an R-30 category (with a limit of only two homes) if the developer didn’t obtain a building permit within six months.
The tract was rezoned to R-20 in 2013 (here’s the zoning agenda item packet information). The land reverted back to R-30 because there was a clause that kicked in since the property had not been developed after five years.
Duncan Land Investments, which has an additional contract on the property, sought in its renewed application R-15, which would have allowed four homes. Although it was revised it to R-20, the Cobb Planning Commission made no recommendation.
District 3 commissioner JoAnn Birrell, who represents the area, wanted a six-month reversionary clause for the new application because that is “ample time for him to close on the property and pull the permit.”
But Weatherford said he was “having trouble finding any logic” in rezoning the same piece of property the same category twice.
“If you want it R-30, leave it R-30. If you want it R-20, zone it R-20,” he said. “This will be the second time it’s R-20. Why go back to R-30? It just makes no sense to me unless I’m missing something somewhere.”
East Cobb commissioner Bob Ott said that a “reversion clause resets the map,” and that “once the board has rezoned something, it sets a precedent” that can be used elsewhere.
Weatherford responded that “every zoning case stands on it own.” Commission chairman Mike Boyce and commissioner Lisa Cupid voted with him on the substitute motion.
Birrell was against the substitute motion as was Ott, who said he was opposed to the R-20 request altogether. His District 2, redrawn since the 2013 case, now includes the east side of Wesley Chapel Road across from the Duncan property.
He said in the five years since the first rezoning, the area has become more built-up and cited more traffic along Wesley Chapel and surrounding development that’s zoned R-30 for his opposition.
“I cannot support changing from R-30,” Ott said.
The commissioners also voted 5-0 to approve rezoning for a Kroger gas station in East Cobb. Kroger’s request at the Pavilions at East Lake Shopping Center changed the zoning from Neighborhood Shopping to Community Retail Center with some conditions (see previous ECNpost here).
Kroger is planning to demolish a 10,000-square foot building on 14 acres of the shopping center for the gas station, which will be open from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. seven days a week.
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Udpating our previous posts (here and here) about the Johnson Ferry-Shallowford master plan survey, which has been revised following an outcry from citizens about the options in the original version: You’re running out of time to have your say about what you think future development in the community should be like.
The deadline to fill out the image preference survey is July 6, and you’ll need some time to do so. It’s 89 questions long and asks citizens and business owners to state their preferences about the look, density and feel of residential and commercial development, as well as landscaping, streetscapes, greenspaces, stormwater management and more.
A community meeting in August will summarize the findings. More on the JOSH project can be found here. Like other small-area plans, the JOSH master plan will be added to the Cobb 2040 Comprehensive Plan
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On Monday District 2 Cobb Commissioner Bob Ott signed off on minor modifications for the architecture and canopy for Chick-fil-A Woodlawn Square renovations that will begin in July.
As we noted in December, commissioners approved the restaurant’s expansion plans in December that include a double drive-through with a canopy and subject to final approval from the district commissioner.
That’s standard practice on most zoning and site plan cases that come before the commissioners. What they’re not required to do is explain what modifications they make after the cases are approved.
Earlier this spring Ott said he would publicly post any minor modifications and any other sign-offs on zoning cases online and in his weekly newsletter:
This will allow you, and your neighbors, the opportunity to review the request and to see what changes are being proposed and to provide feedback to Commissioner Ott. Commissioner Ott will review the feedback that has been provided, make possible changes and will sign the document the following week.
The canopy and architectural renderings, as modified at the Woodlawn Chick-fil-A, can be found here. The changes pertain to side and rear elevation specifics of the canopy.
As we noted in March, the busy restaurant is closing in July for the renovations and is expected to reopen in November.
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The first tenant in a new shopping center on the site of the former Mountain View Elementary School will be the first location in Georgia for the Publix GreenWise Market concept.
The Atlanta Business Chronicle reported that the store will have 25,000 square feet as the anchor of a 103,000-square foot development on 14 acres on Sandy Plains Road at Shallowford Road.
The still-to-be-named complex is being developed by East Cobb-based Brooks Chadwick Capital and Fuqua Development and will include “chef-driven” restaurants, retail and service shops and a self-storage facility.
Rezoning for the complex was approved by Cobb commissioners last fall, and they signed off on the self-storage building this spring despite complaints from nearby residents.
According to a report in ToNeTo Atlanta, which covers the metro retailing scene, Publix is rolling out its GreenWise Market organic foods concept in other Southern markets. They include Tallahassee, Boca Raton and the Charleston, S.C. area.
The East Cobb store will be right down the street from a Publix supermarket at the Highland Plaza Shopping Center. The ABCquoted an Atlanta real estate observer that:
“The target market for GreenWise is those areas that have a strong Publix presence already. GreenWise could function as a complementary destination for a core Publix location, helping to spread out customer density in their busiest markets.”
GreenWise is eyeing a competitive East Cobb organic grocery market, with Whole Foods and Sprouts nearby, in the Johnson Ferry-Roswell area.
The Shallowford-Sandy Plains area also was a target of Lidl, a German-based supermarket chain, which wanted to locate a store on the site of the Park 12 Cobb movie theater on Gordy Parkway. But its zoning application was rejected by commissioners last fall following intense community opposition.
ToNeTo said the East Cobb Public GreenWise Market could open by next summer.
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The Cobb Planning Commission on Tuesday recommended approval of a gas station operated by Kroger at the Pavilions at East Lake Shopping Center in East Cobb
By a vote of 3-1, the planning board voted in favor of the zoning request by Kroger from Neighborhood Shopping to Community Retail Commercial (agenda item information here).
Planning commission members Andy Smith of East Cobb, Skip Gunther and Galt Porter voted in favor; Thea Powell was opposed. Judy Smith of Northeast Cobb was absent.
The vote is advisory. The Cobb Board of Commissioners will make the final decision on June 19.
Kroger wants to demolish a 10,000-square foot building on 14 acres in the front of the shopping center that’s been largely vacant for a gas station. The operating hours will be from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. seven days a week.
The building used to be occupied by a Panera Bread store, and some other smaller spaces also are empty.
Garvis Sams, an attorney for Kroger, said the layout for the fueling station (see renderings at bottom) will be similar to another Kroger development on Powers Ferry and Terrell Mill Road that was approved earlier this year.
There will be no outside storage at the fueling station, and front signage will not be on top of the fueling canopy, addressing a concern by the East Cobb Civic Association.
He also said once the gas station closes at night, the outdoor lighting also will be turned off. The site is located next to an apartment complexes, and single-family homes are located a bit further behind.
Construction hours for the gas station would be from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday and no work on Sunday.
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An East Cobb Kroger gas station would replace vacant space at the Pavilions of East Lake Shopping Center where a Panera Bread restaurant was located.
That’s among the requests on the June zoning agenda in Cobb County.
The Cobb Planning Commission will hear cases next Tuesday, June 5. The Cobb Zoning Staff released its final analysis on Tuesday (full agenda here), and is recommending approval of the gas station request (agenda packet item here) with several conditions, including the district commissioner making minor modifications, and to incorporate recommendations and comments from the site plan review, stormwater management review and Cobb DOT review of the application.
Kroger wants to rezone 14.55 acres of the East Lake complex at 2100 Roswell Road from the current Neighborhood Shopping to Community Retail Commercial. The area includes a 10,000-square-foot building that would be demolished for the fueling center.
The anchor space in that building has been empty for several years after Panera Bread closed. Existing businesses would be relocated to other empty spaces at East Lake.
Kroger said in the application the hours for the fueling center would be from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m., seven days a week, and include a kiosk with seven pumps and an air station.
A stipulation letter in the application from Garvis Sams, the applicant’s attorney, to the East Cobb Civic Association indicates that construction hours for the gas station would be from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday and no work on Sunday.
An apartment complex is located next to the proposed gas station site, and no construction vehicles would be parked on an adjoining road. There also would be no signage on the top of the gas station canopy.
A few other East Cobb cases to be heard Tuesday by the planning commission include:
ANE Investments, Inc., for 0.94 acres on Jamerson Road, south of Canton Road, for an automotive shop (staff recommends denial for comprehensive plan reasons);
Duncan Land Investments Inc., for 1.93 acres on Wesley Chapel Road and across from Loch Highland Parkway for four single-family homes (staff recommends denial for density reasons);
Oak Hall Companies, LLC, for 96 acres on Wigley Road for 92 single-family homes (the case was held by the planning commission, tentatively until July, for density, runoff and other reasons).
The planning commission meeting will take place at 9 a.m. in the second floor board room of the Cobb County government building, 100 Cherokee St., in downtown Marietta.
Final decisions on zoning matters will be made by the Cobb Board of Commissioners on June 19.
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The day after the Cobb Development Authority approved issuing $35 million in bonds for a tax abatement for a portion of a new East Cobb commercial project, developers’ representatives explained the situation to the Cobb Board of Education.
The school board is typically briefed on tax breaks heard by the authority, due to their impact on school tax revenue.
The developers of the MarketPlace Terrell Mill, a mixed-use retail and residential development on the site of the present Brumby Elementary School, were seeking a break for the portion of the project that is to include a Kroger superstore.
Brian Fratesi, a vice president for Connolly Investments and Development, which is building the project, said during a school board work session Thursday that MarketPlace Terrell Mill is “a gateway to East Cobb.”
The abatement would cover only the Kroger portion of the $120 million project, which was approved in February in a zoning case by the Cobb Board of Commissioners. The 23.9 acres at the northwest corner of Terrell Mill Road and Powers Ferry Road includes aging commercial, shops, restaurants and office space.
Brumby is relocating to a new campus on Terrell Mill Road in August, and its sale prompted the MarketPlace project, seen as a linchpin of redevelopment in the Powers Ferry corridor.
Fratesi said the Cobb County School District currently gets around $34,000 in annual tax revenues from existing commercial activities on that site.
By the time the tax abatement period ends, 11 years after it begins, he estimated the school district would receive more than $500,000 a year in tax revenues from MarketPlace complex.
The Kroger store would be exempt from taxes its first year of operation, then would gradually pay an assessed tax value phased in over a 10-year period, in rising increments of 10 percent each year.
Fatesi said the Kroger is slated to be in the second phase of the project, with the first phase calling for the construction of restaurant and retail space, a self-storage unit and a nearly 400-unit luxury apartment complex.
When asked about the rental units’ impact on school enrollment, Fatesi said it would be minimal, since they’re expensive, one- and two-bedroom apartments being marketed primarily to Millennials and downsizers.
The MDJ reported that two members of the Development Authority voted against the bonds, including Karen Hallacy of East Cobb, concerned about a precedent being set by retailers for getting tax abatements.
But two East Cobb board members were ecstatic. Scott Sweeney, whose Post 6 includes the Powers Ferry area, said the MarketPlace proejct “will help our tax digest in the long run.”
He said that the per-student share coming from commercial tax revenue in Marietta City Schools is higher than Cobb’s, at around $1,400 a year, because of what that city derives from its commercial digest.
“I do like the project,” said board member David Banks of Post 5 in Northeast Cobb. “It’s good and I think the whole county will benefit.”
Fatesi said the first phase of MarketPlace could break ground by August or September, with completion expected 18-24 months after that. The Kroger would be completed in another 18 to 24 months, he said.
The board also heard outlines of another proposed tax abatement for a manufacturing company that is looking to expand its operations to near SunTrust Park and The Battery.
A research and development facility would bring more than 800 high-paying jobs in what’s being dubbed “Project Dashboard.” The company, which is seeking more than $260 million in development bonds for a tax abatement, is not being identified for the moment.
Jack DiNardo, a commercial real estate relocation expert who represents the company, told board members discussions on its potential Cobb move are in “progress,” and that a decision could come “sometime this summer.”
He said a requested tax abatement would be for $21 million.
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On Tuesday another JOSH community meeting will solicit public input on continuing efforts to develop a Johnson Ferry-Shallowford master plan. A new image preference survey for possible future development in the area is the main subject, following protests from some that what they had to choose from was too dense.
The meeting takes place from 7-9 p.m. Tuesday at Chestnut Ridge Christian Church (2663 Johnson Ferry Road) and here’s what District 2 Cobb commissioner sent out on Friday about what’s on the agenda:
Previously, staff was scheduled to present a conceptual plan on Tuesday, May 8. Instead, staff will utilize the May 8 community meeting to facilitate the additional IPS.
The focus of the session will be a second Image Preference Survey that is concentrated on suburban-style development concepts. The survey will include more-specific residential, commercial and office development types that would be more typical of a neighborhood activity center and transitional areas within a suburban community. In addition, there will also be images reflecting greenspace and park options, stormwater management options, and streetscape elements.
Staff will still conduct an “Open House” format meeting to present the conceptual plan in upcoming months.
Jason Gaines of Cobb Community Development told us that final meeting has tentatively been scheduled for May 23 but that has not been announced as of now.
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A rendering of homes in the proposed Provence Estates development.
A Wigley Road rezoning case that has been delayed for months is being held up again after major revisions to the application that have prompted traffic and stormwater concerns.
The Cobb Planning Commission on Tuesday voted for a 60-day hold on a rezoning application by Atlanta-based Oak Hall Companies, LLC, which wants to build 92 single-family homes on 96 acres currently zoned R-30, low-density residential.
Here’s the agenda item packet for what would be called Provence Estates, with homes ranging from 3,000 to 4,000 square feet. Oak Hall had requested zoning to R-20 OSC, a low-density residential designation with open-space provisions.
Cobb zoning staff is recommending that the land be rezoned R-30 OSC to include more conservation easements because of the hilly terrain of the property.
The land is from the estate of Audra Mae Wigley and was part of the Wigley Farm in Northeast Cobb. Initially, the Oak Hall application was for 55 acres. Parks Huff, an attorney for Oak Hall, said Tuesday that his client “wanted to bring in both pieces of property at the same time.”
The land is north of Sweat Mountain and has a steep topography that has prompted concerns about stormwater runoff. Plans call for nearly half of the tract to be open space, and there would be 50-foot undisturbed buffers on the eastern and southern edges of the property.
Dave Evans, who lives on Wigley Road, said 40 percent of runoff from the property flows into a lake near his home, and worries that additional stormwater would overwhelm capacity.
The other stormwater routes are into neighboring Cherokee County and the nearby Falcon Crest subdivision.
Dave Breaden of the Cobb Stormwater Management Department admitted that “we’ve got a challenge to control runoff on this site.” Several retention ponds are included in the Oak Hall site plan.
Included in the staff comments is a request for the developer to provide a preliminary rough grading plan.
Others noted traffic issues. Cobb DOT currently estimates around 40 daily traffic trips in that area, a figure some residents said would jump to around 1,000.
The Oak Hall site plan (see illustration) also would cut off an adjacent cluster of homes that abut the Cherokee County line from Cobb-provided public services, including traffic access to Wigley Road.
In order to sort through all those issues, Planning Commission chairwoman Judy Williams, who represents the area in District 3, asked for the vote to hold the application until July. The vote was 4-0, with Thea Powell, also of Northeast Cobb, absent due to what Williams said was a family emergency.
Tony Garcia, who lives on Summitop Road, said given the housing that’s already in the area, the homes that would be built in Provence Estates don’t “fit into the character of Wigley Road.”
But planning board member Skip Gunther said that the land “is going to get developed one way or another,” and that the R-30 OSC designation is a “no-brainer.
“It’s going to generate traffic, but it’s going to be less than it otherwise would be.”
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