East Cobb Zoning & Development

Powers Ferry Restaurant Row project update: Renderings, response from citizens group

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Powers Ferry Restaurant Row project
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.

Powers Ferry Restaurant Row project
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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Proposed Powers Ferry Road development would replace long-vacant restaurants

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Powers Ferry Road development
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.

Z-47, Powers Ferry Road 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.”

Also on Tuesday’s Planning Commission agenda is a nearby request for another development on Powers Ferry Road that was delayed last month. It would replace the aging Powers Ferry Woods office park with a mixed-use project.

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.

Here’s a summary of the cases to be heard Tuesday, and a link to all case files.

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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Powers Ferry Road corridor rezoning request delayed to August

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Chance Powers Ferry, Powers Ferry corridor rezoning

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.

Chance Powers Ferry site plan

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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Wesley Chapel Road subdivision rezoning case approved again, five years later

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Wesley Chapel Road rezoning case
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.”

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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 ECN post 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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Johnson Ferry-Shallowford master plan surveys accepted through July 6

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Johnson Ferry-Shallowford master plan, JOSH image survey

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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Minor modifications made to Chick-fil-A Woodlawn Square renovations

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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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Publix GreenWise Market to make Georgia debut in East Cobb

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Publix GreenWise Market

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 ABC quoted 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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East Cobb Kroger gas station proposal gets OK from Planning Commission

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East Cobb Kroger gas station

 

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.

Kroger gas East Lake renderings

 

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East Cobb Kroger gas station request on June zoning agenda

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East Cobb Kroger gas station

 

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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Cobb school board members briefed about new Kroger Terrell Mill tax abatement

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Powers Ferry-Terrell Mill development, MarketPlace Terrell Mill, Kroger Terrell Mill tax abatement

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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JOSH community meeting Tuesday to detail ‘suburban-style’ image survey

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JOSH community meeting

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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Long-delayed Wigley Road rezoning case held again until July

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Wigley Road rezoning case, Provence Estates, Oak Hall Companies
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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Revised Johnson Ferry-Shallowford master plan questionnaire to go out next week

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Johnson Ferry-Shallowford master plan

After an outcry by some respondents to high-density choices in a questionnaire that’s part of a new Johnson Ferry-Shallowford master plan, county officials overseeing the project will send out a revised survey next week.

(Here’s our post from earlier this week about the pushback).

An “image preference survey” designed to get public feedback about possible residential and commercial buildings will be reworked to include more “suburban-style” options (as seen above), especially for housing, according to Jason Gaines.

Gaines, the planning director for the Cobb Community Development Agency, told members of the East Cobb Civic Association on Wednesday that he’s prepared a new survey that’s in draft form.

Many of the buildings shown in the survey were several stories high, alarming some residents who felt that their choices may be limited to structures that are better suited for urban areas.

“The goal was to learn whether people like or don’t like” the styles of buildings, Gaines said. “We’ve got to a little bit more to do but that’s okay.”

Gaines, who is spearheading a series of public meetings about the master plan (called “JOSH” to indicate the main street name in the Johnson Ferry-Shallowford corridor), said around 200 people have responded to the survey online, and the feedback has been wide-ranging.

The image preference survey has been a similar component of other master plan updates. Cobb commissioner Bob Ott, whose District 2 now includes the Johnson Ferry-Shallowford area, asked for a new survey to be drawn.

He told East Cobb News that the original survey was approved by a 20-person stakeholders committee that includes citizens and business owners in the JOSH area.

Ott said there are no outside consultants influencing the survey options, and that the work preparing the materials is all being done by county staff.

This is the fourth master plan project he has requested for his district, including Vinings, Powers Ferry and Johnson Ferry (whose design guidelines were adopted this week).

“We’ve done this three other times, and every time the community has been supportive,” Ott said. “It’s not about what we or the staff thinks. It’s what the community thinks.”

He admitted that sometimes the staff selections for a survey are “a shot in the dark,” but they’re done as much to learn what a community doesn’t want as much as what it prefers.

The final JOSH public input meeting was supposed to have been May 9 but Gaines said there will be another meeting, on May 23, to give citizens time to respond to the new survey.

In addition, Gaines said two stakeholders meetings will take place in June to analyze all of the public response before any formal action is taken to update the master plan.

 

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Some Johnson Ferry-Shallowford residents can’t picture suggestions of their community’s future

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Johnson Ferry-Shallowford residents, JOSH image survey
One resident quipped in reference to the question and photo above included in an image survey about future development in the Johnson Ferry-Shallowford community: “Did Cobb lose a war to Romania?” 

When Cobb community development officials recently asked Johnson Ferry-Shallowford residents to respond to an “image preference survey” of potential future development in the area, the blowback was swift, angry and occasionally sarcastic.

Suggested photos contained in the lengthy survey (see examples below) included plenty of high-rise residential and commercial buildings that are typical in urban areas, sunny resorts and even other countries.

Residential high-rise building.

What they didn’t look like to a good number of those responders was anything like what’s in the suburban Johnson Ferry-Shallowford area now, or what they want to see in the future.

We reported last week about the “JOSH” community meetings that have been underway this spring, and in particular stormwater issues that have been plaguing the nearby Loch Highland community for years.

That’s just one of the many subject areas that community development staff is surveying. A final public input session is scheduled for May 9 at the Chestnut Ridge Christian Church (2663 Johnson Ferry Road).

To be sure, the image preference survey did include some photos of single-family dwellings and low-rise office and retail space that looks fairly typical for what’s in the East Cobb area that’s the subject of an ongoing evaluation by county officials.

Residential development.

But many posts over the weekend at the East Cobbers Against High Density Development Facebook group  (which has around 1,000 members) tore into much of what the survey was serving up, fearing that there weren’t going to be many other choices besides the high-density options they were asked to comment on.

A few examples of the sharp replies:

“Basically they’re saying we don’t have a choice in the sense of no traditional housing on normal sized, decent lots. They are steering us in their direction, none of which is desirable to the vast majority of us who prefer no high density and more neighborhood like.”

“Even the single family options were right on top of each other.”

“I don’t know why there is a question about what people want. We want what we had when we chose to move here. Single family homes, large lots with room for kids to play, good schools and low crime, libraries that were open etc., and that is slowly disappearing.”

“I tried to make sure they knew they were reaching: ‘Did Cobb lose a war to Romania?’ “

Office/retail/commercial building.

Cobb commissioner Bob Ott, whose District 2 now includes the Johnson Ferry-Shallowford community, weighed in on the Facebook group page, saying he had nothing to do with the survey selections and that what was being suggested was only to solicit feedback.

“This is not some consulting firm telling you what you have to accept. Let’s give staff some credit for taking this to the public for their thoughts,” he said.

To which a resident replied: “Then please give us choices that reflect homes on one acre lots. Nothing remotely resembling that was offered in the pictures presented.”

Similar image preference surveys have been done in previous corridor studies in Ott’s district, including the Powers Ferry Road area and Johnson Ferry Road.

We posted yesterday about the Johnson Ferry design guidelines that are coming up for commission adoption tonight, five years after they were presented. Those guidelines incorporate community feedback, and some of the generic photos in that presentation were included in the JOSH image preference survey.

Public space.

Some of the image survey responders simply asked that future development conform to the current and future land use plans in the area.

Ott said he would have the image survey redone. The original still exists, for now, and includes suggestions on sidewalks, cycling paths, greenspace, public space, stormwater retention ponds and more.

He also reminded citizens who thought their feedback was being sought for political reasons with primaries next month that he’s not up for election this year.

 

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After years of inaction, Johnson Ferry Design Guidelines adopted by Cobb commissioners

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Johnson Ferry Design Guidelines

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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Wildwood Plaza townhome community gets approval; fate of aging trees TBD

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Wildwood Plaza townhome community

The developer of a proposed Wildwood Plaza townhome community got rezoning approval on Tuesday after reducing the number of units and making other changes at the request of county officials and citizens groups.

But a major topic of discussion at a Cobb Board of Commissioners zoning hearing was how to replace aging pear trees that are part of the conceptual design for the office and residential complex off Powers Ferry Road.

The 5.6 acres of wooded area at the northeast intersection of Windy Hill Road and Wildwood Parkway, right across from the Towers at Wildwood Plaza, will soon feature the Ashton Woods townhomes. The land had been zoned for office-industrial use.

The applicant, Ashton Atlanta, received multi-family zoning (RM-12) and will build 60 three-story townhomes instead of 67, ranging in size from 2,100 to 3,500 square feet and featuring attached two-car garages. The developer also will stretch the width of units facing Windy Hill Road from 18 to 24 feet.

Those are some of the conditions approved by commissioners in their 5-0 vote, and after they had just received a revised site plan submitted on Monday. Another stipulation relating to the preservation of pear trees will be determined after District 2 commissioner Bob Ott confers with the county arborist.

Here’s the original agenda item packet, which doesn’t contain updated documents.

Wildwood Plaza townhome community, Ashton Atlanta
Ashton Atlanta rendering of townhome project next to the Towers at Wildwood Plaza.

During Tuesday’s hearing, Patty Rice, president of the Powers Ferry Corridor Alliance and a resident of the nearby Riverwalk at Wildwood community, asked commissioners “to do something to maintain the trees” within the landscaping plan that is part of the Wildwood Plaza project.

Those 15-story twin towers, built by Atlanta developer Tom Cousins in 1991, were designed by famed architect I.M. Pei, who wanted to preserve as much of the surrounding natural setting as possible.

Residential communities behind the towers maintain lush trees and landscaping amenities that blend in with the nearby Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area.

Some residents were concerned that Pei’s name wasn’t included in the Monday stipulation letter about tree preservation. Roughly two-thirds of the trees that line the triangular area around the plaza, including some on the newly rezoned land, are pear trees part of Pei’s original design.

Ott said that “the trees have reached [the end of] their useful life” and understands the desire by residents to replace as many of them as possible.

“I’m very familiar with what you’re trying to preserve,” said Ott, who has lived in the nearby Terrell Mill Road area for more than 20 years. More recent community activism, including the formation of the PFCA, he added, is the “reason we’re getting all the great things that we are.”

Other conditions of the rezoning approval, in addition to the trees, include Ott’s approving the final site plan, as well as fencing and wall designs and interior materials and elevations.

 

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Olde Towne townhome development approved by Cobb commissioners

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Pulte Olde Towne townhome development

An Olde Towne townhome development that nearby residents have said is too intense for the area was approved Tuesday the Cobb Board of Commissioners.

By a 5-0 vote the commissioners approved RM-12 rezoning (high-density residential) for a four-acre tract at 5000 Olde Towne Parkway, adjacent to the Olde Towne Athletic Club.

The applicant, Pulte Homes, wants to build a John Wieland residential community with four-story units at a minimum of 3,000 square feet. The townhomes would be priced from $700,000 and up.

Here’s the agenda item packet information.

The case has been held for a couple of months as Pulte revised a landscaping plan and made other changes from its initial proposal. An empty one-story office building is currently on the site.

The approval by the commissioners is conditioned on the submission of a revised site plan and District 2 commissioner Bob Ott approving that, along with the relocation of several units for better landscaping as well as a final landscaping plan.

James Bailli, an attorney representing Pulte, said residential development would result in a traffic count of around 250 trips a day, lower than the present estimate of more than 1,000 trips under the current planned shopping center category.

He also said that Olde Towne Athletic Club supported the rezoning. The land is located next to the new Northside Hospital East Cobb Medical Center, where another medical office building is being planned.

But opposition came from the East Cobb Civic Association, which said the Pulte plans were too intense. Sarah Patterson, a nearby resident with an architectural degree, said she and other residents aren’t opposed to new residential development in Olde Towne, “but what’s being proposed does not fit” what already exists.

She also said the proposal was too intense, and pointed out that the proposed 50-foot height for the townhomes would surpass the 40-foot treeline for all development in the community.

During her presentation, she showed photos of what the Pulte project would look like as presented, saying it “looks like a brick wall” that would stand out even more in the winter. “This will be very visible.”

A rendering by Olde Towne colony resident Patterson to illustrate the Pulte townhome proposal height above existing treelines.

By contrast, Patterson said other other homes in Olde Towne do not face Olde Towne Parkway, but the Pulte homes would.

The roundabout where the Pulte townhomes would go is the highest point of the Olde Towne complex, she said, so anything built there is going to stand out dramatically.

“We will see this every day, head on,” Patterson said in response to questions from commissioners.

The commissioners incorporated her suggestions on relocating seven units for landscaping, although they admitted the height issues remain a concern.

Chairman Mike Boyce said that “what’s going to go in there is a lot better than what’s there now,” and commended Patterson for her input: “You did make a difference by your participation.”

 

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Johnson Ferry-Shallowford community meetings continue Monday

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Johnson Ferry-Shallowford community meetings

If you missed the first of the Johnson Ferry-Shallowford community meetings on planning and development that was held last month, there are two more opportunities to attend and to take park in the “small area plan” concept that is seeking citizen input.

The next meeting takes place Monday from 7-9 p.m. at Chestnut Ridge Christian Church (2663 Johnson Ferry Road), and it’s being conducted by Cobb County Government officials, including staff from community development, DOT, stormwater management, parks and recreation and others.

Here’s a summary of the first “JOSH” meeting that took place last month, with a county-provided photo above showing the small-group focus of the event.

Monday’s workshop will be formatted the same way, as a chance for the public to gain information and offer feedback about the future of the “JOSH” corridor.

Here’s a link to the full presentation from the first meeting, and the county also has set up a crowdsourcing application for citizens to offer their feedback at any time.

The bottom of the main JOSH page also has more links to individual topics related to the small area plan project, including community boundaries, facilities, land use and planning, traffic and public amenities.

All of the input will be factored into a concept master plan and other recommendations by county staff.

If you can’t attend Monday, there will be a final opportunity on Monday, May 8, also from 7-9 at the Chestnut Ridge church.

 

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Proposed Shallowford Road subdivision clears initial hurdle

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The Cobb Planning Commission on Tuesday recommended approval of a proposed Shallowford Road subdivision that initially garnered some nearby opposition.

proposed Shallowford Road subdivsion
Cobb zoning staff aerial photo

But changes to the proposal, including a zoning category with reduced density and a revised site plan, satisfied those homeowners.

The 6.1-acre tract on the north side of Shallowford Road, between Shallow Ridge Road and Willowwood Drive, is currently zoned R-30, and has been the site of a family farm.

It’s located just west of I-575, not far from Noonday Park, and is in the Kell High School, McCleskey Middle School and Blackwell Elementary School attendance zones.

The land is also surrounded by the Falcon Hills neighborhood, which has around 140 homes. Some residents who live there turned out at Tuesday’s meetings to speak against the proposal by Loyd Development Services, but said they supported the application after the changes.

They include seeking an R-12 zoning category instead of RA-5, which reduced the number of units in the proposed development from 20 to 18. A revised site plan includes a retention pond near the back of the property, as well as a 10-foot undisturbed buffer along the edges of the development.

The subdivision would have one street that would include a cul-de-sac. Garvis Sams, an attorney for the developer, said homes would cost from the low-400s to the low-500s and would range from 2,200 square feet to 3,200 square feet. The community also would have a homeowners association, he said.

The recommendation by the planning commission passed with a 5-0 vote. The Cobb Board of Commissioners will take final action on April 17.

Another long-delayed East Cobb zoning request is being held again. An application by Oak Hall Companies, LLC, to rezone 55 acres on Wigley Road and north of Summitop Road is being continued to May by the Cobb Zoning staff.

The application seeks rezoning from the current R-30 category to R-15 for 85 single-family homes. Staff is recommending no more than 61 homes.

 

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Community meetings start Monday for Johnson Ferry-Shallowford development issues

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On Monday Cobb government officials will hold the first of three community meetings over the next couple of months to outline what they’re calling a “small area plan” for Johnson Ferry-Shallowford development issues.

The first meeting is slated from 7-9 p.m. Monday at Chestnut Ridge Christian Church (2663 Johnson Ferry Road). That will the site for additional meetings on April 16 and May 8, also in the same time slot.

The area indicated in the map above is called JOSH, and it’s to be a supplement to the Cobb 2040 Comprehensive Plan to address anticipated development issues in the Johnson Ferry-Shallowford corridor.

The departments involved in JOSH planning include community development, planning, parks and recreation, and the Cobb Water System’s stormwater division.

Here’s more about JOSH and what county officials are asking for in terms of public feedback:

The purpose of JOSH is to provide guidance to the Board of Commissioners regarding policy and decisions pertaining to land use, design guidelines, parks, greenspace facilities and infrastructure. 

It will focus will focus on five key elements: future land use, design guidelines, stormwater management, parks and greenspace, and transportation. Due to anticipated growth, new development and redevelopment, future land use will be a key focal point of the study. Issues and concerns will be identified by community members and addressed through the concept plan and implementation recommendations.

The JOSH plan will be developed in part by way of an extensive public participation program. A stakeholder group has been established, consisting of key individuals representing a variety of groups and organizations. Stakeholders include neighborhood/civic groups and business/commercial representatives. In addition to the Stakeholder Group, the project team will facilitate three community meetings to engage the public in defining problems and concerns and identifying their desires for the future of the JOSH community.

 

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