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.
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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The Cobb Planning Commission on Tuesday recommended approval of a proposed Shallowford Road subdivision that initially garnered some nearby opposition.
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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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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Several hundred Northeast Cobb residents living near the run-down Sprayberry Crossing Shopping Center turned out Wednesday night to hear county and elected officials sympathize with their plight to rid their community of a long-standing eyesore.
Although they explained an ongoing process to get the property owner to comply with a new “blight tax” ordinance and urged the citizens to keep applying public pressure, some in attendance in the theater at Sprayberry High School weren’t always satisfied with the answers they got.
That’s because they were told that despite their frustrations, the property owner, NAI Brannen Goddard, can’t be forced to sell the 17 acres at 2692 Sandy Plains Road that has sat nearly vacant for the last two decades.
Cobb commissioner JoAnn Birrell
“We have tried to market this property for years,” District 3 Cobb commissioner JoAnn Birrell told the standing-room-only crowd. “The owners have property rights. We can’t force them to sell. But we can enforce the code.”
Commercial property owners cites for substandard properties under the new ordinance, passed last fall by the commissioners, could be subject to seven times the county general fund millage rate value of their properties.
Some residents groaned when they heard that the maximum NAI Brannen Goddard could be taxed is $17,000. That’s because of the eight parcels making up Sprayberry Crossing, only one of them, the site of a long-closed bowling alley, would be subject to the blight tax. Its assessed value is around $367,000.
But it’s an involved process, ultimately requiring a court ruling to assess the tax. Cobb community development director Dana Johnson said that process is about halfway through.
Cobb community development director Dana Johnson: “There is no code for ugly. I wish there was.”
For now, only the bowling alley land is eligible for blight tax action since criminal activity has been documented. Johnson said dozens of law enforcement calls have been made in recent years to the site at the back of the Sprayberry Crossing site, and alleged gang activity also has taken place there.
The four other buildings on the property remain much as they did after the retail center began losing tenants in the 1990s, especially a Bruno’s supermarket.
A few businesses are there, but the parking lot is riddled with potholes, walls and doors have holes in them and power lines have come down.
The property owner was invited to attend the meeting Wednesday but did not show up.
Resident Lynn Palazzo asked Birrell how the county could impose something more than “marginal compliance” after so many years. She also asked what the community’s options are as the blight tax process is underway.
“Your options are to stay engaged and keep doing what you’re doing tonight,” Birrell said.
Palazzo responded that “none of that appears to be working,” and the crowd erupted with applause. Birrell reminded her that the ordinance is still new.
Cobb commission chairman Mike Boyce, who said he has toured the former bowling alley and “I understand what your concerns are,” said the county has to be careful in what it says publicly with ongoing negotiations.
“Your community voice makes a huge difference,” he said. “Why it hasn’t happened in this case, I have no idea.”
Joe Glancy, a resident who started the Sprayberry Crossing Action Facebook Group14 months ago to galvanize public action, said NAI Brannen Goddard is a well-connected, savvy real estate firm that is waiting to sell to maximize its investment.
The property owner, Glancy said, has chosen to be “selective” in what is shared with the community. He urged his fellow citizens “to make life a little more difficult for the property owner.
Joe Glancy: “It is up to all of us to make everyone involved uncomfortable until this is resolved.”
“How do we engage them and make them want to be done with us and move on?”
Birrell said she met with a potential developer of the property in 2015 and “was ready to close” on a deal that would require rezoning. But NAI Brannen Goddard, she said, “wouldn’t sell.”
The county has estimated that Sprayberry Crossing has a current estimated value of $3.4 million. When a resident asked if the county would “just buy the land” for a public park, he told her it’s unlikely that would happen in a commercial area with high real estate value, and stated a figure estimated between $14 million and $17 million.
When he quipped that citizens should raise the money, a man walked up to the front of the theater holding up a dollar bill and gave it to Glancy, as the crowd broke out in laughter.
Also complicating the Sprayberry Crossing property is that a cemetery is located there. Associate county attorney Debbie Blair spelled out another laborious process for identifying next of kin of those buried there, as well as two public hearings before any exhumations and relocations can occur. Sandy Plains Baptist Church has offered to provide perpetual care.
Glancy was at his most adamant when explaining that NAI Brannen Goddard understandably wants to sell the land with the cemetery issue resolved.
However, he said, “they bought a shopping center that had a cemetery in it. . . They cannot be excused for using that as an excuse for not selling the property.
“It is up to all of us to make everyone involved uncomfortable until this is resolved.”
Johnson said “remediation” discussions with the property owner are continuing, but declined to elaborate. If terms cannot be worked out, he, said, the county attorney’s office would prepare to go to court for a blight tax ruling.
“There is no code for ugly,” he said. “I wish there was.”
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The current office building at 5000 Olde Towne Parkway (East Cobb News photo)
A rezoning request that would allow townhomes in the Olde Towne development is being delayed by the Cobb Board of Commissioners. They voted 5-0 this morning to continue the case at the request of the developer, Pulte Home Corp., to continue working on the proposal.
Pulte wants to build a John Wieland Homes community of 43 townhomes on 4.1 acres at 5000 Olde Towne Parkway. That’s where an office building currently stands, and it’s been the Olde Towne Athletic Club and the new Northside Hospital medical complex at Olde Towne and Johnson Ferry Road.
The Cobb Planning Commission voted earlier this month to approve the application by a 3-1 vote, but not after a long discussion about density, traffic and a heavy amount of impervious surfaces.
Also on Tuesday, Cobb commissioners voted to delay another East Cobb zoning proposal in the Powers Ferry Road corridor. An application by Ashton Atlanta would rezone nearly 6 acres on Windy Hill Road and Wildwood Parkway for 67 homes.
It’s a request that has been delayed several times before, and is being opposed by some nearby residents.
Also being delayed, and not for the first time, is a request by Oak Hall Companies to rezone 55 acres of low-density residential land on Wigley Road near Summit Top Road for 85 single-family homes.
Another continuance involves an application by Loyd Development Services to convert six acres on Shallowford Road near Shallow Ridge Drive from low-density residential for 20 single-family homes. Density also is an issue.
Another East Cobb case that was removed from Tuesday’s agenda was a withdrawal by Duncan Land Investments to rezone three acres on Piedmont Road at Cajun Drive for eight single-family homes after the planning commission recommended denial.
The commissioners approved a request by Green Park PCH for a 32-bed personal-care home on Sandy Plains Road north of Ebenezer Road.
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A citizens group that has organized a public meeting next week about the fate of Sprayberry Crossing Shopping Center (previous East Cobb Newspost here) is sending word about the elected officials who are expected to be in attendance.
They include Cobb commission chairman Mike Boyce, District 3 commissioner JoAnn Birrell, and State Rep. Don Parsons. The Sprayberry Crossing Action Facebook group also has invited State Sen. Kay Kirkpatrick.
Boyce and Parsons will be among those speaking and will take questions after their remarks.
The meeting will take place at 6 p.m. next Wednesday, March 21, in the theater of Sprayberry High School (2525 Sandy Plains Road).
The citizens group organized the meeting to prompt action on the run-down shopping center on Sandy Plains Road near Piedmont Road. While there are a few tenants, most of Sprayberry Crossing has been long-vacant and is in deteriorating condition.
Last month, the Cobb Community Development Department sent a notice to Brennan Goddard, a commercial real estate agency representing the shopping center property owner, to propose an improvement plan under the county’s new “blight tax” provision (previous East Cobb Newspost here).
Among the issues cited in the county’s letter, in addition to the decay of the buildings, are numerous police calls to the shopping center, and signs of possible gang activity at a former bowling alley.
Shane Spink, one of the leaders of the Sprayberry Crossing Action group, told East Cobb News that the property owners have been invited to “attend every meeting we have had on this site but they have always chosen not to attend.”
Spink said “this one is no different and they will have seats saved with their names on it but I wouldn’t bet on them coming.”
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A proposal that would allow a 43-unit townhome complex adjacent to the Olde Towne Athletic Club is the latest high-density rezoning case in East Cobb.
The request by Pulte Homes (here’s the agenda item packet) goes before the Cobb Planning Commission on Tuesday. The Cobb zoning staff says the site plan (above) is too dense and is recommending denial.
That’s one of several East Cobb zoning cases on the docket that staff is recommending for denial, for density and future land use reasons.
The four-acre Olde Towne property houses a four-story office building at 5000 Olde Towne Parkway, and the end of a cul-de-sac, and is zoned planned shopping center (PSC).
The proposed townhomes would be next to the Olde Towne Athletic Club (numbered 4950).
Pulte is seeking the RM-12 multi-family residential zoning category, which would allow 10.5 units an acre. The land is designated for potential community activity center (CAC) in the Cobb future land use plan.
Although there are nearby multi-family homes in the Olde Towne development, most of the surrounding land is commercially oriented. Those homes also are zoned at a lower density and are detached. Pulte’s proposal would build townhomes of around 3,000 square feet each and they would include garages.
The zoning staff, in its denial recommendation, said that RM-12 is ideally compatible with surrounding high-density development should match nearby residential categories.
Other East Cobb cases to be heard Tuesday by the planning commission include:
Another high-density townhome development at Windy Hill Road and Wildwood Parkway, by Ashton Atlanta, which was held by the Cobb Board of Commissioners in February;
A personal-care home proposal on less than an acre on Sandy Plains Road and north of Ebenezer Road, by Green Park PCH, which Cobb zoning staff also is recommending for denial since it would include 32 units and would be close to a single-family neighborhood;
A eight-unit single-family residential proposal by Duncan Land Investments on East Piedmont Road at Cajun Drive, on three acres zoned for low-density residential. Staff also recommends denial;
A 20-unit residential application by Loyd Development Services, on six acres on Shallowford Road near Shallow Ridge Drive. Right now the land is zoned low-density residential and staff also recommends denial, saying it’s too also too dense.
Here’s the link to all of the cases on Tuesday’s planning commission schedule. The meeting begins at 9 a.m. in the 2nd floor board room at the Cobb government building, 100 Cherokee St., in downtown Marietta.
Planning board recommendations are advisory. The Cobb Board of Commissioners will make final decisions on March 20.
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The Cobb Board of Commissioners voted 5-0 Tuesday to approve a request for a self-storage facility at the former Mountain View Elementary School site, despite opposition from some nearby residents.
The three-story building will be part of a mixed-use development on the 14-acre site on Sandy Plains Road that will include restaurants, shops and other retail businesses.
Some residents of the adjacent Cutters Gap subdivision complained that their privacy would be diminished, and there would be noise and other issues.
They also accused the developer of a “bait and switch” by not including the self-storage plans when the zoning for the full project was granted in October. However, the developer, Brooks Chadwick Capital, had to get a special land-use permit, which is required for self-storage facilities to be approved.
Kevin Moore, an attorney for Brooks Chadwick, reiterated that point, saying his clients still would have to have applied for the SLUP even if they had known at the time there was interest from a potential storage facility builder.
Additional stipulations proposed since the Cobb Planning Commission recommended approval earlier this month include a 42-foot height limit for the nearly 100,000-square-foot building, down from 45 feet.
Other restrictions include no overnight parking or vehicle idling, and limited hours for unloading, including none during overnight periods.
Brooks Chadwick also agreed to keep a 50-foot buffer between the development and nearby homes as part of the original zoning.
When some residents pointed out that there were more than a dozen storage facilities in the area, District 3 commissioner JoAnn Birrell said: “It’s free enterprise,” a subject that is “not what we’re here to consider” in a zoning matter.
The East Cobb Civic Association also spoke in favor of the SLUP, as it had for the redevelopment in general.
The commissioners agreed to hold another zoning case in Northeast Cobb, this one involving a proposal to improve a blighted property in the Canton Road corridor (previous East Cobb Newscoverage here) that has been delayed before.
PetroPlex ventures wants to rezone 0.87 acres at 2120 Canton Road, near the Canton Road connector, for a low-rise office building. It’s on the site of a gas station that closed in 2003 and has become increasingly deteriorated.
Tom Mitchell, an attorney for the applicant, presented revised plans for remodeling the building, including architectural and other changes recommended by the planning commission.
But Carol Brown of Canton Road Neighbors said the revised proposal doesn’t meet Cobb development standards and guidelines set forth in the Canton Road Corridor project.
Specifically, she objected that a canopy that was part of the gas station would remain, but the only proposed improvement to it would be a repainting.
The structure, she said, “needs more than a fresh coat of paint. . . . Please don’t ignore 13 years of community planning and investment” for improving what she called “one of the most blighted properties” on Canton Road.
Another contested East Cobb zoning case was withdrawn Tuesday. Robert Licata, a pediatrician, had proposed converting empty office space at Johnson Ferry Road and Lassiter Road for a restaurant, gym, medical offices and retail shops.
The planning commission recommended denial, saying that 37 proposed parking spaces wouldn’t be enough, and there was no rear loading space. Residents at the adjacent Lassiter Walk subdivision and the East Cobb Civic Association also were opposed.
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By a 4-1 vote, the Cobb Board of Commissioners on Tuesday morning approved rezoning for a project in the Powers Ferry-Terrell Mill area that its developer and a nearby citizens group are hailing as a cornerstone of community redevelopment.
More than 100 citizens, many from the Powers Ferry Corridor Alliance, applauded wildly after the commission vote to rezone nearly 24 acres at the northwest corner of the Powers Ferry-Terrell Mill intersection to regional retail commercial (RRC).
The developer, Eden Rock Real Estate Partners, wants to build what it’s calling MarketPlace Terrell Mill, anchored by a Kroger superstore, restaurants and retail shops and an apartment building and self-storage facility.
Those last two components were opposed by residents of the Salem Ridge condominium adjacent to the East Cobb mixed-use development, and around 30 of them were in attendance Tuesday.
District 2 commissioner Bob Ott, who suggested the RRC category, said in his 20 years of public service, as a county commissioner and planning commissioner, “I’m not sure I’ve seen so many people come out from a community in support of a zoning.”
Those in favor cheered at that remark, which was part of Ott’s lengthy presentation about the zoning request, and the challenges of redeveloping the area.
The Powers Ferry Corridor Alliance, a citizens group formerly known as the Terrell Mill Community Association, has been vocal about the rezoning as a last chance to upgrade development in the area.
The assemblage of land currently includes Brumby Elementary School, which will be moving to Terrell Mill Road in August, as well as aging office and retail buildings, for a total of five different zoning categories.
The developer had sought planned village community (PVC) zoning. The Cobb Planning Commission recommended community retail commercial (CRC) and the multi-family RM-12 for a 298-unit apartment complex.
Ott said RRC was a better fit because of its unified provisions. Cobb zoning office director John Pedersen said RRC also would reduce the number of variances, to around five.
The number of variances bothered Northeast Cobb commissioner JoAnn Birrell, along with the residential density, and she was the only vote against the rezoning. The commissioners approved the storage facility 5-0 in a separate vote.
Initially the rezoning request had 21 variances, many of them vigorously opposed by Salem Ridge residents.
Amy Patricio, who spoke on behalf of them at Tuesday’s hearing, restated objections to a project that “is too much in too little space,” and claimed the area is “saturated” with apartment units and storage facilities.
She also said Salem Ridge homeowners had been kept “in the dark” about updated site plans, variance requests and stipulation letters from the developer.
But Ott disagreed, saying community input has been part of the process all along, and that Eden Rock’s many variations of the site plan have been the result of meetings with residents.
Ott pushed for a Powers Ferry Master Plan that was approved in 2011, in large part to redevelop a sense of community and attract residents to a clogged commercial corridor.
He said it has taken “years” for the community to come together to fix the area.
“It has become obvious to me that you are just opposed,” Ott said to the Salem Ridge homeowners. After 62 changes to the site plan and “months” of discussions, “we’ve pretty much reached an impasse.”
Ott then held up a thick, clipped stack of printed e-mails, saying he’s received 261 e-mails in favor and 30 opposed.
The Powers Ferry-Terrell Mill area got an initial boost in 2012, when the Terrell Mill Village Shopping Center was redeveloped, with an L.A. Fitness Center as the anchor, and with other restaurants and shops moving in.
At the time, Ott said that “I’ve always felt that if we could get something like that, we could get the whole area.”
The arrival of SunTrust Park and the Atlanta Braves also has stimulated commercial and residential development further down on Powers Ferry.
MarketPlace at Terrell Mill will include traffic signals on both Powers Ferry (opposite the entrance to the MicroCenter shopping center) and Terrell Mill (across from Terrell Mill Village).
Other traffic solutions include the opening of managed lanes along Interstate 75 later this year, including a Terrell Mill Road exit, and the construction of the Windy Hill-Terrell Mill Connector starting in 2020.
Ott said other traffic issues concerned carpool lines at Brumby Elementary School that continued out onto Powers Ferry.
Brumby will be relocated adjacent to the new location of East Cobb Middle School on Terrell Mill Road, just east of Powers Ferry. Carpool queues for both schools will be contained on school property.
“Those three things will have a major improvement on traffic” in the Powers Ferry-Terrell Mill area, Ott said.
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If you plan to attend Tuesday morning’s Cobb Board of Commissioners zoning hearing, you need to get there well in advance. The proposed Powers Ferry-Terrell Mill development is the first item on the agenda, and it’s expected to attract a full house.
Two homeowners associations on either side of the Z-12 application by SSP Blue Ridge LLC are urging their members to show up early. The hearing (agenda summary here) starts at 9 a.m. in the 2nd floor meeting room of the Cobb government building at 100 Cherokee St., downtown Marietta.
After more than a year’s worth of delays since the initial filing, the proposed development by Eden Rock Real Estate Partners for what’s being called the MarketPlace at Terrell Mill may finally get a resolution.
The 24 acres at the northwest corner of Powers Ferry and Terrell Mill currently includes Brumby Elementary School and an aging office park and strip shopping center. The proposed $120 million project would include a Kroger superstore, restaurants and retail space, and the most contentious parts of the application, a 298-unit apartment complex and self-storage facility.
The Cobb Planning Commission recommended approval of the application on Feb. 6, but made some significant changes to a last-minute zoning category request by the developer. The board approved rezoning to community retail commercial (CRC) and RM-16.
The latest agenda released on Thursday, the deadline for making any formal changes, didn’t include anything new.
To the Powers Ferry Corridor Alliance, a citizens group that supports the project, the planning board “tweaks” do not make the proposal viable. The organization sent out a notice over the weekend that saying that Z-12 “is not a cinch to be approved. There is a real risk the community could lose this huge opportunity for long-overdue revitalization of its commercial core.”
The group is asking the commissioners to approve the project as the developer submitted, with a request for the planned village community (PVC) designation.
The alliance warned in its message that if the MarketPlace at Terrell Mill project is not approved, “the developers will have no choice but to walk away.”
Eden Rock partner Brandon Ashkouri said at the planning commission hearing that the latest site plan is the 61st version of the project, which has taken more than three years to put together. The relocation of Brumby to Terrell Mill Road next year was the final piece of the puzzle, and that’s where the Kroger store would be located.
The Powers Ferry Corridor Alliance is gathering at the Cool Beans coffee shop (31 Mill Street) near the Marietta Square, from 7:30-8:30 Tuesday morning before the zoning hearing.
The Salem Ridge Homeowners Association represents residents in a condominium complex next to the proposed development, and in particular the apartments and storage facility they say are too dense and too close to their homes.
They’re also urging their members to attend Tuesday’s hearing to protest a project they also say will add too much noise and traffic to a clogged intersection:
“We care and support regulated development. Redevelopment is a necessity. We only ask for the zoning commission to comply with the Powers Ferry Master Plan, established codes/statutes and laws already in force for parcels like MarketPlace at Terrell Mill.
“The developers have been cooperative, yet unless our objections and stipulations are recorded and in writing, we will not be protected.”
The storage facility request will be taken up later in the hearing, and the case number is SLUP-8. Cobb requires self-storage facility requests to be granted special land-use permits, even if they’re part of larger developments.
Another special land-use permit request for another proposed storage facility in East Cobb is on the commissioners agenda Tuesday. SLUP-3 would permit a three-story building on the site of the former Mountain View Elementary School on Sandy Plains Road.
It would be part of mixed-use development approved last fall. Despite community opposition, the self-storage facility was recommended for approval by the planning commission (previous East Cobb Newspost here).
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When we passed by the old Mabry Farm homestead building on a nice Sunday afternoon drive, the photo we snapped would turn out to be one of the last to be taken of the historic farmhouse.
On Monday, an East Cobb News reader noted that the structure has been demolished. We swung by there again this afternoon and saw that construction indeed has begun on an 18-home subdivision that was approved for rezoning last year.
The homestead building, which was once part of the Mabry Farm spread (history here), was built in 1915. It’s located on Wesley Chapel Road, just south of Sandy Plains Road, and right across from what will be Mabry Park.
The construction work for that park, also on former farmland owned by the Mabry family, is just getting underway after Cobb commissioners finally approved funding in November.
CSP Development, LLC is putting up 3,000-square-foot homes, or about two per acre, on the nine acres of gentle rolling hillside.
Mabry Farm was established in 1904 and ultimately spanned 220 acres. In a blog post from 2016, local nature artist Ed Cahill—whom we met last summer at the first East Cobb Garden Tour at MacFarlane Nature Park—wrote about his impressions of the Mabry Farm, and his paintings of the surroundings.
In addition to the horses, he noted the flowering trees that dotted the landscape, as well as a tomato barn and other structures that served the many uses of the farm.
Because of the historic nature of the building, the developer was required in a stipulation as part of the rezoning to pay a mitigation fee for historic preservation efforts in Cobb County. Acceptance of that $7,500 payment from CSP Development is on the Cobb Board of Commissioners agenda Tuesday.
Just beyond the construction sites on either side of Wesley Chapel Road are homes and subdivisions similar to what’s going up now, on a vanishing slice of East Cobb’s not-so-distant past.
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Over the objections of nearby residents, the Cobb Planning Commission Tuesday recommended approval of a climate-controlled self-storage facility at the former Mountain View Elementary School site (previous East Cobb Newspost here).
The vote was 4-1, with planning commissioner Thea Powell opposed.
The 105,340-square foot building has been added to a mixed-use development approved in October that would call for “high-end” restaurants, shops and other retail uses.
Residents living in the Cutters Gap neighborhood accused the developer, Brooks Chadwick Capital, of a “bait and switch” in proposing a three-story building at the southwest corner of the 14-acre parcel at 3448 Sandy Plains Road.
Others said they feared the building, which one called “a monster,” would tower over their neighborhood, and suggested a two-story limit.
Kevin Moore, an attorney for Brooks Chadwick, said among the stipulations included with the request would be a 45-foot height limit on the self-storage building, which would include 13 parking spaces.
“It’s the quietest possible use there could be in this location,” Moore said.
The planning commission recommended denial of another East Cobb rezoning request to convert empty office space into a mixed-use development at Johnson Ferry Road and Lassiter Road.
Dr. Robert Licata, a pediatrician who’s long had a practice at 3000 Johnson Ferry Road, wants to move his office to 2863 Johnson Ferry Road and get an acre currently zoned for low-rise office (LRO) to neighborhood retail commercial (NRC).
The request included the possible use for a restaurant and gym as well as other shops. Two empty buildings have sat vacant at that property, but residents in the nearby Lassiter Walk neighborhood are opposed (agenda item information here).
Planning commission chairman Mike Terry said “there are issues that are problematic,” including 37 parking spaces (the county zoning staff is recommending at least 52) and the lack of loading access behind the buildings.
Licata later deleted the restaurant from the rezoning request, but the planning board voted 5-0 to recommend denial.
The Cobb Board of Commissioners will decide on both cases on Feb. 20.
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The Cobb Planning Commission is recommending a height reduction of apartments at the MarketPlace Terrell Mill development (in back, center) to three stories.
The Cobb Planning Commission is recommending approval of a Powers Ferry-Terrell Mill Road development that’s been held up for months, but made some changes Tuesday before sending it along for formal action later this month.
By a 4-1 vote the planning board approved rezoning a 23.9-acre tract at the northwest corner of Powers Ferry and Terrell Mill to community retail commercial (CRC) and multifamily residential (RM-16).
It’s slated to become what its developer, Eden Rock Real Estate Partners, is calling the MarketPlace at Terrell Mill, anchored by a Kroger superstore, and to include restaurants, retail shops, and an apartment building and a self-storage facility.
Eden Rock was requesting a Planned Village Community (PVC) designation after the commission held the application in December. Eden Rock initially sought CRC and urban condominium (UC), but sought a new category that would reduce proposed variances from 21 to 10 and made other changes.
Those changes weren’t enough to sway some planning commissioners and residents of the Salem Ridge condominiums, which are adjacent to the proposed apartments and self-storage building.
After a lengthy discussion, the planning commission included a set of stipulations in its recommendation that would reduce the height of the apartment building to three stories from four, and a maximum of around 220 units in all. The latest site plan had cut that number from 350 to 298.
“I don’t think this is too intense at all,” said planning commission Mike Terry, who represents District 2, which includes the Powers Ferry-Terrell Mill area.
His motion to approve PVC rezoning was voted down before planning commissioner Judy Williams moved to delete that category and replace it with CRC and RM-16.
As he has stated often during the long-delayed application process, Terry said that the Eden Rock proposal—an assemblage of property that includes the current site of Brumby Elementary School—is a key to reviving the Powers Ferry area, especially with the nearby relocation of the Atlanta Braves having provided a spark.
“This is vital to revitalize this whole corridor,” he said. “If this collapses, we’ll have a hodgepodge [of potential future development] . . . and would have the same thing we’ve got now.
“I want this community to be revitalized, and this is the first bite of the apple we’ve had.”
The development has been supported by the Powers Ferry Corridor Alliance, a civic group. But Salem Ridge residents echoed their concerns about density, traffic and potential noise from the complex, including an outdoor swimming pool planned for the roof of a parking deck next to the apartment building.
They also objected to the PVC request, which mandates a 50-acre minimum.
“This request just doesn’t fit,” said Salem Ridge resident Amy Patricio. “It’s too dense, and it doesn’t fit the code or the master plan.”
Planning commissioner Thea Powell, the lone dissenting vote, agreed, even after previously saying that “this not a PVC case.”
The Eden Rock proposal has been more than three years in the making. Partner Brandon Ashkouri said the site plan that was heard Tuesday was the 61st version of the project.
The Cobb Board of Commissioners will make the final decision on the application on Feb. 20.
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A new rendering of the MarketPlace Terrell Mill project, which goes before the Cobb Planning Commission Tuesday.
In December the Cobb Planning Commission decided to hold a zoning application for a major Powers Ferry-Terrell Mill Road project that was opposed by some nearby condominium dwellers.
When the case goes back before the planning board Tuesday, the proposed redevelopment will come with a request for a new zoning category and will bear a new name.
What had been tentatively called the Terrell Mill Towne Center is now being dubbed MarketPlace Terrell Mill.
The proposed mixed-used project still covers nearly 24 acres at the northwest intersection of Powers Ferry and Terrell Mill roads, and includes the site of the soon-to-be-vacated Brumby Elementary School.
It would still be anchored by a Kroger superstore, along with restaurants, retail shops, as well a high-density apartment complex and self-storage building that have been opposed by residents of the adjacent Salem Ridge condominiums.
Instead of seeking community retail commercial (CRC) and urban condominium (UC) rezoning, the developers are now asking for the designation of planned village community (PVC), a rare category in use in Cobb County.
The attorney for the applicant, SSP Blue Ridge LLC, said a “huge amount of changes” also include settling on Colonial-style architecture throughout the development, and “tilting” the singular apartment building 180 degrees from the original proposal to alleviate concerns by nearby residents.
The rendering from Terrell Mill Road, with the proposed self-storage building in the front of a 298-unit apartment building. The Salem Ridge condominiums are to the left.
Instead of more than 20 variances in the initial request, the PVC would reduce those variances to around 10 or so, according to Garvis Sams, who represents the applicant.
Some Salem Ridge residents who opposed the rezoning in December think the new request is improved, but are still worried about traffic and density issues.
“It’s a step in the right direction, but I don’t think this is it,” said Salem Ridge resident Robert Thompson, who spoke against the proposal at the planning commission hearing in December.
While he understands the need to redevelop the Powers Ferry-Terrell Mill intersection, and that “a lot of wheels are in motion,” he thinks the developers haven’t come far enough in addressing his concerns.
The number of apartment units have been reduced from 350 to 298, and the building has been reduced from five to four stories. The adjacent self-storage facility would be three stories, also with the same architecture (see revised site plan below).
The Powers Ferry Corridor Alliance, a civic group formerly named the Terrell Mill Community Association, has supported the project all along, and urged members to attend Tuesday’s hearing “to help show that the PFCA has a role in supporting positive change in the community!”
One of the variances is significant. To get PVC zoning, a piece of property must be at least 50 acres. The Powers Ferry-Terrell Mill land isn’t half that.
Sams said a waiver request from that minimum acreage is included in a stipulation letter sent Jan. 23 to the Cobb zoning staff, which is recommending approval of the rezoning.
Noting the geographical reality of the property, Sams said the most recent PVC rezoning in Cobb—the West Village Smyrna project approved 13 years ago—also comes in under 50 acres.
The Planning Commission meeting begins at 9 a.m. Tuesday in the second floor board room of the Cobb Government Building, 100 Cherokee St., in downtown Marietta.
The planning board’s recommendation is advisory; the final decision is up to the Cobb Board of Commissioners on Feb. 20.
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A citizens group that’s been trying to address the decaying Sprayberry Crossing Shopping Center is organizing a public meeting next month to bring more attention to the issue.
Joe Glancy of the Sprayberry Crossing Action Facebook group said Friday the meeting is scheduled for March 21 at 6 p.m. at the theater of Sprayberry High School (2525 Sandy Plains Road).
He said plans are to invite county and state officials, but didn’t have any other details.
Located on 13 acres on Sandy Plains Road at East Piedmont Road, Sprayberry Crossing Shopping Center was built 40 years ago, in 1978, with more than 140,000 square feet of space and with contemporary cedar trim design. The anchor stores were supermarkets—first an Ogletree’s and then a Bruno’s—and a bowling alley also operated there.
Today, it houses only a few businesses and organizations in run-down buildings that have been in that state since the 1990s. The parking lot is bumpy and riddled with potholes, and nearby residents have long complained about it being a community eyesore.
One of those residents is Glancy, who oversees the group’s Facebook page that has nearly 3,800 members.
Last month, he conducted a survey of group members to decide how to move forward. Glancy said most of the respondents preferred a public meeting. He wrote on the group’s page:
“This year, it is time to hold people accountable and make our voices heard. Don’t let your county representatives tell you how much they care about this issue – it’s time they showed you.
“As for the ownership, it’s probably time the community organized a communications initiative to make sure the owners are made aware of the level of our frustration.”
There’s a long, drawn-out back story to the Sprayberry Crossing Shopping Center, complicated by the location of a private cemetery and other issues as detailed last summer by the Cobb County Courier.
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Last fall the former Mountain View Elementary School site was rezoned for a major mixed-use development (previous East Cobb Newspost here) that is to include restaurants, shops and other small businesses.
Now, the developers are coming back through the rezoning process to request that a self-storage facility be allowed on the nearly 14-acre tract at 3448 Sandy Plains Road.
Brooks Chadwick Capital, LLC is seeking a special land use permit to construct a three-story facility that would be located at the southwest corner of the property and adjacent to the East Cobb Senior Center and the The Art Place-Mountain View.
The application will be heard Tuesday by the Cobb Planning Commission, which meets at 9 a.m. in the second floor board room of the Cobb government building, 100 Cherokee St., downtown Marietta.
Brooks Chadwick has submitted a revised site plan and renderings for the facility (agenda item packet here), which would contain 105,340 square feet of space and 13 parking spaces.
The above rendering, which features a brick Colonial style to the exterior of the building, was worked out between the developer and nearby residents and was submitted in December.
The Cobb zoning staff is recommending approval of the application with several conditions, including final architectural and landscaping plan approval coming from the district commissioner, and continuing existing stipulations that were part of the rezoning case last year.
The planning commission is an advisory board appointed by members of the Cobb Board of Commissioners, which will decide this and other rezoning, land use permit and related business on Feb. 20.
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The first look at the February zoning calendar is out(Cobb doesn’t handle zoning cases in January), and the preliminary agenda includes a Johnson Ferry-Lassiter Road zoning case that would convert a vacant medical complex for a restaurant, gym and retail use.
The applicant for Z-4 is Robert Licata of Pediatric Medical Care of East Cobb, LLC, who wants to rezone the 1.09-acre parcel at the southwestern corner of Johnson Ferry Road and Lassiter Road from low-rise residential (LRO) to neighborhood retail commercial (NRC).
There are two buildings on the site, which is accessible only on Lassiter Road, and the proposal includes space for a learning center.
The site plan filed with the Cobb Zoning Office would make use of the existing buildings as they are, as well as the existing parking lot. The buildings total around 10,000 square feet combined.
The businesses would be open from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. seven days a week, and there would be no drive-through businesses on the property, according to the zoning filing.
There is NRC zoning in the vicinity, but the property is adjacent to a residential complex (zoned RA-5).
There’s not a staff recommendation now since only the preliminary calendar has been released. The case will be heard during the Cobb Planning Commission meeting on Feb. 6.
The site of the former Mountain View Elementary School was rezoned in October for a multi-use commercial project that includes a restaurant, retail space, a bank and a supermarket (previous East Cobb Newspost here).
The developer, Brooks Chadwick Capital, LLC, has applied for a special land use permit that’s also on the Feb. 6 agenda that would allow for a self-storage facility to be built on the nearly 14-acre site on Sandy Plains Road.
Another East Cobb case, Z-15, would convert 1.2 acres on the east side of Lawana Drive, south of Allgood Road, from single-family residential (R-20) to RM-8, multi-family residential. The applicant, Traton Homes, LLC, wants to build five townhomes.
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The construction of a double drive-through at the Chick-fil-A Woodlawn Square store in East Cobb was approved at Tuesday’s Cobb Board of Commissioners zoning hearing.
The rezoning request was approved 4-0 by the commissioners on their consent agenda. Interplan LLC, which operates the Chick-Fil-A store at 1201 Johnson Ferry Road, wants to reconfigure the parking lot to accommodate the expansion, and needed to convert a parcel of .15 of an acre from community retail to neighborhood shopping (previous East Cobb Newspost here).
The drivethrough plans include a canopy, as shown in the above rendering, the design of which, as well as other architectural renderings, must be approved by District 2 commissioner Bob Ott.
Other conditions include limiting construction vehicles to the Chick-fil-A site, and not allowing them to be parked along Johnson Ferry Road and Woodlawn Parkway while the renovations are in progress.
Commission chairman Mike Boyce recused himself from the vote, saying he frequently attends a men’s group meeting at the Chick-fil-A.
Zoning cases that do not generate opposition are commonly placed on the consent agenda and are voted on collectively.
The commissioners also voted 5-0 to approve a rezoning request by Walton Riverbend (previous East Cobb News post here). The rezoning was necessary for the developer to relocate its headquarters to the 46-acre Walton on the Chattahoochee residential site on Akers Mill Road.
The application is for a master plan for the Walton Riverbend office, as well as stipulations to guide a future mixed-use development that would keep an existing 26-unit residential building, and allow for new office buildings totaling 16,800 square feet.
“The only thing that will be approved today is the moving of the office,” Ott told his colleagues before the vote.
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A proposal to rezone the Walton on the Chattahoochee residential complex on Akers Mill Road is on the agenda for the Cobb Board of Commissioners on Tuesday.
The meeting begins at 7 p.m. in the 2nd floor commissioners meeting room at 100 Cherokee St., downtown Marietta.
It’s one of just a few East Cobb cases on the agenda that will be heard after the Cobb Planning Commission voted earlier this month to table or continue two other major applications in the same Powers Ferry corridor.
The planning board voted on Dec. 5 to table the proposed Terrell Mill Towne Center, at the corner of Terrell Mill and Powers Ferry roads, after residents at the adjacent Salem Ridge condominium complex protested (previous East Cobb News story here).
Another residential proposal, to build townhomes at Windy Hill Road and Wildwood Parkway, is being continued after objections from nearby residents.
The Walton on the Chattahoochee rezoning case also drew opposition from residents in nearby condominium communities in the Akers Mill Road corridor, but the Planning Commission voted to recommend approval. Walton Riverbend, the property owner which has its headquarters on the property, wants to convert the 46-acre tract into three office buildings totaling 16,800 square feet and to keep a 26-unit residential building.
The complex was once known as the Riverbend Apartments, and was a trend-setting development for young renters in the 1970s. Now the area is being eyed for more upscale commercial and residential development with the addition of SunTrust Park in the Powers Ferry corridor.
Kevin Moore, Walton Riverbend’s attorney, said at the planning board hearing that there are no other intentions to develop the property. “We want to set this up for the future,” he said.
That open-ended intent bothered residents of nearby communities. Brian Cipriani of the Chattahoochee Trail complex said Walton Riverbend has engaged in “constant misrepresentation about how it’s going to be developed and what’s going to take place.”
Cipriani said that “it’s inconsistent to add office space along the river,” and that he’s not the only homeowner who’s spent money trying to prevent runoff issues.
Planning Commission chairman Mike Terry, who represents the area, said the proposal “truly is a plan for the future” and added that any “trust issues” residents had with the developer are “with what’s gone on in the past.”
Still, the planning board was split 3-2, with Galt Porter and Thea Powell opposed.
Cases that are continued or held will be taken up in February, since Cobb does not conduct zoning hearings in January.
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One of the ugliest blots along a Canton Road corridor that’s long been the subject of redevelopment efforts appears to be going away soon, but what will come in its place is uncertain.
The owner of an 0.87-acre parcel of land just north of the Canton Road Connector wants to convert a long-abandoned gas station into a kitchen and cabinet showroom, but after a Cobb Planning Commission meeting Tuesday, those plans might be in limbo.
Planning board member Judy Williams, who represents the Canton Road corridor, expressed frustration that the property owner hadn’t submitted detailed plans. Those include meeting design guidelines as part of the Canton Road Corridor Plan.
PetroPlex Joint Venture, the property owner, has not forwarded any renderings, and was to have included stipulations to remove the canopy and front signage from the old gas station.
PetroPlex had requested to rezone the land currently designated for general commercial (GC) to neighborhood retail commercial, or NRC (agenda item packet), since it had been vacant for so long.
Saying she “had high hopes” for the redevelopment of the property, Williams made a motion instead to recommend approval of a low-rise office category (LRO), and her motion passed 5-0.
The planning board’s vote is advisory. The Cobb Board of Commissioners will make a final decision on Dec. 19, but the case illustrates the challenges of cleaning up blighted properties along Canton Road.
A former gas station at 2120 Canton Road (starred) is located within a Neighborhood Activity Center (NAC) future land use area.
The property at 2120 Canton Road has been vacant since 2003. Civic and business groups in the area didn’t like the rezoning request because of the lack of details.
While the former gas station has been “a true eyesore” in the community for years, Carol Brown of the Canton Road Neighbors civic association was troubled that no stipulation letters specified the canopy removal.
Her group drafted a letter including that request and asked for a prohibition against southbound turns onto Canton Road, limiting traffic to “a right in, right out” pattern.
Eric Hodge of PetroPlex said he has “spent a lot of money abating a nuisance,” telling the planning board he found out about the canopy removal request only on Tuesday. Fuel tanks from the old gas station were removed earlier this year, as the company acquired the land. Plans call for renovating and expanding the existing building for the showroom, which would be open from 8-5 Monday-Friday and employ 4-6 people.
He said keeping the canopy “is an integral part of the business,” and that he has been “trying to take a bad property and make it nice.”
Williams said she didn’t understand how leaving the canopy standing would have that effect. In her motion, she included language that it be removed, and that new signage fitting the design guidelines also be part of the site plan.
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