East Cobb Zoning & Development

Self-storage facility approved at former Mountain View ES site; Canton Road ‘blight’ case held

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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 News coverage here) that has been delayed before.

Canton Road

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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Cobb commissioners approve ‘transformative’ project for Powers Ferry-Terrell Mill area

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Powers Ferry-Terrell Mill development

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.

MarketPlace at Terrell Mill landscape plan

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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Powers Ferry-Terrell Mill development leads off Tuesday Cobb commissioners zoning hearing

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Powers Ferry-Terrell Mill development, MarketPlace Terrell Mill

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.

Related coverage

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 News post here).

 

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Mabry Farm homestead building razed on Wesley Chapel Road subdivsion site

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Mabry Farm homestead

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.

Mabry Farm homestead building

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.

Mabry Park construction site

 

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Proposed self-storage facility at former Mountain View Elementary School site clears first hurdle

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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 News post 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.

A special land-use permit must be obtained for self-storage facilities (agenda item information here).

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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Powers Ferry-Terrell Mill Road development gets OK from Cobb Planning Commission, with changes

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Powers Ferry-Terrell Mill Road development
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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Developers of proposed Powers Ferry-Terrell Mill Road project seek new zoning category

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MarketPlace Terrell Mill rendering, Powers Ferry-Terrell Mill Road project
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.

Related coverage

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.

Powers Ferry-Terrell Mill Road project
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).

MarketPlace Terrell Mill site plan

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.

Here’s a PDF of the stipulation letter submitted to the Cobb zoning staff that includes the revised site plan.

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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Sprayberry Crossing Shopping Center subject of March public meeting

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Sprayberry Crossing Shopping Center

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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Self-storage facility proposed on former Mountain View Elementary School site

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MVES Self Storage rendering

Last fall the former Mountain View Elementary School site was rezoned for a major mixed-use development (previous East Cobb News post 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.

The rest of the February zoning schedule can be found here.

 

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Johnson Ferry-Lassiter Road zoning application proposes restaurant, gym, retail use

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Licata Rezoning

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 News post 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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Chick-fil-A Woodlawn Square expansion plans approved by Cobb commissioners

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Chick Fil A Woodlawn canopy rendering

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 News post 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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Walton on the Chattahoochee rezoning case on Cobb commissioners’ agenda

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walton on the chattahoochee

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.

The rest of the commission zoning hearing agenda can be found here.

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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Redevelopment of blighted Canton Road property may be altered after zoning hearing

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Canton Road

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.

Canton Road redevelopment
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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Cobb Planning Commission votes to hold Terrell Mill Towne Center rezoning case

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Terrell Mill Towne Center
The Terrell Mill Towne Center, proposed as a major boost for the Powers Ferry corridor, has drawn strong and mixed reaction from nearby residents.

After nearly two hours of discussion that included heated opposition from residents in a nearby townhome complex, the Cobb Planning Commission on Tuesday voted to hold the long-delayed rezoning request for the proposed Terrell Mill Towne Center.

By a 3-2 vote, the Planning Commission—which is an advisory board to the Cobb Board of Commissioners—requested more time to sort out a major, complex application that was filed in January.

Traffic and density issues were the primary concerns raised by Thea Powell, Galt Porter and Skip Gunther, the three planning board members who opposed the proposal to rezone nearly 23 acres at Powers Ferry Road and Terrell Mill Road. The mixed-use project, which would be anchored by a Kroger superstore, was to have gone before Cobb commissioners Dec. 19.

The latest delay will push back a formal vote until at least February, since Cobb zoning cases are not heard in January.

The $200 million Terrell Mill Towne Center (agenda packet item) also would also contain restaurants, retail shops, and most controversially, a 310-unit luxury apartment complex abutting the Salem Ridge townhomes on Terrell Mill Road.

Related coverage:

Cobb Planning Commission Chairman Mike Terry of East Cobb, who represents District 2, where the Terrell Mill Towne Center would be located, was in strong support of the development by Eden Rock Real Estate Partners. So was Judy Williams of District 3 in Northeast Cobb, who said the project “would be good for the neighborhood, but will have to be tweaked.”

While the Powers Ferry Corridor Alliance—formerly known as the Terrell Mill Community Association—overwhelmingly supported the rezoning, Salem Ridge homeowners expressed strong opposition, especially to the residential component they say is excessively dense for the area.

“Why do we have [zoning] codes at all if we are going to ignore them?” asked Amy Patricio, who represented the opposing Salem Ridge residents.

She argued that the multiple variances requested by developers amounted to “taking the code and rewriting it to serve their purposes.”

Although Terry and Garvis Sams, the attorney for the developers, pointed out that the full proposal is suitable under the Cobb future land use plan and Power Ferry Master Plan, it was the residential component and a self-storage facility that opponents objected to the most.

In particular, Patricio said the UC zoning category sought for the apartments—Urban Condominium—was far more dense than should be allowed, and that there were an “egregious” number of variances as part of the project.

Porter, of South Cobb, agreed about the density issue, pointing to the project’s proposed 60 units an acre, as compared to the current nearby maximum of five units an acre.

“This just doesn’t match Salem Ridge or anything else around here,” he said, calling it “the definition of spot zoning.”

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Terrell Mill Towne Center rezoning goes before Cobb Planning Commission

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Terrell Mill Towne Center

We posted back in October some details about the proposed Terrell Mill Towne Center development that’s finally coming up for rezoning this month after months of delays.

The first step in the process comes Tuesday, when the developer, Eden Rock Real Estate Partners, gets a hearing before the Cobb Planning Commission for its 23-acre plan at the northwest corner of Terrell Mill Road and Powers Ferry Road.

The meeting starts at 9 a.m. in the 2nd floor commissioners meeting room, 100 Cherokee St., downtown Marietta.

The Cobb Zoning Staff packet and analysis includes a general recommendation of approval of the application with quite a few stipulations related to traffic, including that the developer conduct a traffic study.

The staff document also contains photos of landscaping and lighting plans submitted by the developer, as well as signage height dimensions for the Kroger superstore that’s the anchor component of the project.Kroger sign Terrell Mill Towne Center

Eden Rock (the formal applicant is SSP Blue Ridge, LLC) wants to convert land presently zoned for general commercial, neighborhood shopping and low-density residential (including the present location of Brumby Elementary School) to community retail commercial and urban condominium categories.

In addition to the 100,000-square-foot Kroger, Terrell Mill Towne Center would include restaurant and retail space and 340 luxury residential units.

Here’s Eden Rock’s prospectus it posted in October.

Also in October, the developers and Cobb government and school officials outlined the project at a meeting of the Powers Ferry Corridor Alliance, a civic group formerly known as the Terrell Mill Community Association. That group has expressed general support for the Eden Rock project as a boost for the Powers Ferry area.

The development also is timed for the opening of a new Interstate 75 interchange at Terrell Mill Road.

In its analysis, the Cobb Zoning staff recommended that the developer donate right of way for traffic improvements, including a minimum of 50 feet on the west side of Powers Ferry Road, and a similar distance on the north side of Terrell Mill Road.

Terrell Mill Towne Center landscapingThe traffic study recommendation includes a long-term build-out assessment of 10 years, as well as the installation of traffic signal on Powers Ferry Road at least that’s at least 1,000 feet from the intersection of Terrell Mill Road.

Eden Rock also has proposed a traffic signal on Terrell Mill Road that would partially shut off access to the Terrell Mill Plaza (where the LA Fitness Center is located).

Zoning staff is recommending that a new access point be created at the rear of Terrell Mill Towne Center to coordinate with the Terrell Mill Plaza entrance, and that the developer build raised concrete islands on Powers Ferry Road and Terrell Mill Road.

The rest of Tuesday’s Cobb Planning Commission agenda can be found here, along with preliminary staff analysis.

Staff recommendations and the planning commission’s votes are advisory; the final say comes from the Cobb Board of Commissioners on Dec. 19.

 

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Keheley Drive rezoning proposal denied by Cobb commissioners

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Keheley Drive rezoning

A proposed high-density residential development on wooded land located in a floodplain along Keheley Drive was rejected Tuesday by the Cobb Board of Commissioners.

By a 4-1 vote, the commissioners denied a request by David Pearson Communities Inc. to rezone 26 acres from R-20 to a much higher residential density category, R-12, for 51 single-family homes.

That would have allowed nearly three units an acre in a residential area with no similar density, which drew plenty of community opposition.

“R-12 doesn’t fit in this neighborhood,” Northeast Cobb commissioner JoAnn Birrell said in moving to recommend denial of the application. “It is way too dense for this area.”

In addition to the high-density zoning category, the developer also sought a number of variances that included spacing homes only 10 feet apart (instead of the minimum of 15 feet), and 12 of the proposed homes would have been located in the 100-year Rubes Creek floodplain that has spilled over several times in recent years, including this summer.

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As he did during a Cobb Planning Commission hearing earlier this month, a representative of nearby several homeowners associations showed photos of flooded homes and streets, including the major 2009 floods that prompted several homes in the Country Meadows neighborhood to be condemned.

The same property, owned by the Ruggles family, was proposed for rezoning in 2007 to R-15 for 39 homes, but that request was turned down.

The developer this time included stormwater management stipulations to address flooding, but not to the satisfaction of the community nor the commissioners.

Kevin Moore, an attorney for David Pearson Communities, noted that since the land is in the hands of an estate, it must be sold and is bound to be developed someday. If it is built out under the R-20 category, he added, it may not need the flooding stipulations that come with a higher density.

“What zoning can offer is to work the developer to address stormwater concerns,” he said. “The opposition has chosen to simply oppose.”

Resident Doug Boutwell of the Enchanted Woods subdivision, who said he’s encountered stormwater issues living where he does, took exception to those comments.

In his dissenting vote, East Cobb commissioner Bob Ott said that “you’re not going to get the flooding fixed if you deny” and thought that an R-15 category (which includes Enchanted Woods) might be worth considering. “The fact that there was flooding this year shows that there’s a problem.”

But local opposition was especially vocal. The rezoning proposal is close to Keheley Elementary School, where more than 80 people turned out for a Nov. 2 community meeting.

Many homes had yard signs expressing opposition, and Bergin said he was representing nearly 800 individuals in several communities and got nearly 500 signatures objecting to the rezoning.

 

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Northeast Cobb residents sound off on zoning cases

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Lakewood Colony sign, Northeast Cobb residents

Some high-density zoning cases we’ve written about here in the last week got their first formal hearing on Tuesday, as Northeast Cobb residents gave an earful to the Cobb Planning Commission.

The commission engaged in virtually no discussion before voting 5-0 to recommend denying a proposal that would rezone 26 acres on Keheley Drive for 51 single-family homes, or nearly 3 units an acre. David Pearson Communities Inc. is seeking zoning from R-20 to R-12, but there’s nothing nearby that’s zoned for that density.

A similar plan was rejected a decade ago, on the same land that’s in the possession of the Ruggles family. But it’s not just density that prompted around 50 nearby residents to show up in opposition.

It’s also about flooding.

Eric Bergin, a resident of the Lakewood Colony neighborhood who spoke on behalf of several homeowners associations (totaling around 800 residents), showed dramatic slides from floods in 2009 that ravaged the nearby Country Meadows community, after which six low-lying homes had to be condemned.

The Ruggles property, which sits partially in a flood plain, is largely undeveloped, and includes Rubes Creek, a tributary of Noonday Creek.

Part of the Cobb zoning staff’s recommendation of denial also included flood plain and water retention issues that residents said would grow worse.

“We get the runoff from everywhere,” Bergin said, referencing Lakewood Colony. “This is going to cause even more water to come down.”

In June, he said, the nearby Enchanted Woods community sustained some flooding damage, as did Country Meadows again during October rains.

“The flooding and the traffic impact are too hard to ignore,” he said.

Judy Williams, who represents District 3 on the planning commission, offered the board’s only comment on the matter: “There are so many problems. Flooding has been a problem here forever.”

The planning commission’s vote is only advisory; the Cobb Board of Commissioners will make the final decision on Nov. 21.

In another Northeast Cobb zoning case, however, the planning commission voted to recommend approval of a higher-density proposal on a smaller scale that still drew community opposition.

By a 4-1 vote, the planning commission endorsed a proposal by EAH Acquisitions to rezone 12 acres on Wigley Road at Jamerson Road for 19 single-family homes.

Residents from the Falconcrest and other neighborhoods spoke in opposition, mainly for traffic reasons, and pointed to other nearby zoning and development plans that are still in the works.

“It’s not a bad plan but it just not the right timing,” said resident Patrick Cahill. “There are a lot of issues in this area already.”

However, the strongest objection came from Thea Powell, the only planning commissioner who voted no. A former District 3 member on the Cobb commission, she also cited the Country Meadows flooding issue in regards to the EAH Acquisitions application.

The land sits in a 100-year floodplain and includes a stream that flows into Rubes Creek. While other planning commissioners liked the proposal, including the architectural features, Powell was adamant.

“It doesn’t matter what the house looks like,” she said. “It’s the impact on the area.”

 

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Northeast Cobb residential proposals highlight Planning Commission agenda

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Wigley Road rezoning, Northeast Cobb residential proposals
An old farm-style house on Wigley Road. (East Cobb News file photo)

Last week we wrote about two rezoning applications for Northeast Cobb residential proposals that go to the heart of density disputes.

Those two items are part of a larger agenda to be heard by the Cobb Planning Commission Tuesday that includes other similar applications in the area.

The meeting begins at 9 a.m. in the 2nd floor boardroom of the Cobb BOC Building, 100 Cherokee St., downtown Marietta.

The Cobb zoning staff is recommending denial of a proposal to squeeze nearly three single-family units an acre, or 51 homes in all, on 26 acres on Keheley Drive, near Keheley Road and Keheley Elementary School.

That case, Z-74 (agenda item packet), is being opposed by nearby residents, who live in lower-density homes.

The zoning staff initially recommended denial of Z-71 (agenda item packet), which would rezone 13 office and low-density residential acres for higher-density residential for a 45-unit subdivision on Hilltop Drive and Hilltop Circle, off Canton Road.

The rezoning would allow for nearly three and a half units an acre, a density staff said would not be suitable, since lower-density housing surrounds the land. Homes in the adjoining Addison Heights neighborhood are zoned for only 1.5 units an acre.

A number of variances would also be required, as would improvements to Hilltop Drive and Hilltop Circle, which are both described in the staff analysis as “substandard” streets.

However, that case has been continued to December.

Two parcels of land once belonging to the Wigley family in and around Sweat Mountain were scheduled to be heard Tuesday, but one of them, Z-56 (agenda item packet), also is being delayed to December.

That application would rezone 55 acres of undeveloped land plus an old Wigley family home on either side of Wigley Road, north of Summitop Drive, for a single-family subdivision with more than 80 homes. This is the third time the application is being continued.

A nearby application, Z-69 (agenda item packet), would rezone 12 acres at Wigley Road and Jims Drive for 19 homes, and zoning staff is recommending approval with numerous conditions.

The following East Cobb items are included in the Other Business category and will be heard by the Cobb Board of Commissioners Nov. 21:

  • OB-55, by Feroz Ali, a revised site plan for vacant property at 1445 Powers Ferry Road to redevelop a gas station and convenience store adjacent to the Valencia Hills condominium community;
  • OB-57, by St. Clair Holdings, a site plan amendment for 12 high-density residential lots at 1149 Woodlawn Drive, in the Woodlawn Commons neighborhood.

Another major East Cobb zoning case that had been scheduled for November will be heard next month. That’s for the proposed Terrell Mill Towne Center at Terrell Mill and Powers Ferry that will include a Kroger supermarket anchoring shops, restaurants and residential units.

That application goes before the planning commission Dec. 5.

 

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Keheley rezoning case reflects density issues brewing in Northeast Cobb

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Keheley rezoning
A home on Keheley Drive, right across the street from a proposed high-density residential development. (East Cobb News photos by Wendy Parker)

The community around Keheley Elementary School maintains something of a tucked-away feel, with winding country-style roads, lushly wooded areas and a mix of single-family home styles on generous lots.

This part of Northeast Cobb still feels like it has some elbow room. If you travel westbound on Keheley Drive, close to where it intersects with Keheley Road, and look off to the right, you’ll see a thick scrub of land that drops down behind trees. A dirt path provides an opening into nearly 26 acres of land.

There are two homes, one built in 1910 and another in 1957, at 4351 and 4371 Keheley Drive, on land that’s otherwise designated for conservation use. The acreage is located within the floodplain and stream buffer associated with Rubes Creek.

Keheley rezoning site planThat’s where an East Cobb luxury home developer wants to build 51 single-family homes (site plan at left). A request to be heard next week by the Cobb Planning Commission (agenda item packet) is seeking a higher density use than the surrounding neighborhoods.

David Pearson Communities, Inc. has applied for rezoning from R-20 to R-12, which would allow up to three units per acre. Nearby homes are zoned either R-20 or R-15, and there’s plenty of visible community opposition.

Small yellow signs with red lettering pop up intermittently along Keheley Drive and Keheley Road, in front of homes and neighborhood entrances:

Keheley rezoning
The Keheley Lake Drive entrance to the Lakewood Colony neighborhood.

“Save Keheley! No Rezoning.”

The parcel in question is in the hands of the estate of Collene Ruggles, who died in 2016.

The Ruggles land previously came up for zoning in 2007, from R-20 to R-15, but it sits undisturbed today, in an area that’s encountering some of the same density issues that have been increasing in East Cobb.

Not far away in Northeast Cobb, land belonging to the estate of another longtime family property owner is also going before the Planning Commission for higher-density zoning.

EAH Acquisitions, Inc., is seeking rezoning from R-30 to R-15 to build 19 homes on 12. 29 acres at the northwest corner of Wigley Road and Jims Road. The titleholder is the estate of Dorothy Henrietta Wigley, who also died in 2016. She was a member of the Wigley family that was a major property owner, including Sweat Mountain and much of the present-day Mountain View area.

The only remaining structure on the Wigley property, which is proposed to be developed into a single-family subdivision.

While the Wigley application got a recommendation of approval with conditions from the Cobb zoning staff—since R-15 zoning is in effect in nearby and adjacent communities—the Keheley case did not.

In fact, the zoning staff analysis strongly recommends denial of the request. David Pearson Communities wants to build homes with at least 2,500 square feet of space on small lots. Among the variances would be to reduce the distance between residences to 10 feet from the minimum 15 feet.

Not only are other homes in the area not as densely packed, but according to Cobb zoning staff, 12 of the 51 lots in the proposed site plan don’t meet the minimum code required area above the floodplain.

Keheley rezoning
The Ruggles property on the west side of Keheley Drive.

The Cobb zoning staff also pointed out that the rezoning request doesn’t conform with the Cobb County Comprehensive Plan, since the Ruggles property is designated as being in a Low-Density Residential area (LDR), or no more than 2.5 units an acre.

The Cobb Planning Commission meets Wednesday, Nov. 7, at 9 a.m. in the 2nd floor boardroom of the Cobb BOC Building, 100 Cherokee St., in downtown Marietta.

 

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Proposed Terrell Mill Towne Center project subject of community meeting

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Terrell Mill Towne Center
Eden Rock Real Estate Partners aerial rendering of the Terrell Mill Towne Center.

What’s currently the location of Brumby Elementary School and adjoining office and retail space along Powers Ferry Road is set to become the Terrell Mill Towne Center.

That’s the name the developers of a proposed 23-acre mixed-use project at the northwest intersection of Terrell Mill and Powers Ferry are calling their project. It is to be anchored by a 100,000-square-foot Kroger superstore, and plans include restaurant and retail space and 340 luxury residential units.

Eden Rock Real Estate Partners, which has a zoning application before the Cobb Board of Commissioners, will detail their plans Wednesday at a meeting held by the Powers Ferry Corridor Alliance.

That meeting takes place at 7 p.m. at Brumby Elementary School, 1306 Powers Ferry Road. The PFCA, a citizens’ organization, was formerly called the Terrell Mill Community Association.

County development, public safety, transportation and school officials also have been invited to attend.

Brumby, which is relocating for the next school year to a new site on Terrell Mill Road, is where the new Kroger would be built (and moving down Powers Ferry from its current venue near Delk Road).

(Here’s a marketing package Eden Rock has prepared for potential tenants, touting the location’s proximity to SunTrust Park and the new Terrell Mill interchange with Interstate 75 that’s slated to open next spring.)

Eden Rock’s zoning application (here’s the most recently updated agenda item packet) has been delayed several months. The proposal would convert land currently zoned for general commerical, neighborhood shopping and residential (that’s Brumby, as are most schools) to a community retail center.

The Cobb Planning Commission will hear the application on Dec. 5, and the Cobb Board of Commissioners are scheduled to act on Dec. 12.

This will be the final round of zoning decisions in Cobb until February, since the commissioners do not hear zoning cases in January.

 

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