East Cobb Zoning & Development Archives

NE Cobb rezoning request withdrawn on historic home site

June 20, 2023 10:53 AM by Wendy Parker

NE Cobb rezoning historic preservation efforts

The owner of a car wash chain eyeing property near the Town Center area in Northeast Cobb has withdrawn its rezoning request.

Attorney Parks Huff submitted the request Monday on behalf of Tommy’s Express by Northgate, telling Cobb commissioners Tuesday at their monthly zoning hearing that his client had contractual and other obligations that prevented the case from going forward.

Commissioners were to have heard the request to rezone two acres at Bells Ferry Road and Barrett Parkway that includes an 1840s-era home that was the headquarters for a Union general during the Civil War.

Earlier this month, the Cobb Planning Commission voted 4-0 to recommend approval to convert the property from residential to neighborhood retail commercial (NRC) and low-rise office (LRO) after Huff presented a revised site plant that would have kept the McAfee House on the site.

Trevor Beemon, Cobb Landmarks’ executive director, told the Planning Commission that his organization wants to relocate the house, saying it’s not ideal to serve as a cultural center, although there is some community support for keeping it there.

Huff didn’t elaborate on why his client was backing out after the Planning Commission vote. Commissioners voted 4-0 Tuesday to formalize the withdrawal without prejudice, meaning it can be refiled again at any time.

Commissioner JoAnn Birrell said she’s hopeful a new applicant can come in and pursue development of the land, which is across from Bells Ferry Elementary School and is surrounded by commercial development.

In a social media post late Monday, Cobb Landmarks said it will continue efforts started in 2019 to preserve the house:

“For those suggesting the house be used as a museum or other public use—if money wasn’t a factor, then yes. However, the estimate to restore the house for commercial/public use is about $700,000. Maintenance is estimated to be about $23,000 a year. Not to mention the list price near $1M to acquire it. It would cost $1.7M+ just to get started, and then more to operate it once it’s finished. This would be extremely challenging for anyone to pull off.”

This is the second rezoning case in recent months that involved an historic structure in East Cobb that eventually was abandoned.

Huff also was the attorney for Kenneth B. Clary, who had sought rezoning on Post Oak Tritt Road for a subdivision that drew opposition for stormwater issues.

The site near McPherson Road also contained an 1840s cabin that Cobb Landmarks has wanted to preserve. Some residents and a member of the Cobb Cemetery Preservation Committee claim area around the Power-Jackson cabin includes a small family cemetery, but Huff said he has no evidence of any burials on the site.

Huff withdrew that request last month after the Planning Commission voted to continue the case.

East Cobb resident reappointed to Cobb Development Authority

June 15, 2023 7:46 AM by Wendy Parker

Karen Hallacy

Karen Hallacy, an East Cobb resident who’s been active in various civic activities, has been reappointed to serve on the Development Authority of Cobb County.

The authority is a seven-member body appointed by the Cobb Board of Commissioners that approves bond requests and other incentive packages for businesses and corporations.

Hallacy, a former lobbyist for the Cobb County School District who lives in the Walton High School area, has been on the Development Authority since 2013.

She was reappointed to another term by the full Cobb Board of Commissioners on Tuesday in a 4-0 vote, with Chairwoman Lisa Cupid absent. Most recently, Hallacy had been serving as the authority’s secretary/treasurer.

Hallacy hasn’t always supported some of the more high-profile and controversial tax abatement requests that have come before the authority.

Among those she opposed was for the Kroger superstore that’s set to open later this summer at the MarketPlace Terrell Mill on Powers Ferry Road, and she cited setting a precedent for retail businesses.

Hallacy also has been a member of the Cobb Elder Abuse Task Force and is a former president of the Georgia PTA.

Also on Tuesday, commissioners voted $4-0 to spend $495,292 for design work for the Johnson Ferry Road-Shallowford Road intersection project (previous ECN post here).

Kimley-Horn of Atlanta will develop the design concept for the $15 million project, most of which is coming from federal sources.

Commissioners also voted Tuesday to spend $8.132 million to purchase two vacant office buildings in an industrial park. The buildings are on 10 acres on West Oak Circle and West Oak Parkway and include 85,000 square feet. They would house official documents that are required for the Cobb County Records Services Division to retain and archive.

The records are currently held at a number of facilities around the county. Renovations are expected to cost another $1.362 million.

Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!

Office building proposed for Mt. Bethel Community Center

June 10, 2023 4:08 PMJune 9, 2023 5:27 PM by Wendy Parker

Mt. Bethel Church Community Center rezoning

The Mt. Bethel Church Community Center that’s been up for sale since last fall could be converted into a small office building.

A local real estate development firm has applied for rezoning the 1.13 acre site at 4608 Lower Roswell Road for that purpose, and a zoning hearing has been scheduled for July 5 before the Cobb Planning Commission.

MRE Properties & Investments, LLC is seeking low-rise office (LRO) zoning, which would permit professional office uses. The current building, which housed various Mt. Bethel Church activities and non-profits, including Aloha to Aging, is a single story on land zoned in the RA-4 residential category.

A preliminary site plan filed with the application (agenda item here) indicates that the structure would remain relatively the same, except for some upgrades inside and to the exterior.

The office hours would be from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. MRE has hired noted zoning attorney Kevin Moore.

The land on which the community center sits is one of four parcels Mt. Bethel Church put on the real estate market following its controversial departure from the United Methodist Church last year.

Mt. Bethel paid the UMC’s North Georgia Conference $13.1 million as part of the legal settlement.

In March, Mt. Bethel sold nearly an acre with a day care center that’s adjacent to the community center $1.55 million, according to Cobb property tax records. No forthcoming use for that facility has been announced by the purchaser, a local asset holding company.

The building was a day care center before Mt. Bethel Church purchased it in 1990. Mt. Bethel closed the day care center in December.

Mt. Bethel is also selling a vacant home across Lower Roswell Road and a wooded lot next to the U.S. Post Office.

The community center site was once the home of the Poss family, which owned a farm and was prominent in the area before East Cobb became suburbanized.

The community was then known as Mt. Bethel, and we spoke with members of the Poss family in 2019 about those memories.

Cobb Planning Commission OK’s zoning involving historic home

June 6, 2023 6:10 PM by Wendy Parker

NE Cobb rezoning historic preservation efforts

The Cobb Planning Commission on Tuesday recommended approval of a rezoning request for a car wash near Bells Ferry Elementary School that would allow room to preserve an 1840s-era home on the property (see previous post here).

The board voted 4-0 to send the request for neighborhood retail commercial (NRC) and low-rise office (LRO) rezoning to the Cobb Board of Commissioners, which will hold a zoning hearing June 20. Planning Commission member Michael Hughes was absent Tuesday.

Parks Huff, an attorney for the Medford Family Limited Partnership, the property owners, said the car wash would be located on the NRC portion of the two-acre site at Bells Ferry Road and Barrett Parkway.

The LRO designation could be used to accommodate the house if it were to stay on the land.

The case has been delayed as the applicant and historic preservation interests continued discussions that have been ongoing for years.

In a May 19 stipulation letter, Huff suggested the split zoning as a means to keep the house on the land.

In her motion to recommend approval Planning Commissioner Deborah Dance was skeptical of the twin zoning categories, and wanted some clarity on what would happen to the LRO land if the home were removed.

He suggested that it could be used for common greenspace, such as a pocket park.

Tommy’s Express by Northgate is proposing a 15,000-square-foot car wash at an intersection that’s surrounded by commercial development, including a Barnes and Noble and Publix.

Cobb Landmarks, an historic preservation non-profit, has been talking with the landowner for four years about finding a way to preserve the McAfee House, which was a homestead that served as a Union general’s headquarters during the Civil War.

Trevor Beemon, Cobb Landmarks’ executive director, told the Planning Commission Tuesday that his organization wants to relocate the house, saying it’s not ideal to serve as a cultural center, although there is some community support for keeping it there.

He said Cobb Landmarks, the Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation and the Cobb Preservation Commission could be conveyed a deed for preservation purposes.

He said he’s meeting this week with the Georgia Trust, which could put a preservation easement on the land surrounding the home, then make repairs and find “suitable purpose” and possibly a new location.

Cobb Planning Commission OK’s zoning involving historic home — *A rendering of the proposed Tommy’s Car Wash.*

Civil War-era homesite subject of NE Cobb rezoning request

May 10, 2024 5:29 PMJune 2, 2023 4:06 PM by Wendy Parker

NE Cobb rezoning historic preservation efforts

A home in Northeast Cobb that served as a Union general’s headquarters during the Civil War could soon give way to a car wash.

The Cobb Planning Commission on Tuesday is expected to give a first hearing for a proposed car wash at the intersection of Bells Ferry Road and Barrett Parkway after the application had been delayed.

The McAfee House has been vacant for years, and historic preservation interests have been negotiating with the landowners to have the building relocated.

Two-acre site is surrounded by commercial property, including a shopping center with a Publix and a Barnes and Noble, and is across the street from Bells Ferry Elementary School.

Tommy’s Express by Northgate is seeking the neighborhood retail commercial (NRC) category (case filings here) for the two-acre site, which currently is zoned general commercial.

The car wash, which would include 5,315 square feet of space and 29 parking spaces, would be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily.

Cobb Landmarks has been talking with the property owner, the Medford Family Limited Partnership, since 2019 to find a way to relocate and preserve the land, and has acknowledged that “the house and land are not protected through local zoning or historic designation.”

The Cobb Zoning Office is recommending approval with some conditions, and suggested that “if the house cannot be moved and/or preserved on site, staff recommends that documentation of the structure, all outbuildings, and its setting, including current archival-quality photographs be completed by a cultural resource consultant. These materials should be submitted to the historic preservation planner.”

The McAfee House was the homestead of farmers Eliza and Robert McAfee, and it dates back to the 1840s. It was used as a Union Army general’s headquarters after the seizure of the Big Shanty during the Civil War. It also served as a field hospital after an 1864 engagement near what was called McAfee’s Crossroads.

Cobb Landmarks had been working to preserve another 1840s home on Post Oak Tritt Road where another rezoning case was being considered.

But the applicant, Kenneth B. Clary, withdrew that application last month after a proposal for a subdivision drew opposition for stormwater and historic preservation reasons.

The Power-Jackson Cabin was also built in the 1840s and has been abandoned for several decades. Cobb Landmarks posted earlier this week that it recently visited the site to assess the possibility of having an archaeological survey conducted:

“Cobb Landmarks is also exploring different options for the long-term preservation of the cabin, including the possibility of relocating it to a nearby park for public display. . . We were encouraged by what we saw and are hopeful the cabin can still be saved.”

Cobb Landmarks has been interested in having the structure relocated to the Hyde Farm facility on Lower Roswell Road.

Another Northeast Cobb rezoning case of interest to be heard Tuesday has been placed on the consent agenda, meaning there is no known opposition.

It’s a proposal by Toys & Gift Delivery, Inc. for a bakery at 2601 Sandy Plains Road, from office-industrial to NRC.

The vacant building at 6,552 square feet and the bakery would be open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily, according to the zoning filing.

The Cobb Planning Commission hearing begins at 9 a.m. Tuesday in the second floor board room of the Cobb government building (100 Cherokee St., downtown Marietta), you can view the full agenda and individual case files by clicking here.

You also can watch on the county’s website and YouTube channels and on Cobb TV 23 on Comcast Cable.

Cobb strategic plan draft makes exclusionary zoning reference

May 16, 2023 5:03 PM by Wendy Parker

East Cobb real estate outlook — *Most subdivisions in East Cobb were developed on property that allows only single-family residential use. ECN file.*

The draft of the Cobb County Five-Year Strategic Plan was released last week, and the second of two public hearings before the Cobb Board of Commissioners is scheduled for May 23.

The plan, which will help set county government policy and goals from 2023-2028, recommends strategies “for achieving success indicators,” as the study’s consultants have phrased it, that for the most part are not very controversial.

But one of those recommendations under the housing category could prove to become a subject of interest as the county continues to gather feedback.

The plan’s three “success indicators” for housing include aiming for an “adequate quantity and availability of housing types.”

One of the recommended strategies under that section is to develop a process to “evaluate and adapt land use policies that promote exclusionary zoning and inhibit a variety of housing options across the County.”

Exclusionary zoning is the practice of allowing only certain kinds of zoning categories in certain areas, and has come up frequently in communities across the country—especially suburban ones—in regard to affordable housing in recent years.

Shortly after the Biden Administration took office the White House issued comments about exclusionary zoning along similar lines, saying that such practices “drive up housing prices, poorer families are kept out of wealthier, high-opportunity neighborhoods. This, in turn, leads to worse outcomes for children, including lower standardized test scores, and greater social inequalities over time.”

Cobb Commission Chairwoman Lisa Cupid has mentioned affordable housing frequently, including at a contentious town hall meeting last summer in East Cobb when she said that “people who work here should be able to afford to live here.”

In recent years, a number of local and state governments have acted to limit or ban exclusionary zoning, as it has been described by some activists as racially and economically discriminatory.

Such bans have been approved in California, and there’s a proposal in New York state to do the same. Similar measures also have been adopted in Minneapolis and Arlington, Va.

There’s no such language suggesting or proposing a ban in the Cobb strategic plan draft, which goes onto to recommend that other strategies to address affordable housing include setting a countywide housing mix goal, and to ensure that a proposed Unified Development Code, should that be approved, “enable a variety of housing types.”

Atlanta became the first city in Georgia to ban exclusionary zoning in 2017, and a year later Brookhaven created an “inclusionary” zoning code and outlawed short-term rentals.

Housing data included in the strategic plan draft indicates that Cobb has a median gross rent of $1,367 a month and a nedian home value of $263,150.

The strategic plan draft was prepared by Accenture LLP, which the county is paying $1.45 million. A proposal to provide another $285,000 and a time extension was dropped last month by commissioners, who said they would hold extra meetings and feedback sessions instead.

The plan is designed to give policy makers a long-term (10- to 20-year) vision for meeting those future service needs, in addition to the more immediate 5-year range.

The draft submitted by Accenture includes seven topic, or “strategic outcome” areas—community development, economic development, governance, housing, infrastructure, mobility and transportation and public safety.

The public can comment on the strategic plan by e-mailing: StrategicPlan@cobbcounty.org.

Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!

Post Oak Tritt Road subdivision rezoning request withdrawn

May 16, 2023 2:29 PM by Wendy Parker

*The Power-Jackson Cabin is one of the last one-room log cabins in Cobb dating back to the 1840s. Photo: David Seibert for Historical Marker Database*

A week after the Cobb Planning Commission voted to hold a subdivision request on Post Oak Tritt Road that drew community opposition, the applicant has withdrawn the proposal without prejudice.

Attorney Parks Huff asked for the withdrawal in a letter dated May 12 to the Cobb Zoning Office, but didn’t specify a reason, other than referring to “issues raised during the pendency of the application.”

East Cobb News has left a message with Huff seeking more information.

A request by Kenneth B. Clary, the landowner, to rezone 13.38 acres at 4701 Post Oak Tritt Road near McPherson Road for homes adjacent to the Clary Lakes subdivision was first made last fall, but didn’t get a first hearing until April.

The Cobb Planning Commission voted for a continuance then, after Clary sought rezoning from R-30 to R-15, and with nearby residents concerned about responsibility for repairing two dams on the lake.

The Cobb Zoning office recommended an R-20 designation, which would allow 18 homes.

But historic preservation activists also had issues with the rezoning. The site includes the Power-Jackson Cabin, one of the last one-room log structures left in Cobb County.

It dates back to the 1840s, and the Cobb Landmarks Society wanted the applicant to pay for relocation expenses to the Hyde Farm property in East Cobb.

Also at the April hearing, preservationists mentioned a cemetery on the site that Clary’s representatives said they weren’t aware of.

At the May 2 Planning Commission hearing, Jimi Richards of the Cobb Cemetery Preservation Commission cited a book about the early history of Cobb County (up to 1932), indicating a young mother, part of the Power family, died there nearly 140 years ago giving birth, and she is buried there with her baby twins.

He asked for the delay for the applicant to hire an archaeologist, per county code, to conduct a survey to discover if, and where, they may be resting.

Joe Ovbey, who lives in an adjacent home on Post Oak Tritt, said his family has known the Clarys for decades.

“I’ve been shown where those graves are for many years,” he said earlier this month.

The planning commission motion to hold the case included provisions for a community meeting between the applicant and nearby residents, a third-party analysis of the possible graves and further addressing dam and stormwater issues.

When an zoning applicant withdraws a request without prejudice, it can refile at any time. Cases that are denied or that are withdrawn with prejudice cannot be refiled for at least a year.

Post Oak Tritt zoning case delayed — *The nearly 14 acres owned by Kenneth B. Clary at Post Oak Tritt and McPherson roads (inside the blue lines) is located just east of Tritt Elementary School.*

JOSH developer to ask for higher impervious surface limit

May 12, 2023 5:40 PMMay 12, 2023 3:24 PM by Wendy Parker

Ashwood Atlanta site plan 3.14.23 — *A revised site plan for a 77-home subdivision on Johnson Ferry Road at Waterfront Drive. For a larger version **click here**.*

The developer of a residential subdivision included in the East Cobb Church rezoning in 2021 will ask Cobb commissioners Tuesday to raise the threshold for impervious surfaces for that development.

It’s included as an Other Business item at the commission’s monthly zoning hearing, and it was continued from last month at the request of the applicant (agenda item here).

Johnson Ferry Road LLC attorney Kevin Moore asked last month for additional time. He represented North Point Ministries, which will be building the East Cobb Church facility at the Johnson Ferry-Shallowford intersection.

Below that, and below a declared flood plain as well, Ashwood Atlanta will be building 77 single-family detached homes on 19 acres zoned RA-5.

The residential portion of the rezoning case was the most contentious, with some in the community insisting the density proposed at the time (44 townhomes and 51 detached homes) was too much, for traffic and stormwater reasons.

Zoning approval included limiting impervious surfaces in the subdivision to 40 percent. Moore will be asking to raise it to 45 percent with the additional runoff “designed into the retention area,” and that “would help to accommodate development consistent with the area,” but there was no further elaboration.

Citizens serving on a plan review committee said they wanted the final plan to get as close to the 40 percent stipulation as possible.

Initial clearing and grading work has been underway at the site for a few weeks, including the relocation of Waterfront Drive.

The zoning hearing hearing begins at 9 a.m. Tuesday in the second floor board room of the Cobb government building (100 Cherokee St., downtown Marietta), you can view the full agenda and individual case files by clicking here.

You also can watch on the county’s website and YouTube channels and on Cobb TV 23 on Comcast Cable.

King’s Hawaiian pulls out of plans for NE Cobb restaurant

May 9, 2023 2:11 PMMay 8, 2023 5:21 PM by Wendy Parker

King's Hawaiian rezoning request approved

Not long after Cobb commissioners approved a site plan change last month to allow for a King’s Hawaiian restaurant in Northeast Cobb, the California-based company decided it would not go ahead with those plans.

Jason Linscott, a principal at Stein Investment Group, which owns the property at Gordy Parkway and Shallowford Road where the eatery was proposed, said King’s Hawaiian made the decision a week after the zoning hearing.

He said the reason was that the conditions included in the approval “weren’t going to make it work.”

In particular, Linscott cited a required 40-foot buffer between the back of the property and the adjacent Harrison Park tennis courts.

Stein had applied to reduce that buffer to just four feet for parking and drivethru access. But Commissioner JoAnn Birrell referred to a 1980s stipulation when the land was previously rezoned about a 40-foot buffer, saying reducing it “would set a precedent. It was put in place for a reason.”

During the hearing, Garvis Sams, Stein’s attorney, said not being able to reduce the buffer would cause “a considerable re-engineering” of the restaurant.

Linscott said that after the vote Stein “tried really hard” to keep King’s Hawaiian on board, but to no avail.

“It’s a little deflating,” Linscott told East Cobb News, saying he’s not sure what kind of development his company can get approved for that land.

East Cobb News has contacted King’s Hawaiian seeking more information.

It’s uncommon, but not unprecedented, for zoning applicants to pull out of projects after they’re approved. In another Northeast Cobb case in 2021, Pulte Homes withdrew from developing a 92-home subdivision on 50 acres on Ebenezer Road near Blackewell Road.

Linscott said there were other conditions that were approved at the request of the Gordy Architectural Control Committee and the East Cobb Civic Association that also were “not going to work” for King’s Hawaiian.

There also was some opposition from nearby residents about traffic issues, similar to those that prompted commissioners to reject plans for a Lidl grocery store at that intersection.

King's Hawaiian pulls out of NE Cobb plans — *The land proposed for the King’s Hawaiian restaurant (with the gold star) sits at a busy intersection near Lassiter High School.*

Birrell suggested in her motion to approve that Stein purchase adjacent county-owned land to address the buffer issues, but Linscott said that involved a complicated process involving title searches and other factors that also proved to be difficult to pull off.

“We tried to find other ways to do it,” Linscott said, but ultimately, King’s Hawaiian “felt they had given a lot of things” to open the company’s first restaurant outside of its southern California base.

“They said they didn’t feel like they were welcome,” he said.

King’s Hawaiian first filed for a site plan amendment in mid-2022, but didn’t get a hearing before commissioners in March.

The 1.14 acres on which the restaurant was to have gone is shaped like a wedge, next to the self-storage facility that Stein built after getting rezoning in 2021 to convert the former GTC Cobb Park 12 movie theater.

“We’re basically starting over,” Linscott said, saying “it’s not feasible to do a restaurant without getting into that buffer.”

Linscott said “we’ll do something there. I hate that it couldn’t have been something like this.”

Cobb Planning board delays Post Oak Tritt subdivision plans

May 2, 2023 10:51 AM by Wendy Parker

Post Oak Tritt subdivision plans delayed — *For a larger view **click here**.*

A long-delayed request to build homes on property containing an historic 19th century cabin is being held again after the Cobb Planning Commission voted for a 30-day hold on Tuesday.

The 5-0 vote came after a lengthy discussion about a number of other issues—including stormwater, dam repair and traffic access issues—that weren’t resolved after the applicant submitted a revised site plan last month.

“It’s pretty clear to me that we don’t have enough information,” said Planning Commissioner David Anderson, who represents District 2, which includes the 13.38 acres at 4701 Post Oak Tritt Road.

The five-member board, appointed by members of the Cobb Board of Commissioners, voted to hold the request last month for similar reasons.

Kenneth Clary, the property owner, wants to sell the land adjacent to the Clary Lakes subdivision for what would be an 18-home development (case file here).

His property is currently zoned R-30, the lowest-density residential category in Cobb. After initially making an R-15 request, his attorney, Parks Huff, submitted an R-20 site plan per the recommendation of the Cobb Zoning Office.

Huff told the planning board that many of the outstanding issues mentioned by opponents can be resolved during the plan review process.

“Your job is to zone property,” he said. “You cannot say that R-20 is not a proper category for that property. Let’s not overthink this. Let’s put this in the proper zoning category and move on.”

But the requested zoning category wasn’t why opponents came forward.

Another outstanding issue is historic in nature, that being the possibility of three graves on the site located near the Power-Jackson Cabin, one of the last one-room structures left in the county dating from the 1840s.

Huff said his client knows of no human remains on the property.

But Jimmy Richards of the Cobb Cemetery Preservation Commission cited a book about the early history of Cobb County (up to 1932), indicating a young mother, part of the Power family, died there nearly 140 years ago giving birth, and she is buried there with her baby twins.

He asked for the delay for the applicant to hire an archaeologist, per county code, to conduct a survey to discover if, and where, they may be resting.

The site plan submitted by Huff, according to Richards, doesn’t indicate anything about the location of the cabin or the possible graves.

Joe Ovbey, who lives in an adjacent home on Post Oak Tritt, said his family has known the Clarys for decades.

“I’ve been shown where those graves are for many years,” he said, urging that the rezoning be delayed.

Cobb Landmarks, an historic preservation non-profit, wants to have the cabin relocated to Hyde Farm, near other Powers family cabins.

The Power-Jackson Cabin includes Masonic markings on the chimney that are “why it wasn’t burned down during the Civil War,” Ovbie said.

More modern concerns also prompted the additional delay.

Richard Grome, president of the East Cobb Civic Association, said the new site plan “seems to have some of the same problems as the old one.”

One of the lots would not be accessible by the subdivision street at all, but via Post Oak Tritt Road.

other lots are included on a flood plain on the southern edge of the two Clary lakes. There also is a dam that is located on one of the lots.

When Anderson asked who would bear responsibility for repairing the dam, Huff indicated that it might not be a homeowners association but rather an individual property owner.

“We’re doing this the same way [as nearby subdivisions],” Huff said. “We’re doing it at a lower density.”

But Anderson wasn’t reassured by that response, nor some of the traffic access problems. His motion to delay included provisions for a community meeting between the applicant and nearby residents, a third-party analysis of the possible graves and further addressing dam and stormwater issues.

NE Cobb zoning cases spark historic preservation efforts

April 27, 2023 5:00 PM by Wendy Parker

NE Cobb rezoning historic preservation efforts — *The McAfee House, which was a Union general’s headquarters during the Civil War, would give way to a car wash at the intersection of Bells Ferry Road and Barrett Parkway. (Cobb Landmarks)*

Two homes built in the 1840s—a decade after the creation of Cobb County—have stood the test of time.

The Power-Jackson Cabin on Post Oak Tritt Road and the McAfee House at Bells Ferry Road and Barrett Parkway have been the subject of considerable attention by historic preservation interests for a number of years.

But they stand on property being eyed by developers in areas of Northeast Cobb where there’s little undeveloped land remaining.

Two current rezoning cases will likely determine the fate of those historic buildings.

On Tuesday, the Cobb Planning Commission will hear for a second time a proposal to develop a subdivision on the Post Oak Tritt property after voting to hold it at their April hearing (case filings here).

In addition to community opposition for density and stormwater issues, the subject of the Power-Jackson Cabin is also a consideration.

It’s regarded as one of the last one-room cabins left in Cobb from that era, and is literally falling apart.

At the April Planning Commission hearing, an attorney for the applicant said the building is “uninhabitable” and urged for its relocation.

In a stipulation letter to the Cobb Zoning Office dated Monday (you can read it here), attorney Parks Huff said his client would provide Cobb Landmarks, a local historic preservation non-profit, access to the cabin “for research purposes” and to make it available for relocation or for preserving parts of the building.

In response to a message from East Cobb News, Cobb Landmarks executive director Trevor Beemon said his organization would like to relocate the Power-Jackson Cabin to Hyde Farm off Lower Roswell Road.

That’s where another 1840s-era cabin, the Power Cabin, has been preserved, and where another cabin in the Power family also sits.

A rezoning case on land where the McAfee House is located was to have been on Tuesday’s Planning Commission agenda.

It was the homestead of farmers Eliza and Robert McAfee, and was used as a Union Army general’s headquarters after the seizure of the Big Shanty during the Civil War. It also served as a field hospital after an 1864 engagement near what was called McAfee’s Crossroads.

Huff, also the attorney for that applicant, has asked for a delay to June (see case filings here).

His client is Tommy’s Express by Northgate, which wants to build a car wash on the two-acre site that’s across from Bells Ferry Elementary School and near a retail center with a Publix and a Barnes & Noble.

The Medford Family Limited Partnership, which owns the land, has wanted to sell for several years. Cobb Landmarks has been in talks since 2019 to find a way to relocate and preserve the land, but acknowledged that despite the designation of an historical marker (there’s also one at the Power-Jackson Cabin) “the house and land are not protected through local zoning or historic designation.”

Those discussions, with the landowner and potential developers, have not been successful, but Beemon said Thursday that efforts would continue “with the developer and a private individual to relocate the home to Marietta for restoration and use as a residence.”

Another East Cobb case that’s been delayed and that also won’t be heard Tuesday is a request to build a new standalone Starbucks at Paper Mill Village.

Garvis Sams, the applicant’s attorney, asked this week for another continuance, to July.

You also can watch on the county’s website and YouTube channels and on Cobb TV 23 on Comcast Cable.

Legislative leader to speak to East Cobb Civic Association

April 24, 2023 3:28 PMApril 24, 2023 10:13 AM by Wendy Parker

State Rep. Sharon Cooper, a Republican from District 45 in East Cobb, is the featured speaker at the East Cobb Civic Association‘s monthly meeting on Wednesday. East Cobb Civic Association logo

The meeting takes place at 7 p.m. at Fullers Park (3499 Robinson Road), and is open to the public.

Cooper, the chairwoman of the Georgia House Public Health Committee, is expected to review the recently concluded 2023 legislative session.

The East Cobb Civic Association is an all-volunteer organization of around 9,000 homeowners that influences development in the community by getting involved in zoning and code matters, as well as transportation, community service and other issues.

The meetings are held the fourth Wednesday of each month and include a discussion of and recommendations on zoning cases to be heard by the Cobb Planning Commission and Cobb Board of Commissioners.

Upcoming zoning cases include a rezoning on Post Oak Tritt Road for a subdivision near Clary Lakes, and replacing the current Starbucks at Paper Mill Village with a larger coffee shop in a standalone building.

Those cases have been delayed several months and are tentatively scheduled to be considered in May.

The ECCA opposed a decision last week by Cobb commissioners to allow for a King’s Hawaiian restaurant at Shallowford Road and Gordy Parkway.

Cobb commissioners approve King’s Hawaiian site plan request

April 19, 2023 12:55 PMApril 18, 2023 12:13 PM by Wendy Parker

King's Hawaiian rezoning request approved — *Final revisions to King’s Hawaiian plans include turning a mural inward, permitting right-in, right-out traffic access only and maintaining a 40-foot buffer (at right) adjacent to Harrison Park.*

Despite some community opposition, the Cobb Board of Commissioners on Tuesday approved a site plan at a busy Northeast Cobb intersection for a King’s Hawaiian fast casual restaurant.

By a 4-1 vote, and with some final revisions, commissioners granted the request by Stein Investment Group to construct a 3.200-square foot restaurant with parking and a double drive-thru at the northwest intersection of Shallowford Road and Gordy Parkway.

The applicant received rezoning in 2021 for a self-storage facility on a portion of land that was once the GTC Cobb Park 12 movie theater, and asked to develop the remaining 1.14 acres for a restaurant.

The case was first proposed last summer and has been delayed and continued several times (you can read the case file here).

The restaurant would be the first King’s Hawaiian locations in metro Atlanta, and would include an outdoor patio area.

King’s Hawaiian was founded in Hilo, Hawaii, in 1950, as a bakery known for its signature sweet rolls.

Now based near Los Angeles, the company opened a major bakery and warehouse near Gainesville in 2011, where most of its products are made.

They are sold at grocery stores and through other restaurant franchises, including Arby’s.

There are two King’s Hawaiian locations near company headquarters in Torrance, Calif. (here’s a menu for the original restaurant) and the parent company also is opening another restaurant concept, Hello Hilo, near Gainesville.

As in a rejected rezoning case for the same land in 2017 for a proposed Lidl grocery store, nearby residents said the restaurant would cause too many traffic and safety issues.

The King’s Hawaiian would be open from early morning hours—contributing to the commuting and Lassiter High School traffic rush—until 10 p.m. at night.

A double drive-thru, said Highland Park resident Denise Fissel, would increase the chances of people in vehicles “rushing to get in and out” and said the restaurant proposal is “too intense” for the property.

Jason Linscott of Stein Investment Group said the traffic plan for the restaurant reduces traffic in the area by 40 percent from the movie theater, but didn’t provide specifics.

Fissel countered that “those are your numbers, not ours,” and said the project “is not like a theater.” She noted that the other fast-food restaurants in the area—Wendy’s, Taco Bell and Chick-Fil-A—are all accessed within shopping centers, and not directly on major roads.

The East Cobb Civic Association also opposed the application, especially a proposed reduction of a 40-foot barrier between the back of the property and the adjacent Harrison Park tennis courts.

Stein Investment Group wanted to cut into that buffer by 36 feet for parking and the drive-thru lanes.

But District 3 commissioner JoAnn Birrell, in making a motion to approve the application, scotched any reduction of that buffer, saying “it would set a precedent. It was put in place for a reason” when the property was rezoned in the 1980s.

She acknowledged that a restaurant that size on such a small amount of land “is rather intense” but her motion included several other stipulations, including last-minute letters and recommendations from parties on both sides of the matter.

Garvis Sams, the attorney for Stein Investment Group, said that maintaining the 40-foot buffer “impinges on the development. It will cause a considerable re-engineering.”

Birrell’s other conditions include maintaining a treeline along Gordy Parkway, between the property and the entrance to Harrison Park, “in perpetuity,” allowing for dead or damaged trees to be removed.

Other conditions include recommendations from the Gordy Architectural Control Committee and the formation of a landscaping committee, and Birrell would sign off on the final site plan as well as landscaping plans.

Construction hours for the restaurant would be limited from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday-Friday and from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday with no Sunday work permitted.

The restaurant hours would be from 7:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. seven days a week.

The only voted against was from commissioner Monique Sheffield of South Cobb, who said she thought the project was too intense.

JOSH residential developer seeks delay to change stipulation

April 14, 2023 7:16 PMApril 14, 2023 6:21 PM by Wendy Parker

East Cobb Church rezoning held — A rendering of single-family homes shows a tight distance between residences, in some instances as little as seven feet.

As we noted last week, plans for the residential portion of land at the Johnson Ferry-Shallowford intersection that was part of the East Cobb Church rezoning approval are still in the works.

Questions over residential density, traffic and stormwater were the primary concerns of those who opposed the final site plan and stipulations that Cobb commissioners approved in October 2021.

Among the stipulations the developer, Ashwood Atlanta, agreed to was to limit impervious surfaces to 40 percent.

The Atlanta-based builder is proposing 77 detached homes, after dropping the 44 townhomes and 51 detached homes that were in the approved site plan.

The owner of the 19 acres of land that is zoned RA-5, Johnson Ferry Road LLC, recently filed a request to increase the impervious surface maximum to 45 percent, with the additional runoff “designed into the retention area,” according to an agenda item for a Tuesday zoning hearing of the Cobb Board of Commissioners.

The proposed change, the agenda item states, is “would help to accommodate development consistent with the area,” but there was no further elaboration.

But Kevin Moore, the developer’s attorney, asked the Cobb Zoning Office this week for a continuance to May to finalize the plans.

The homes will be built on land west of Johnson Ferry Road, north and south of Waterfront Drive and east of Waterfront Circle.

The Cobb stormwater office said it has no objection to the request, but “storm water quality design for the development will need to include the additional impervious area.”

Citizens serving on a plan review committee said they wanted the final plan to get as close to the 40 percent stipulation as possible.

While that case won’t be heard Tuesday, commissioners will consider long-delayed plans for a King’s Hawaiian restaurant in Northeast Cobb.

They voted last month for a continuance after some residents expressed traffic and safety concerns.

The restaurant would be located on the northwest intersection of Shallowford Road and Gordy Parkway, next to a self-storage facility where a movie cinema once stood.

Cobb DOT is recommending right-in and right-out access on Gordy Parkway (agenda item here).

A couple other East Cobb cases we’ve written about here before and that are continuing to be delayed are for a residential development on Post Oak Tritt Road and an expanded Starbucks at Paper Mill Village (see links below). Those also have been continued to May.

You also can watch on the county’s website and YouTube channels and on Cobb TV 23 on Comcast Cable.

Sprayberry Crossing redevelopment to begin a year after demolition

April 14, 2023 11:15 AM by Wendy Parker

Sprayberry Crossing redevelopment to begin

It was a year ago this week that demolition began on the Sprayberry Crossing Shopping Center, and the site at Sandy Plains Road has sat empty since then, surrounded by fencing.

Land disturbance permits are expected to be issued soon, with the first phase of construction commencing by the summer on a 132-unit apartment building for seniors aged 55 and older.

Atlantic Residential’s redevelopment plans also have been evolving over the last year for a project it is calling East Cobb Walk.

When the Cobb Board of Commissioners approved rezoning in 2021, the plans called for more than 30,000 square feet of retail. The Lidl grocery store chain backed out beforehand, due to traffic access problems.

A more recent but incomplete site plan showed that retail has been cut down to 14,500 square feet: a 13,000-square-foot building in front of the Mayes Cemetery, and 1,5000 square feet of space on the ground floor of the senior apartment building.

East Cobb Walk bw site plan — *Atlantic Residential said it intends to finalize a site plan with the nearly 30,000 square feet included in a rezoning stipulation letter.*

Tim Carini, one of the leaders of the group that opposed any apartments on the site, even for seniors, thought the name change ironic.

“There is nowhere to walk within this development,” he said.

But when he saw the lesser space for retail, he said that “the County needs to hold this developer to that number” that is included in a stipulation letter that was part of the rezoning approval.

“Without this retail for the community, all we are getting is apartments and townhomes that are squeezed as tight as possible into this property,” said Carini, organizer of a Facebook group called Residents Against Apartments At Sprayberry Crossing.

Shane Spink, who led citizen support of the redevelopment and has been part of a post-rezoning site plan review, told East Cobb News he and other supporters also were taken aback by what appeared to be less than half of the proposed retail space.

He said he was later told by Richard Aaronson, the CEO of Atlantic Residential, that the developer intends to “maximize the commercial buildout for commercial use as provided in the zoning.”

Sprayberry Crossing site

He said the site plan reflecting only 14,500 square feet of retail space was an engineering rendering produced without the developer’s input that was meant to be a “placeholder” for a final plan.

“We apologize for any confusion and will circulate an updated site plan that identifies maximum commercial density provided by the zoning,” Aaronson told Spink. “We do intend to start marketing the commercial parcel once site work is initiated in the coming weeks.”

East Cobb News has contacted Aaronson and Atlantic Residential for more information.

The senior apartment building will be the first phase of construction for East Cobb Walk, tentatively slated to get underway in August with completion by September 2024. Those units are one and two bedrooms and there will be amenities in the builidng.

The 102 townhomes will be the second phase, scheduled to start in January 2024. That developer was to have been Pulte Homes, but that phase will be built instead by Toll Brothers. They will be around 2,000 square feet each (renderings below).

East Cobb Walk townhome rendering

Marietta mayor vetoes Powers Ferry Road apartment project

April 13, 2023 2:53 PMApril 13, 2023 10:18 AM by Wendy Parker

Apartments proposed Powers Ferry Kroger site

Despite pleas from the developer and nearby community members Wednesday night, Marietta Mayor Steve “Thunder” Tumlin vetoed a proposed apartment complex at Powers Ferry Road and Delk Road.

The Marietta City Council voted 5-2 to approve the 322-unit on the site of a Kroger store that will be moving later this year.

There was no opposition from the public, and the Marietta Planning Commission had voted 7-0 to recommend approval in March.

But Tumlin, who has been vocal recently about too many apartments being proposed in the city, as well as their density, immediately vetoed the approval.

City council member Joseph Goldstein, whose Ward 7 includes the site, then made a motion to override the veto, which needed five votes.

But his colleague Grif Chalfant, who voted for the rezoning, then joined council members Johnny Walker and Andy Walker, who had voted against the application, in voting against overriding the veto.

Developer WC Acquisitions LLC of Atlanta had proposed the five-story luxury apartment building, a six-story parking deck and 6,000 square feet of retail space on 4.7 acres.

Kroger is vacating a 42-year-old building later this year to occupy a new superstore up the street at the MarketPlace Terrell Mill.

William Casaday, the applicant, told council members Wednesday that the site has no future for commercial and retail use. He sought a change from a commercial zoning category to mixed use, and noted a glut of supermarkets and low demand for retail.

He said the mixed-use development would generate a third of the traffic of the Kroger, and that it would luxury units with numerous amenities, with rents starting at $1,800 a month.

Patti Rice, of the Powers Ferry Corridor Alliance, urged approval, saying the development “has the potential to set a very high bar and to positively influence the quality of future development” in the area.

She said she feared that if the development wasn’t approved, the site “could be a blight and detrimental to the surrounding community.”

Don Barth of the nearby Cloverdale Heights neighborhood in the city of Marietta, said he shops often in the Powers Ferry corridor and the apartment building would be an asset.

“A lot of professionals are living in apartments for a reason,” he said. “It’s not something bad. What would be bad would be to let this property go to blight.

“We want to attract professionals to this area. This is the gateway going into East Cobb.”

But the council didn’t discuss the case before the vote.

Later in the meeting, the council approved a six-month moratorium on apartment building, with only Goldstein opposed.

The freeze does not apply to the Powers Ferry application and others that have been filed.

That includes a proposed mixed-use development including apartments at the former site of Harry’s Farmers Market at Roswell Road and Powers Ferry Road.

Apartments also have been proposed near the Marietta Square on land that doesn’t need rezoning and that is opposed by Tumlin, but must be approved by a city historic review board.

East Cobb Church, ‘JOSH’ development begin to take shape

April 10, 2023 7:12 PMApril 4, 2023 6:24 PM by Wendy Parker

East Cobb Church construction gets underway

Some construction equipment has been brought to the future site of East Cobb Church along Johnson Ferry Road, near its intersection with Shallowford Road.

More than year and a half after getting rezoning from the Cobb Board of Commissioners, the latest North Point Ministries congregation received a land disturbance permit from the county.

Rev. Jamey Dickens, the senior pastor of East Cobb Church, said in a recent interview with East Cobb News that the plans for the church haven’t changed.

What’s to get underway in the coming months is a 125,000-square-foot building and parking lot for the church—which has been meeting at Eastside Baptist Church.

He was hopeful a year ago that the work could have begun by the end of 2022, but there were delays in getting the building permit and other issues, and he’s continuing to preach patience.

“It’s going to be a long process,” Dickens said, estimating that the initial phase could take up to six months before ground is broken on the church facility.

What’s happening now is a dam reconstruction—part of the land North Point sold to a residential developer has been deemed to be in a flood plain that was formerly a lake—and relocation of a portion of Waterfront Drive, which will be the main access point for the homes.

The rezoning approval allowed for 44 townhomes and 51 detached homes on 20 acres, to be built by Ashwood Atlanta.

But the flood plain declaration by the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Administration reduced the number of residential units by 22 to meet agreed-upon density levels.

That was the point of contention during the rezoning process from nearby residents.

East Cobb Church construction takes shape — *For a larger view **click here**.*

Cobb commissioner Jerica Richardson appointed a citizens’ committee to work with the county during site plan review after approval.

One of those members, Rachel Bruce, who was opposed to the density of the homes, said communications are continuing over such things as landscaping along the church’s greenspace area and reducing the percentage of impervious surfaces for the residential area.

She provided East Cobb News with a copy of proposed concept for a cul-de-sac to address the latter (above).

Ashwood Atlanta has revised the plans dramatically, knocking out all the townhouses and drawing up a new site plan (below) for 77 single-family detached homes.

The developer is seeking a variance to increase the percentage of impervious surfaces above the 40 percent threshold requested by the citizens’ committee.

A request to allow for 45 percent impervious surfaces will be considered by Cobb commissioners at their zoning hearing on April 18.

“While it may not be possible to get to the 40% . . . we would like to see an effort to get closer,” committee member Ruth Michels wrote in late March to Kevin Moore, a zoning attorney who will be presenting a change to the impervious surface stipulation at that meeting.

“The creek does feed into a dam on this property which feeds into a floodway under Johnson Ferry Road, so we hope to continue working with them to find a solution that keeps the impervious surfaces to a minimum while maintaining the detached single family home structure of the proposed community,” Bruce said in response to a message from East Cobb News.

Although North Point is not involved in the residential construction, Dickens admitted that “there were a lot of parties involved and there was a lot of super complex stuff” to consider, both before and after the rezoning.

He said once church construction begins later this year, he’s hopeful it will be completed in 18 months, and no more than two years for East Cobb Church to begin occupancy.

Dickens said the congregation, which has around 600 “active families,” feels blessed to have “such a great relationship” with Eastside Baptist.

Afternoon services will continue to take place there, and East Cobb Church will continue to follow its motto of “loving where we live” with involvement in various community activities.

“For a lot of people, it’s not ideal,” he said of the current worshipping situation, but taking more serious steps to begin construction is “wind in our sails.

“The thing we love to do the best, we can do that from anywhere,” Dickens said. “It’s not stopping us from doing our core ministries.”

Post Oak Tritt subdivision proposal delayed at first hearing

April 4, 2023 5:39 PMApril 4, 2023 1:36 PM by Wendy Parker

The Cobb Planning Commission is holding a zoning application for a subdivision on Post Oak Tritt Road in East Cobb after its initial hearing Tuesday.

The vote was 3-0, with two members absent, to wait until May to consider a proposal by representatives of Kenneth B. Clary to convert 13.38 acres near McPherson Road from low-density residential (R-30) to medium-density residential (R-15) after opponents took issue with stormwater and other issues.

Joel Larkin, an attorney representing Clary—a longtime landowner in the area whose other properties have been developed into residential communities, including adjacent Clary Lakes—said his client was amenable to a Cobb zoning staff recommendation to delete the proposed zoning category from R-15 to R-20.

That would reduce the number of proposed homes from 20 to 15, but Larkin said a new site plan has not been submitted (agenda file here).

That prompted opposition from the East Cobb Civic Association, whose president, Richard Grome, also cited the issue of a historical 19th century cabin and a family cemetery on the property.

Larkin said the Power-Jackson Cabin, which dates to the 1840s, is not “habitable” and suggested that historic preservation advocates could relocate it.

He said he is not aware of a cemetery on the land, but said his client would abide by staff recommendations to protect it from development.

Opponents also are concerned about flooding and the state of two dams protecting Clary Lakes, two lakes that border the norther part of the tract.

Citizens from the Clary Lakes, Hadley Walk and East Spring Lake subdivisions expressed concerns about those issues, and like Grome, said they weren’t being updated by the applicant about the changing plans.

The application was first filed last August, but has been continued ever since then.

Planning Commission member David Anderson of East Cobb made the motion to delay the request, citing a lack of information, including outdated zoning sign notices fronting the property that are more than two months old.

Paper Mill Village Starbucks plans reduced to one-story building

April 3, 2023 4:55 PM by Wendy Parker

Paper Mill Village Starbucks plans reduced

Several months after a two-story standalone Starbucks at Paper Mill Village was proposed, the attorney for the developer has submitted dramatically different plans.

Garvis Sams submitted a new site plan, renderings and stipulations on March 23, then asked last week for yet another continuance for the case to be heard in May.

The request by S & B Investments to rezone 0.73 acres for neighborhood retail commercial (NRC) initially called for a two-story, 5,000-square foot building to replace the structure at 31 Johnson Ferry Road, where a smaller Starbucks is located.

In the new plans, Sams is proposing just one story with 2,500 square feet and 25 parking spaces, the latter meeting county ordinance requirements.

That wasn’t the case with the original application, first submitted last August, when Cobb zoning staff determined proposed parking was insufficient.

The revised site plan calls for in-and-out access to the Starbucks from behind the building on Village Parkway, and a single-lane drivethru.

Sams submitted a notice for another continuance on Wednesday, the deadline for it to be delayed automatically.

The item was to have been on the agenda for Tuesday’s Cobb Planning Commission meeting.

“My client and I have been in the process of ongoing negotiations, which are proving to be fruitful and productive, but we need a little more time to finalize our agreements,” Sams wrote in his letter for a continuance.

The new stipulations call for the building to be traditional brick on all four sides, with the Starbucks to be open from 5:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. seven days a week.

The Planning Commission will hear a long-delayed request for a subdivision off Post Oak Tritt Road on 13.38 acres.

Undeveloped land owned by Kenneth B. Clary near McPherson Road includes an historic 1840s cabin that would likely be demolished, although the Cobb Landmarks non-profit has been working to preserve it.

The Cobb Zoning Office is recommending that the proposed R-15 category for 20 homes be deleted to R-20 for 15 homes (you can read the agenda file here). The land is currently zoned R-30, which allows a maximum of 10 homes.

You also can watch on the county’s website and YouTube channels and on Cobb TV 23 on Comcast Cable.

East Cobb zoning update: King’s Hawaiian plans delayed again

March 21, 2023 3:43 PM by Wendy Parker

King's Hawaiian plans NE Cobb

The Cobb Board of Commissioners on Tuesday continued a long-delayed request for a King’s Hawaiian restaurant in Northeast Cobb and turned down a request for a self-storage facility off Johnson Ferry Road.

At their monthly zoning hearing, commissioners voted 5-0 to hold a proposed site plan amendment on Gordy Parkway near Shallowford Road to April due to community opposition.

Stein Investment Group Inc., which converted the former GTC Cobb Park 12 movie cinema into a self-storage facility, wants to build the fast casual King’s Hawaiian on a 1.1-acre portion of the property, featuring a double drive-through and 29 parking spaces (agenda item here).

But residents from the adjoining Highland Park and Highland Terrace neighborhoods objected to increased traffic and safety. In 2017, commissioners rejected a Lidl grocery store on the site for those reasons.

King’s Hawaiian wants to have opening hours from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily, and possibly extending to 11 p.m.

“I walk the intersection daily, and find the area very dangerous, as drivers do not pay attention to anyone except to other drivers,” Highland Park resident Denise Fissell said.

She noted that other restaurants in the area are in shopping centers with better access and parking capacity.

“We’re not opposed to King’s Hawaiian becoming a part of the Cobb County community. However, we feel that the corner they chose creates more danger to our community,” Fissell said.

“A fast food restaurant is too intense for this small piece of property.”

The East Cobb Civic Association also was opposed, citing the reduction of a 40-foot tree buffer between the property and Harrison Park to just a few feet.

Cobb Commissioner JoAnn Birrell said she had several issues that needed to be addressed before she could support the site plan request, which was recommended for approval by the Cobb zoning staff.

“Traffic is a concern and the storage facility is there,” Birrell told Garvis Sams, an attorney for Stein Investment Group. “What the applicant is trying to do is too intense for one acre. . . I can’t support eliminating a 40-foot buffer next to a Cobb County park.”

Sams agreed to a 30-day delay proposed by Birrell.

Noble Storage LLC rendering

Commissioners also voted 5-0 to deny a request for a self-storage facility on Freeman Road, near the Johnson Ferry Road intersection (agenda item here).

Noble Storage LLC wanted to rezone an acre of wooded land from low-rise office to neighborhood retail to build a 57,668-square-foot, four-story storage building.

Adam Rozen, an attorney for the applicant, said the land has been marketed for LRO purposes for years but has not found a buyer.

It is surrounded by some commercial property, including the La Strada restaurant and a small retail center, but also is next to a residential community.

A storage facility would be too intense for the area, the Cobb zoning staff concluded in recommending denial.

Clifton Goodman, president of the Breckenridge neighborhood association, said he and his neighbors aren’t opposed to a business being built on the property.

But “you have to draw the line somewhere,” he said.

He said the Cobb land use map dictates that NRC zonings should be located in the middle of a neighborhood activity center.

The Noble Storage proposal would be on the edge of that area, and that such a usage “is completely inappropriate for that property,” Goodman said.

He noted that commissioners in 2011 rejected a rezoning request for an automotive use under NRC and approved the LRO category instead.

Goodman also said there are no three-story buildings in the vicinity (the bottom floor of the storage building would be underground), and what’s proposed would be the only commercial use in that area that wouldn’t have direct access to Johnson Ferry Road.

“Noble Storage is asking the county to pretend there is no Cobb County code,” he said.

The East Cobb Civic Association also opposed the rezoning.

Commissioner Jerica Richardson said the LRO zoning was meant to be a “step down” commercial use to protect nearby residents, and made a motion to deny.

Birrell noted the 2011 case and “many of the same people who are here” were in opposition then, when the area was in her district.

“This is too intense for the property and the impact to the neighborhood surrounding it,” she said. “It was zoned LRO for a reason.”

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