Former Cobb County Attorney Deborah Dance has been appointed to serve a four-year term on the Cobb Planning Commission by District 3 commissioner JoAnn Birrell.
Dance will serve through the end of 2026, the length of Birrell’s fourth term that began in January.
Dance’s reappointment was announced at the end of Tuesday’s Cobb Board of Commissioners meeting.
But Birrell was not formally part of the meeting after she and fellow commissioner Keli Gambrill were asked to leave for abstaining from votes.
They’re protesting a commission electoral map they say is unconstitutional and is the subject of a lawsuit.
Birrell and Gambrill were both re-elected in November, but their Democratic commission colleagues approved different maps from those reapportioned by the legislature.
Planning commissioners serve in an advisory role, hearing zoning cases and making recommendations that are forwarded to county commissioners.
Planning board members typically lead the discussion of cases in their respective commission districts. Dance inherited the Sprayberry Crossing redevelopment case, and the planning board ultimately made no recommendation.
Cobb commissioners eventually approved the rezoning but without a Lidl grocery store that was to have been the anchor of the new project and with apartments limited only for those aged 55 and older.
Lidl is applying to build a store at the Canton-Piedmont intersection but its application has been delayed.
It’s unclear what the new commission district lines will look like in February, when zoning cases will next be heard.
The District 3 in the legislature’s map includes most of East Cobb; the county’s map retains in East Cobb a good portion of District 2.
Gambrill also reappointed Fred Beloin to the planning commission and to the Cobb Board of Zoning Appeals through 2026.
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Homes or a place for stuff that doesn’t fit homes? A proposed self-storage facility on Terrell Mill Road would look residential—on the outside.
A proposal to turn one of the older homesteads in the Powers Ferry Road corridor into a self-storage facility was put on hold Tuesday by the Cobb Board of Commissioners.
A rezoning request by ADP Terrell Mill on two parcels of land on Terrell Mill Road at Delk Road was opposed by some nearby residents and recommended for denial by the Cobb Zoning Staff, despite the applicant’s many changes and negotiations with the community.
They included architectural design changes to make the exterior of the proposed 40,000-square foot building look residential. The facility would be built by Shamrock Building Systems, a prominent self-storage builder in the Atlanta area.
“It looks and feels much more residential, and fits in with the neighborhood,” said zoning attorney Kevin Moore, who represents the applicant.
Kevin Nicholas, who lives in the nearby Amberley Place subdivision, wasn’t buying it.
“We don’t need another self-storage facility in this area,” said Nicholas, who ran for Cobb commissioner in 2020 and also served on the Development Authority of Cobb County. “It’s not a commercial tract. It’s a residential tract.”
There’s a self-storage building at the new MarketPlace Terrell mixed-use development and further down Powers Ferry near Windy Ridge Parkway.
The 2.55 acres at the intersection of Terrell Mill and Delk are zoned R-80, the lowest-density of single-family zoning categories in the Cobb code.
Each of the two tracts have had single-family homes dating from before the area became heavily surburbanized. Nearby residential zoning ranges from R-20 to RA-6—there’s an adjacent townhome community—but the property owned by the late Ruby Inez Fridell is designated as very low density residential (VLDR) on the Cobb future land use map.
“That just doesn’t match to me,” Commissioner JoAnn Birrell said, noting that most of the e-mails she’s received are opposed to the rezoning.
Cobb zoning division manager John Pederson told her that’s the last R-80 land in that area of East Cobb.
Nicholas and several commissioners suggested either other commercial uses—such as a coffee shop—or residential.
But Moore said residential development there is not “economically viable. It’s too small of a property.”
Commission chairwoman Lisa Cupid noted that citizens rarely speak in favor of self-storage facilities.
“Maybe there are pigs flying outside,” she said. “It’s a beautiful building” but she suggested that other commercial uses “may be more neighborhood-oriented.”
Commissioner Jerica Richardson of District 2 made a motion to hold the case to February, when zoning cases are next heard.
“There may be a way to satisfy the community on that side and honor the work that’s been done” by the applicant,” she said.
Walgreens will be leaving the location at 3033 Johnson Ferry Road at Waterfront Drive.
Richardson also moved to hold another case in her district, a site-plan change involving a Walgreens store in the Johnson Ferry Road corridor.
David Weinstein, an attorney representing Mid-Atlantic Commercial Properties, LLC, said his client is seeking a change from a single-use only designation for 1.28 acres at 3033 Johnson Ferry Road.
He said Walgreens will be vacating that facility, and his client wants to have some more flexibility within the neighborhood retail commercial (NRC) category.
In rezoning the land in 2000, Cobb commissioners limited that use to a pharmacy or drug store only. Other uses proposed by Mid-Atlantic Commercial Properties could be for a banks or medical office, as well as restaurant space.
The existing building could remain standing and be converted, or a new facility could be constructed, Weinstein said, adding that his client may purchase two adjoining parcels on Johnson Ferry to enable a deceleration lane.
He mentioned a fast-casual concept with a drive-thru as a possibility, but the East Cobb Civic Association is opposed to that use.
ECCA president Richard Grome said there are traffic, noise and compatibility issues with the request. The Walgreens sits at the intersection of Johnson Ferry and Waterfront Drive, adjacent to planned townhomes that were part of the East Cobb Church rezoning in 2021.
“There’s going to be light pollution for those townhouses,” Grome said.
Rachel Bruce, a member of the Johnson Ferry-Shallowford (JOSH) advisory committee created by Richardson, said she hadn’t heard from the applicant and worried that residents in the area would have one less place to get prescription drugs.
“Walgreens is leaving. We don’t have any control over that,” Weinstein said.
Cobb DOT said the Walgreens property doesn’t have enough right-of-way for a deceleration lane, and if a restaurant were to built there, access via Johnson Ferry should be removed.
Commissioner Keli Gambrill said she understood why her predecessors limited what could go on that land.
“Based on DOT, there’s not room for deceleration,” she said. “I agree with not having a restaurant there.”
Richardson’s motion includes provisions for JOSH committee input and the submission of a site plan and architectural plans when the case comes back before commissioners.
A proposal for a King’s Hawaiian restaurant in Northeast Cobb, which has been delayed before, also is being pushed back to February.
Birrell said she received a new stipulation letter from an attorney for Stein Investment Group on Tuesday.
The applicant wants to add the restaurant on former GTC Cobb Park 12 Cinema property on Gordy Parkway and Shallowford Road that rezoned last year for a self-storage facility.
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We noted earlier this month that rezoning requests for a Northeast Cobb Lidl grocery store and an expanded Starbucks at Paper Mill Village won’t be heard until February at the earliest.
But there are a couple of other development cases of interest in the East Cobb area that will be heard Tuesday by the Cobb Board of Commissioners.
Both are proposed revisions to stipulations for existing zoning categories.
One of them would permit a King’s Hawaiian fast-casual restaurant at the site of the former GTC Cobb Park 12 Cinema on Gordy Parkway at Shallowford Road (staff filing and renderings here).
That request by Stein Investment Group comes a year after the applicant got rezoning to convert the movie theater into a self-storage facility.
The current request would use a portion of that land for a 3,200-square-foot restaurant with 29 parking spaces. Since it’s a site plan amendment and not a full rezoning case, the application didn’t have to go before the Cobb Planning Commission.
The Cobb zoning staff didn’t make any comments on the site plan review, but Cobb DOT is recommending that the access points should be on Gordy Parkway on a right-in, left-out and right-out basis due to its proximity to Shallowford Road.
Another item on the Other Business agenda includes a revision in stipulations for the use of what’s a Walgreen’s pharmacy at 3033 Johnson Ferry Road.
That’s at the intersection of Johnson Ferry and Waterfront Drive, what will be the main access point for a residential area of a mixed-use development approved last year and that will include the East Cobb Church.
Mid-Atlantic Commercial Properties wants to change a stipulation in the neighborhood retail commercial (NRC) category that limits usage of the 1.28-acre tract for a pharmacy or drug store only.
The proposed future uses of that land, according to the agenda filing (you can read it here) would “include but not be limited to drug store/pharmacy, banking, restaurant, medical use.”
The property was zoned NRC in 2000 and is located on one of several outparcels on Johnson Ferry that were not part of the East Cobb Church (Northpoint Ministries) rezoning case.
Another is the adjacent Take 5 oil change business and unoccupied tracts located in a flood plain.
The full agenda for Tuesday’s zoning hearing can be found by clicking here. The meeting starts at 9 a.m. in the second floor board room of the Cobb government building (100 Cherokee St., downtown Marietta).
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But the application calls for only 128 parking spaces; a minimum of 158 are required for the CAC (commercial activity center) and NAC (neighborhood activity center) categories being sought.
The new site plan includes an above-ground retention pond at the Canton-Piedmont intersection.
But the biggest concern for the Cobb Zoning Office is the limited amount of space for emergency vehicles. The staff analysis (you can read it here) recommends approval pending those and other issues being addressed.
The continuance comes after a community meeting this week involving Lidl, the Canton Road Neighbors civic group, Commissioner JoAnn Birrell and Planning Commissioner Deborah Dance.
This is Lidl’s third attempt to build a store in the Northeast Cobb area; a store at Woodlawn Square opened in the former Fresh Market space in September 2020.
In the Paper Mill Village Starbucks case, the applicant, S & B Investments, is requesting the continuance to February.
Attorney Garvis Sams said in a letter that the building’s architecture and configuration on the site are being changed.
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Fencing around the back portion of The Avenue East Cobb has prompted some significant traffic detours.
Right before the holiday shopping season got underway, a sizable portion of the back parking lot at The Avenue East Cobb was being fenced off.
It’s the start of a redevelopment plan we’ve been following for some months, to include a public plaza and two “jewel box” buildings with restaurants and retail, as well as optional valet parking.
“Our intention is to transform AEC into a more walkable and pedestrian-friendly destination, so the current, short-term disruption to traffic flow is required to reach that goal,” said Britni Johnson, a spokeswoman for North American Properties, which manages the retail center on Roswell Road.
The groundbreaking was in August, but nothing further has happened until now to begin work on the “Central Boulevard” plan that’s scheduled to be completed early next year.
The barricades and fencing went up earlier this month, and the loss of a few dozen parking places and detours caused some traffic issues on Black Friday and over the weekend.
What you can’t do any longer—and this change is permanent—is use the traffic lane closest to the back of the main building, between the former Bravura store and what was Stockyard Burgers and Bones.
That’s where Central Boulevard will be located, featuring the public plaza and the valet service.
The jewel boxes will be constructed in the parking lot area between that building and the Michael’s craft store.
For the time being, there is no access along the back traffic lane between the Pottery Barn and Williams-Sonoma.
There is some limited parking in that area, including access to Michael’s, with detour signs and arrows on the pavement directing motorists around the fencing.
North American Properties said in response to questions from East Cobb News that 88 parking spaces have been fenced off for the construction, with all but 20 to reopen when the project is.complete.
Johnson said construction is beginning late due to delays in getting necessary permits.
She said the building permit took longer than expected, and that while construction could have begun in September, when a civil permit was issued, “we chose to wait until building construction could officially get underway to reduce the amount of disturbance time for locals.”
She said the decision to begin work now, at the start of the holidays, was necessary “to keep the project on track for a summer 2023 delivery.”
Johnson said the “no thru traffic section” was opened on Black Friday and it is open again now.
The Avenue has scheduled a number of holiday events, including caroling this Friday, a live music concert next week and a Menorah lighting on Dec. 18.
When asked how extra traffic for weekend shopping and holiday events would be handled, Johnson said that “We are actively working with our general contractor to determine a low-impact solution for keeping the drive aisle open throughout the project while also moving construction forward in a timely manner.”
The planned “Central Boulevard” will be built between the main and back buildings at The Avenue East Cobb.
A public plaza will be built at the former Bravura store.
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The Cobb Unified Development Code project has a new web address and two public meetings have been scheduled for early December as an independent consultant begins its work.
Cobb government said Monday that public meetings will take place next week—Monday, Dec. 5 at the North Cobb Regional Library (3535 Old Highway 41 Northwest, Kennesaw) and Tuesday, Dec. 6 at the Switzer Library (266 Roswell Street, Marietta).
Both meetings are scheduled from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
Other meetings throughout the county will be announced at a later date.
The UDC is a project of the Cobb Community Development Agency, whose goal, according to a county release, “is to produce a document that encourages and enables development and redevelopment in identified centers while preserving the unique character of the county’s rural areas.”
Community development officials said it’s needed because development regulations in Cobb date back to the 1970s.
“The project,” according to the county, “also aims to protect existing neighborhoods, conserve natural and historic resources, support economic development and provide an opportunity for various housing types.”
Cobb commissioners in a split vote in August approved spending nearly $500,000 to hire Clarion Associates, LLC, a nationwide land-use and planning consulting firm which has provided services for a UDC in Hall County and design and development guidelines in Savannah.
Some critics of the UDC proposal in Cobb have called it “a war on the suburbs,” but agency officials said it’s an increasingly common approach to pulling together all components of development projects.
The consultant’s work will take place over an 18 to 24-month process, starting this winter with public meetings and feedback sessions and opportunities.
A code assessment process will start in the spring of 2023, followed by a draft UDC expected to be presented in the spring of 2024. Public hearings of that draft are slated from summer-fall of 2024.
The new Cobb UDC page includes a timeline of that process, along with zoning, development and design documents and project updates and other materials.
Citizens also can submit questions and sign up for project updates and other information, provide comments and review and comment on draft documents.
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A proposed annexation by the City of Marietta for nearly 160 acres (in red stripes) off Bells Ferry Road is being opposed by Cobb commissioners. City land is in blue.
Cobb commissioners are expected to formally file a letter of objection Thursday to an annexation request by the City of Marietta for nearly 170 acres of land off Bells Ferry Road for a major subdivision.
Beazer Homes, the developer of what had been originally proposed as a nearly 700-home development, is requesting rezoning in Marietta after dropping a rezoning request before the county earlier this year.
The Marietta City Council was scheduled next month to hear Beazer’s plans for a 596-home development on several tracts of undeveloped land at Bells Ferry Road and Laura Lake Drive, near I-575.
But under a HB 489, a state home rule law, county governments can file objections for municipal annexations for density and other reasons.
In a certified letter to Marietta Mayor Steve Tumlin and included with the agenda item for Thursday’s meeting, Cobb commissioners said they were objecting because the proposed density of the development is 3.4 units an acre, over the maximum density of 3 units per acre under the low-density residential (LDR) category of the property that’s designated in the county’s future land-use map.
The various parcels of the assembled land are owned by the Montgomery family and represent one of the largest relatively undeveloped tracts in Cobb. Several homes are currently scattered across the properties, according to a county analysis of the annexation request.
A total of 6.6 acres of the 168 acres, all of which are zoned R-20, is already inside Marietta city limits. The county was deeded 24 acres that includes Laura Lake and a dam.
Nearby civic groups have objected due to traffic concerns.
Traton Homes wanted to convert vacant lots into a high-density residential development with a single access point at the entrance of the Sewell Manor neighborhood in unincorporated Cobb.
Residents there also objected, but the county staff made a mistake in not requesting a formal vote from commissioners. Marietta could have annexed the land because of that error and the case was set to go to mediation.
Commissioners did send a letter of objection that Tumlin said he would honor and Traton ultimately withdrew its rezoning and annexation request.
Commissioners are meeting Thursday instead of their regularly scheduled fourth Tuesday meeting due to the Thanksgiving holiday next week.
The full agenda for Tuesday’s meeting can be found by clicking here. It will take place starting at 7 p.m. in the second floor board room of the Cobb Government Building, 100 Cherokee St., in downtown Marietta.
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After several months of delays, a car wash and gas station/convenience store proposal at the intersection of Shallowford Road and Trickum Road was approved Tuesday by the Cobb Board of Commissioners.
By a 4-0 vote, commissioners approved the rezoning request by Southern Gas Partners to build a dual-purpose facility at the southwest intersection on two parcels totaling 3.1 acres, including the former site of a long-vacated gas station.
The plans call for a 2,258 square foot convenience store/gas station that would operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week on the Trickum Road parcel.
Another 2,287 square feet would be used for a car wash to be built on 2.3 undeveloped acres fronting Shallowford Road that would be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. seven days a week.
Commissioner JoAnn Birrell, whose district includes the properties, was absent due to a death in her family.
The case was originally heard in July but delayed several times due to objections from nearby residents over traffic and stormwater issues.
But nobody attended in opposition at Tuesday’s zoning hearing. You can read the case file by clicking here.
That’s because Cobb DOT agreed to construct a one-foot median on Trickum Road to prevent northbound traffic from turning left into the facility.
Instead, Trickum Road access will be southbound only, on a right-in, right out basis.
On Tuesday, James Courson, the Southern Gas Partner representative, told commissioners that was the last item of concern from the community.
He was surprised, however, when Cobb DOT asked that his client pick up the tab for constructing the median, saying most of the traffic issues on that part of Trickum Road were due to “improper” traffic movements coming from a Dunkin Donuts across the street.
The DOT-proposed median, Courson said, “will have no bearing on us.”
He suggested that Dunkin Donuts pay for the median funding.
In making her motion to approve the rezoning, Commissioner Keli Gambrill said the county would negotiate with Southern Gas Partners for a funding solution.
Southern Gas Partners also agreed to give up a two-foot easement for median construction.
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A developer whose plans for a “sustainable” subdivision in Northeast Cobb was recently rejected is suing Cobb commissioners and a prominent civic group.
Christopher M. Hunt of Green Community Development LLC of Atlanta filed what he said is a $100 million class-action suit on Oct. 20 in Cobb Superior Court that also names the East Cobb Civic Association and its current president, Richard Grome, as defendants.
Hunt claims in the court filing (you can read it here) that the rezoning rejection is “an unconstitutional denial” that has caused “economic devaluation of property” and “extreme financial damages” to the plaintiffs.
Commissioners voted 4-0 in September to turn down his request to build 13 eco-friendly homes on 7.5 acres on Kinridge Court.
The case was frequently contentious, as Hunt accused the East Cobb Civic Association of sabotaging his efforts to build what he initially declared would be an award-winning development.
Commissioner JoAnn Birrell, who represents the area, held a public meeting before the vote but said she left when “name-calling began” that was directed at Cobb zoning staff and the ECCA.
She didn’t specify Hunt by name but said that comments were made that “I don’t appreciate or tolerate.” During the rezoning process, he spoke in often animated and at times confrontational fashion, especially toward those who opposed his case.
In his lawsuit, Hunt referred to Birrell—whom he misspelled as “Burrell” throughout the court filing and who is up for re-election Nov. 8—of “whoring herself to gain a few ECCA votes to the detriment of 700,000 citizens of Cobb County. ECCA does not represent homeowners but own agenda.”
Also named as a defendant in the lawsuit is Brian Johnson, the Cobb County Senior Associate Attorney.
The ECCA is a citizens group that represents roughly 9,000 homeowners that makes advisory recommendations on zoning cases. The group assigns caseworkers to examine cases and frequently speak at public meetings about them
The ECCA was opposed to the Green Community Development rezoning due to traffic, density and stormwater runoff concerns that were echoed by zoning staff in recommending denial.
According to Cobb Superior Court Clerk’s records, Hunt is representing himself in the lawsuit, which thus far has not received a formal reply from the county.
When East Cobb News asked for the county’s response to the lawsuit, a Cobb government spokesman said “per legal we will have no comment.”
East Cobb News also left messages with the ECCA and Grome. He replied that neither he nor the organization would be commenting.
The lawsuit accuses Grome of “unethical hypocricy[sic]” and is demanding that he resign his position.
He also said the ECCA and Grome “have proven to have a private unethical and illegal anti-development agenda of ‘means justify the ends’ against any development even when super sustainable, legally mandated and net positive to existing!”
He complained during the rezoning process that he wasn’t invited to attend a community meeting at which, he claimed, the ECCA “unethically and illegally gave patently false and misleading information to trusting neighbors to gain petitions of opposition” to the rezoning request.
While Hunt focused much of his ire in the court filing at Birrell, he said “the other commissioners were unethical and proved incompetent by abiding by unwritten but proven rule of ‘whatever a commissioner votes in their district the rest support’ no matter how crazy illegally bad!”
He said he wouldn’t pursue the $100 million in damages he is seeking if all of them decline to run for re-election.
In his lawsuit, which included several other spelling errors and incorrect e-mail addresses, Hunt said he will be asking for a jury trial.
He also wants homeowners’ associations to be “mandated to provide a list for rezoning approval at least 30 days in advance of any BOC hearing and agreed perjury will be prosecuted—there can be objections but not lying nor slandering.”
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The attorney for the property owner of the Starbucks at Paper Mill Village is asking for more time to prepare a rezoning request to build a two-story coffee shop at the same location.
Garvis Sams sent a letter to Cobb Zoning Office Oct. 21 outlining architectural and parking issues for the continuance.
A request by S&B Investments Inc. to rezone 0.73 acres at the northeast intersection of Johnson Ferry Road and Paper Mill Road for a 5,000-square-foot building and 25 parking spaces was to have been heard Tuesday by the Cobb Planning Commission but has been tentatively rescheduled for Dec. 6.
The zoning office has recommended approval of the request with some conditions, including no variances—a minimum of 50 parking spaces is required for the Neighborhood Retail Commercial designation the applicant is seeking.
“Building size will have to be reduced,” the staff analysis stated.
Starbucks occupies part of a smaller building that has been on that site for more than 25 years.
In a recent interview with East Cobb News, Suresh Parmar, who has run the Starbucks for that period of time, said the reason for the expanded building is to accommodate customers who want to “linger” by doing work or meeting with friends.
He said it’s part of a larger trend among younger people and those newer to the community.
Paper Mill Village also has stipulations for Williamsburg-style architecture. The proposed standalone Starbucks would have a more modern look, according to renderings.
In his letter Sams said “that a strict application or the utilization of a ‘Williamsburg style’ architecture may be preferable to some, but to others on the cutting edge of industry commercial prototypes, are of the opinion that such a style (at least for Starbucks) is simply ‘tired and forlorn architecture’ and not consistent with the more updated and ‘fresh’ architecture which is representative of area demographics.”
He said that the Johnson Ferry Design Guidelines—which apply to new and renovated properties in the corridor—”can also be incorporated into the design in order to comply with that document.”
Also being delayed again is a request to rezone 13.38 acres at 4701 Post Oak Tritt Road, near McPherson Road, from R-30 to R-15 for 20 single-family homes.
Scheduled to be heard Tuesday is a request ADP—Terrell Mill LLC for community retail commercial (CRC) from low residential at 1140 and 1150 Terrell Mill Road for a self-storage facility. A companion special land-use permit also is required.
The Cobb Planning Commission is a five-member body appointed by the Cobb Board of Commissioners to make recommendations in zoning cases.
Final decisions are made by county commissioners, who meet on the third Tuesday of the month.
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A conceptual rendering of the proposed Lidl store at the Canton-Piedmont intersection.
After trying twice in the last five years to open a store in Northeast Cobb, the German discount grocery chain Lidl has set its sights on a new location in the area.
Plans filed last month with the Cobb Zoning Office show Lidl is requesting rezoning of 3.47 acres at the southwest intersection of Canton Road and Piedmont Road for a 31,000-square-foot supermarket.
There’s a vacant building there now that formerly housed a Rite Aid pharmacy, which is across from Covenant Presbyterian Church.
The land, which includes an undeveloped parcel behind the former Rite Aid building, is zoned neighborhood shopping (NS) and Lidl is requesting community retail commercial (CRC) designation.
A hearing before the Cobb Planning Commission is scheduled for Dec. 6. The filing is preliminary and does not yet include a staff analysis or recommendation.
The store hours would be from 6 a.m. to midnight seven days a week.
Lidl is also asking for a number of variances (you can read through the filings here), including a reduction of the minimum number of parking spaces and related to fire access and signage.
The CRC category calls for at least 158 spaces. Lidl is seeking a hardship waiver to cut that number to 120-135 spaces.
“Due to the odd shape of the site and the existing topography on the western portion of the site, we do not anticipate bring able to achieve the 158 required parking spaces,” said an architectural engineering letter sent to Lidl dated Sept. 6 and that is included in the filings.
The proposed site plan (see below) would call for a “full access driveway” at the back of the property onto Piedmont Road, and a right-out exit onto Piedmont Road southbound, right before the intersection.
Another entrance to the store would be on Canton Road between a Captain D’s restaurant and the new Bar 44 sports lounge.
Lidl also is requesting another hardship for fire access. The county requires that fire vehicles have access of no greater than 150 feet from all sides of a building.
Lidl said there’s only enough room for access around three sides, and is asking for an access distance minimum of 300 feet.
The engineering letter said the building will be fully sprinkled, and that state law allows for that limit to be relaxed when that is the case.
Lidl initially sought a Northeast Cobb location at the site of the former Park 12 Cobb movie theater, but that request was turned down by Cobb commissioners in 2017, citing traffic reasons.
Lidl was to have been the anchor tenant of the mixed-use redevelopment of the Sprayberry Crossing Shopping Center, but pulled out late last year after the grocery chain couldn’t work out an agreement over traffic access on Sandy Plains Road.
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A request to alter an existing site plan to allow for a King’s Hawaiian Bakery and Restuarant in Northeast Cobb is being delayed to November.
An attorney for Stein Investment Group, which is building a self-storage facility at the former GTC Cobb Park 12 Cinema, asked for the continuance in a letter to the Cobb Zoning Office Monday.
The case (you can read the filings here) was to have been considered Tuesday by the Cobb Board of Commissioners. Stein wants to amend the site plan approved by commissioners in 2021 at the northwest intersection of Shallowford Road and Gordy Parkway for a 3,200-square-foot restaurant with 29 parking spaces.
King’s Hawaiian is a fast-casual restaurant chain with nearby locations in Lithia Springs, Flowery Branch and Gainesville.
Garvis Sams asked for the delay for several reasons. His client is continuing meetings with area residential groups, and King’s Hawaiian is working on a landscape plan.
A revised agenda issued late Friday afternoon by the Cobb Zoning Office also notes that plans for a car wash and gas station at Shallowford Road and Trickum Road and that has been continued three times before is being pushed back to November by the zoning staff.
The full zoning hearing agenda can be found by clicking here. The meeting starts at 9 a.m. Tuesday in the second floor board room of the Cobb Government Building, 100 Cherokee St., in downtown Marietta.
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A rezoning request to convert the present Starbucks location at Paper Mill Village into a two-story coffee shop is being delayed to November.
The attorney for S&B Investments Inc. sent Cobb zoning officials a letter last week asking for the request to be removed from the agenda for a Tuesday hearing of the Cobb Planning Commission.
Garvis Sams said in the letter (you can read it here) that after holding a community meeting, “the consensus at the meeting was for S&B to avail itself of circumstances to revise the proposal in order to address expectations from area residents, members of the public and others.”
He didn’t specify what those expectations are.
S&B wants to demolish the small building on 0.73 acres at the northeast intersection of Johnson Ferry Road and Paper Mill Road. That’s housed the Starbucks for more than 25 years and a dry cleaner (a nail salon space is vacant).
The proposal calls for a 5,000-square-foot building for a new Starbucks with 25 parking spaces and a double drivethru. The new coffee shop would be open daily from 5 a.m. to 9 p.m.
In its analysis, Cobb zoning staff noted that 50 parking spaces are required under the NRC (neighborhood retail commercial) category the applicant is seeking.
The staff is recommending approval of the request (analysis here) but without a parking variance, meaning the size of the building would have to be reduced.
Two other rezoning requests in East Cobb that were to be heard Tuesday also have been continued to November.
ADP—Terrell Mill LLC is seeking community retail commercial (CRC) from low residential at 1140 and 1150 Terrell Mill Road for a self-storage facility with 47,059 square feet and 14 parking spaces. A companion special land-use permit also is required, and that request also has been continued.
The 2.55-acre parcel at the intersection of Terrell Mill and Delk roads and has an older homesite. Zoning staff has recommended denial, noting that the property is surrounded by residential areas and does not conform to the county’s comprehensive land-use plan which calls for medium-density housing in that area.
“Setback variances are proposed which demonstrate this proposal does not fit on the property,” the staff analysis concluded.
Also being delayed is a request to rezone 13.38 acres at 4701 Post Oak Tritt Road, near McPherson Road, from R-30 to R-15 for 20 single-family homes.
The Planning Commission is a five-member body appointed by the Cobb Board of Commissioners to make recommendations in zoning cases.
Final decisions are made by county commissioners, who meet on the third Tuesday of the month.
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Rendering from site plan application to be heard by Cobb commissioners Oct. 18.
A development company that is presently converting the former GTC Cobb Park 12 Cinema complex in East Cobb for a self-storage facility wants to use a portion of that property to build a standalone restaurant.
Filings with the Cobb Zoning Office show a request by Stein Investment Group to amend a site plan for a special land-use request approved in 2021 at the northeast intersection of Gordy Parkway near Shallowford Road.
The request, which is scheduled to be heard by Cobb commissioners Oct. 18, calls for taking out part of the former cinema parking lot for the restaurant (see site plan below), which would contain 3,200 square feet and have 29 parking spaces.
The application was filed Sept. 13 (you can read through it here) and there isn’t a staff analysis and recommendation yet; site plan changes don’t have to go before the Cobb Planning Commission.
Stein Investment received a special land-use permit required in Cobb for storage facilities to build 101,190 square feet of self-storage space. Plans also called for the building of a 33,785-square-foot-building adjacent to that, with a basement.
There aren’t many other details yet about the restaurant; the site plan notes that there will be two-way access on Gordy Parkway and right-in and right-out access on Shallowford Road. The site plan and accompanying renderings also show a double canopied drive-through for the restaurant.
Stein has retained noted Cobb zoning attorney Garvis Sams, who handled the self-storage request last year. He’s also representing S & B Investments which is proposing a two-story Starbucks at Paper Mill Village.
That request will get its first hearing next Tuesday before the planning commission.
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The Cobb Board of Commissioners on Tuesday rejected a proposal to build an environmentally-friendly subdivision in the Northeast Cobb area after a contentious series of meetings.
The board voted 4-0 to deny a request by Green Community Development, an Atlanta developer, for 13 homes on 7.5 acres of severely sloping terrain off Kinridge Court.
Cobb zoning staff and other agencies recommended denial for density, stormwater runoff and traffic issues. The Cobb Planning Commission recommended denial in July.
Green had initially proposed 16 homes in asking to switch from R-20 to OSC-1 zoning. That’s a category that stands for Open Space Community and includes the designation of additional green space (staff analysis here).
The homes in the proposed Serenesee at Kinridge subdivision were to have rooftop gardens, “greenpaved” parking and other sustainability and LEED features, that the applicant, Christopher Hunt, proclaimed would win awards.
But his combative conduct has been out of the ordinary for Cobb zoning hearings. In making a motion to deny the request, Commissioner JoAnn Birrell said the case was “very contentious, to say the least.”
She didn’t reference Hunt by name but said that comments made to Cobb zoning staff, nearby residents and the East Cobb Civic Association during the process are something “I don’t appreciate or tolerate.”
There was a community meeting about the request that Birrell organized but said she left “when the name-calling began.”
When Hunt raised his hand to respond, she said she wouldn’t be calling on him. He spoke out anyway, and Chairwoman Lisa Cupid admonished him to remain quiet.
During his presentation Tuesday, Hunt complained about a list of recommendations from the ECCA that he claimed were “90 percent false.”
He accused the civic group of providing “misinformation” that he said he wasn’t given an opportunity to rebut.
Hunt said the reduction of homes to 13 constitutes a density less than nearby neighborhoods, and that the proposed buffers around the property are “200 percent” in excess of what the county requires.
“I’m trying to be sustainable,” he pleaded, further blasting the ECCA for its “unethical, sabotaging efforts.”
Hunt asked commissioners to delay the request by another month to respond to the ECCA recommendations.
Jill Flamm of the ECCA also presented a petition signed by 66 neighbors in opposition and said that it’s “unfortunate that the applicant has chosen to conduct himself in this manner during this process.”
She reiterated traffic and stormwater concerns, as did a Kinridge Court resident who noted a previous zoning case on the same land years ago to build only four homes was turned down.
Birrell asked Carl Carver of Cobb Stormwater Management about how runoff would be handled given the topography of the property.
He said that stormwater currently “sheds off in almost all directions,” and to capture runoff from what was proposed likely would require “level separators” that he said “would be difficult on the side of a steep slope.”
Amy Diaz of Cobb DOT said that although the peak traffic estimate would only be 13 vehicles, the daily estimate was 130 vehicles on a slender, privately maintained street on a downward slope.
Commissioner Keli Gambrill was absent from the meeting.
Earlier during the hearing, commissioners approved a motion by Birrell to continue a request to build a gas station and car wash at Trickum Road and Sandy Plains Road.
Southern Gas Partners LLC has substantially revised an application (new site plan here; additional stipulations here) that would cut the 24/7 hours of a convenience store to 5 a.m. to 11 p.m. and limit traffic access for both roads to right-in, right-out only.
But nearby residents still say there are substantial stormwater runoff issues that haven’t been addressed.
The same developer was granted a continuance for a request to build a car wash across the street on Shallowford Road.
When Birrell asked Bo Patel of Watson Development if that car wash could be substituted for the one proposed for the intersection, her told her the Shallowford Road property included a stream buffer that made development unlikely.
“We need to have more discussions,” she said. “It still needs some work.”
Another zoning case in East Cobb is being continued to the Oct. 4 Cobb Planning Commission hearing. Kenneth B. Clary is seeking rezoning of 13.38 acres at 4701 Post Oak Tritt Road near McPherson Road from R-30 to R-15 for 18 single-family detached homes.
Garvis Sams, the applicant’s attorney, said “there are some remaining issues which are scheduled to be addressed and resolved.”
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Here’s the first look a major change proposed for Paper Mill Village: The building containing an existing Starbucks location would give way to a two-story, standalone coffee shop with a drivethru lane.
That’s according to filings with the Cobb Zoning Office in an application scheduled to be heard by the Cobb Planning Commission Oct. 4.
The filings include a revised site plan with new access points and procedures for conducting a traffic study to gauge how the expanded coffee shop would affect traffic in the busy Johnson Ferry Road-Paper Mill Road area.
S & B Investments has applied to rezone the 0.73-acre tract on the northwest corner of that intersection from future commercial and R-80 to NRC (Neighborhood Retail Commercial).
(Although Paper Mill Village is a mixed-used commercial development, it has a unique zoning history that we noted earlier this year when the property’s developer sought NRC designation for other buildings there.)
According to the application (you can read it here and view more renderings), the building would be around 5,000 square feet and the Starbucks would be open from 5:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. seven days a week.
A stipulation letter from Garvis Sams, the S & B Investments attorney, includes a lengthy list of retail uses that would not be allowed on the property (you can read that letter here).
S & B Investments previously requested, then dropped, a request to add a drivethru lane for its existing 1,600-square-foot building, which includes space for two other retail businesses. One of them, where a nail salon was located, is vacant, and the other is a dry cleaning service.
Initial zoning staff analysis concluded that there wasn’t sufficient space to provide drivethru service for Starbucks with the building intact.
In his letter, Sams wrote that “while Starbucks has been a presence at this intersection for decades, because of the change in demographics and circumstances engrained in the nuanced evolution of our culture generally and more specifically the like-kind demographic within this sub-area of east Cobb County, the drive-thru component is no longer an option but is, instead, a necessary component.”
There is a standalone one-story Starbucks just up Johnson Ferry at Woodlawn Square. There’s a two-story Starbucks similar to the one proposed for Paper Mill Village in Sandy Springs.
Renderings provided in the Paper Mill Village filings show expansive customer space inside the new building, and traffic configurations.
The initial site plan called for a two-way access point from an existing alley off Johnson Ferry Road.
That has been changed to provide separate entrance and exit access from that alley, and a two-way access point from the existing alley off Paper Mill Road. A total of 23 parking spaces are included, including handicapped spots, and the drivethru area would be sealed off.
Cobb Zoning Staff has not completed its analysis or made a recommendation.
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Single-family homes on half-acre lots are being planned by Brooks Chadwick. For a larger view, click here.
A noted East Cobb development firm will soon submit plans to Cobb officials for a single-family subdivision on Shallowford Road near Blackwell Road.
Brooks Chadwick is proposing to build 29 homes on nearly 18 acres of the Powers property, which includes a 13-acre lake.
But the developer isn’t seeking a change from the present R-20 zoning, so there won’t be any public meetings.
Todd Thrasher, a managing partner at Brooks Chadwick Capital LLC, told East Cobb News that although there’s a denser R-15 neighborhood nearby, “we feel like our future community will be prettier, and allow for a better development as an R-20 community than if we were to rezone and cramming for density on our site.”
The issue of density has come up about the project, and Thrasher said “I wanted the community to know that we’re not putting up apartments.”
Density has become a hot topic in recent months in an area of Northeast Cobb that’s been undergoing substantial development.
Cobb commissioners last fall approved a 92-home subdivision on Ebenezer Road despite objections from nearby residents over density and stormwater issues, but the developer, Pulte Homes, later pulled out of the project.
Also last year, commissioners approved the redevelopment of the Sprayberry Corners Shopping Center that includes senior apartments. A plan to include market-rate apartments was scotched by the developer, Atlantic Realty, after commissioner JoAnn Birrell opposed them.
The Powers property is is in an area that is strictly single-family residential.
The homes being planned by Brooks Chadwick in its 23rd residential development in East Cobb would start at around 4,000 square feet, with prices starting around $1 million.
Thrasher said they’re just inside the Lassiter High School attendance zone and will have one access point, on Shallowford Road.
Brooks Chadwick sold off those 49 acres to other developers and Thrasher said his firm is likely to follow suit with the Shallowford Road property.
“We’ll buy the land, put the street in” as well as other basic infrastructure before selling off to another homebuilder, Thrasher said.
The Powers property includes 42 acres, and he said that land along the north side, bordered by Eula Drive, is being sold to another builder for nine residential lots.
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A delayed proposal to build a subdivision off Kinridge Court is being continued again by the Cobb Zoning Staff.
The staff also is continuing two rezoning applications for car wash facilities on Shallowford Road.
Those three cases were to have been heard Tuesday by the Cobb Board of Commissioners, but have been rescheduled for September.
In the residential application, Green Community Development requested another month’s delay due to what its representative said was “misinformation” by a neighboring homeowners association.
Christopher Hunt used similarly charged language in July when addressing community opposition to what initially was a 16-home, environmentally friendly subdivision on rocky terrain.
The revised site plan for what the developer wants to call Serenesee at Kinridge reduces the number of lots to 13.
It proposes homes of at least 3,000 square feet made of four-sided brick, stone and/or hard coat stucco.
Hunt proclaimed that the project, with rooftop gardens, “greenpaved” parking and other sustainability and LEED features, would win awards.
But the Cobb Planning Commission voted to recommend denial, and county commissioners didn’t hear the case after zoning staff continued it.
In an Aug. 9 letter to the county, Hunt referenced an opponent in a community meeting “who purposefully held the comments until the very end of meeting that was designed to create false opposition without an opportunity for me to respond properly and thoroughly.”
He didn’t elaborate, but added that “we need time for emotions to settle so clear thinking with truth will prevail. The property is zoned R-20 and no one wants what antiquated, counterproductive rules allow compared to what Serenesee is presenting.”
At the Planning Commission meeting, some residents of the surrounding neighborhoods and the East Cobb Civic Association objected to the application, citing density, traffic, stormwater runoff and site plan issues.
Hunt is seeking rezoning under an Open Space Community category, meaning the developer will set aside some of the land—roughly 28 percent, according to the revised site plan—in exchange for higher density limits.
The case is tentatively set to be heard by commissioners Sept. 20.
Plans for a car wash and convenience store at Shallowford Road and Trickum Road are being pushed back again after Southern Gas Partners, LLC asked for additional time.
The 3.1 acres at the southwest corner of the intersection has been sitting vacant, but a nearby resident complained of longstanding runoff issues stemming from previous uses of the property.
The application also will be heard by county commissioners on Sept. 20
Another car wash proposal just down the street also is being delayed for a month. WATMOR LLC is planning a car wash on a wooded lot of 0.8 acres on the north side of Shallowford and east of Trickum, adjacent to the Shallowford Crossing Shopping Center.
The parcel is currently zoned for low-density residential but is surrounded by commercial development.
Lance Watson of WATMOR did not indicate his reasons for seeking a continuance. What he’s proposing to be Rich’s Car Wash will go before the Cobb Planning Commission Sept. 6.
A request to build a cellular tower on Canton Road also is being continued until Sept. 6. Parallel Towers III, LLC is seeking a special land-use permit for 6.2 acres across from the terminus of Shallowford Road.
The land is zoned heavy industrial and currently has two cell towers and the SLUP is requesting a third to be built at 160 feet high.
The tower would serve the AT&T Mobility network and would replace a Comcast tower near the East Cobb Baseball facility.
The request has been delayed for several months and the Planning Commission will tentatively hear it on Sept. 6.
Zoning case files and related information can be found by clicking here.
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The Cobb Board of Commissioners voted last week to spend nearly $500,000 for an outside consultant to assist county staff in the creation of a Unified Development Code.
Jessica Guinn, Cobb Community Development Director
The vote was 3-2, with the three Democrats voting in favor and the two Republicans opposed. Republican JoAnn Birrell of District 3 in Northeast Cobb objected because she said county community development staffers are best situated to do the work, “because they know the county.”
The proposed UDC has become the subject of some controversy since it was first raised last year, including from some East Cobb citizens who made heated comments that prompted a rebuke from Cobb Commission Chairwoman Lisa Cupid.
Birrell also said that updating the development code can be done through the current practice of updating code amendments twice a year.
But during the commissioners’ regular meeting last Tuesday, Commissioner Jerica Richardson, a Democrat who represents part of East Cobb, said the request for a consultant came from the Cobb Community Development staff.
“They’re telling us they need some help,” she said.
Director Jessica Guinn said “I can’t tell you how much time I spend getting code amendments ready” for that process.
She told commissioners that she would still be the project manager for the UDC process, which she said “is still going to be a huge demand of staff time.”
The consultant is Clarion Associates, LLC, a nationwide land-use and planning consulting firm which has provided services for a UDC in Hall County and design and development guidelines in Savannah.
Clarion also is conducting an overhaul of the zoning ordinance in Fairfax County, Va., an affluent suburb of Washington, D.C.
A UDC is a comprehensive planning guide which incorporates zoning, planning and land-use with design, landscaping, architectural and other guidelines. Local Atlanta-area jurisdictions that have them are the cities of Atlanta and Roswell and DeKalb County.
Guinn has said that Cobb’s zoning ordinance is more than 50 years old and needs an overhaul and needs more than periodic updates during the code amendment process.
Jan Barton, an East Cobb resident, has called UDC “a war on the suburbs” and leaders of the failed East Cobb Cityhood referendum republished a newpaper letter to the editor she wrote on the subject.
But Commissioner Monique Sheffield of South Cobb said hiring a UDC consultant “isn’t a knock against the staff at all. You have more work that you have people.”
Among the tasks include reviewing the project with county staff to assess the current codes and updating the county website, then holding public meetings and related sessions before preparing a draft UDC.
After that, there will be public hearings on the draft proposal, before commissioners would be scheduled to adopt a UDC.
A few virtual meetings an online feedback periods have already been held; Guinn said the consultants’ participation will take between 18-24 months.
“This will be a robust public process,” Guinn said in response to a question from Richardson. “It’s not something that’s going to take place overnight. It’s going to take time. It’s going to be a heavy lift and we’ll be engaging with all of you as well as staff.”
Cobb is currently conducting a five-year update the county’s 2040 Comprehensive Plan, which will be one of the main documents used during the UDC process.
Commissioners are expected to adopt that update this fall.
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The Cobb Board of Commissioners voted Tuesday to hold a proposed rezoning for a new convenience store, gas station and car wash on Shallowford Road at Trickum Road for a month after community opposition surfaced.
Commissioner JoAnn Birrell said in making her motion that the extra time was needed for the applicant to meet with residents over runoff, environmental and traffic concerns.
Southern Gas Partners, LLC is applying to change the current neighborhood shopping and general commercial zoning of two parcels totaling 3.1 acres at the southwest intersection of Shallowford and Trickum to neighborhood retail commercial.
That would allow for conversion of what had been a gas station to a fueling facility and convenience store similar to a Quick Trip or Race Trac and a car wash, according to the applicant.
The plans call for a 2,258 square foot convenience store/gas station that would operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week on the Trickum Road parcel.
Another 2,287 square feet would be used for a car wash to be built on 2.3 undeveloped acres fronting Shallowford Road that would be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. seven days a week.
The Cobb Planning Commission voted to recommend approval earlier this month, but Birrell said nearby residents may not have been properly informed of the case, and there has not been a community meeting.
Her Planning Commission appointee, Deborah Dance, also was absent from the vote.
The Southern Gas Partners application had been on the county commissioners’ consent agenda Tuesday when a resident adjacent to the property turned out to show opposition.
Mel Skelton, who lives at the back end of the abandoned gas station property on Sims Court, said he was speaking on behalf of himself and neighbors in the Heatherwood subdivision.
He said he’s endured decades of runoff from a malfunctioning retention pond, a polluted creek and noise from the various businesses that have been there, none of them, including an auto repair shop, he said, that have “passed muster.”
He said the retention pond is practically in his back yard, and that his property, which is separated from the gas station property by a creek, is in a Class a flood zone.
It’s taken a couple of decades since the gas station was first built and the property cleared for wildlife to return, he said.
While Southern Gas Partners said it would be keeping existing wooded buffers, he’s concerned about round-the-clock lights and noise, especially because “when people get their car washed, they like to listen to their music.”
“I’m not against development, as long as it’s done right,” Skelton said of what’s become a community eyesore in an area that he said has many other similar businesses.
There are two other gas stations at the same intersection that also have convenience stores.
“How many car washes do we need, especially behind a residential area?” Skelton said.
Jim Courson, representing Southern Gas Partners, said his client is hamstrung by changes in the county zoning code over the years that have rendered those properties non-conforming.
“It is truly a hardship based for the owner simply because the classifications changed,” Courson said, “and it was through no fault of his own that he is sitting there with two pieces of property he really can’t do anything with unless you grant the rezoning.”
Cobb tax records show Southern Gas Partners purchased the current gas station property in 2017 for $401,800 and the undeveloped land last year for $390,000.
“It would change from an old outdated gas station to a current updated convenience store,” Courson said. “The owner is handicapped by not being able to do anything with the property as it sits there today.”
Carl Carver of the Cobb Stormwater Management agency said the applicant would have to provide for runoff management for the car wash area.
He also said both properties would have to be treated as “hotspots” requiring treatment to improve water quality prior to runoff discharge.
The site plan calls for right-in, right-out access only in eastbound lanes of Shallowford Road, but allows a left turn onto westbound Shallowford.
Amy Diaz of Cobb DOT said that since the left turn intersection meets the county’s minimum of being at least 250 feet from an intersection, that meets “our standard for full-movement access.”
Birrell said she was worried, given DOT’s current grade of “F” on Shallowford, and that Trickum has a “C.”
“I think it’s a safety issue,” she said. “I’m on Shallowford and Trickum a lot and Lassiter [High School] is right down the street. It’s very congested there for them to be turning left out.”
Diaz responded said it’s an area “where I would recommend using caution during high peak periods, but off-peak periods, probably not.”
She said DOT could take restrictive measures in the future if it “showed to be a safety issue.”
In other cases in the East Cobb area, commissioners approved on the consent agenda a special-land use plan permit extension for Mt. Bethel Christian Academy to continue use of temporary space on its North Campus on Post Oak Tritt Road for a high school campus.
Since moving there in 2013, Mt. Bethel Christian has used existing facilities it purchased from the Marcus Jewish Community Center of Atlanta for grades 9-12 and for some worship events for Mt. Bethel Church.
The new permit allows the school, which had received previous extensions, to continue through the end of August 2024.
Pulled from Tuesday’s agenda was a rezoning request by Green Community Development to build 16-home environmentally-friendly homes on rocky terrain on Kinridge Court near Sprayberry High School.
The planning commission voted to recommend denial after community opposition surfaced, but the Cobb zoning staff is continuing the case until August.
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A public plaza will be built at the former Bravura store.
The 2.55-acre parcel at the intersection of Terrell Mill and Delk roads and has an older homesite. Zoning staff has recommended denial, noting that the property is surrounded by residential areas and does not conform to the county’s comprehensive land-use plan which calls for medium-density housing in that area. 
