East Cobb Zoning & Development Archives

Developer sues Cobb officials, East Cobb Civic Association for $100M

November 2, 2022 5:08 PMNovember 1, 2022 2:36 PM by Wendy Parker

Christopher Hunt, Kinridge Court rezoning — *Christopher Hunt of Green Community Development*

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.”

Paper Mill Village Starbucks rezoning case delayed to December

October 28, 2022 12:26 PM by Wendy Parker

Starbucks Paper Mill Village

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.

The full agenda for Tuesday’s Planning Commission meeting can be found by clicking here. A summary agenda can be found here.

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

First Look: Lidl files plans for Northeast Cobb grocery store

October 17, 2022 5:47 PM by Wendy Parker

Lidl Northeast Cobb plans — *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 site plan Canton-Piedmont

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.

Lidl opened an East Cobb location at Woodlawn Square Shopping Center in September 2020 in the former Fresh Market space.

King’s Hawaiian Northeast Cobb request delayed to November

October 14, 2022 5:24 PM by Wendy Parker

King's Hawaiian Northeast Cobb plans delayed

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.

Most other East Cobb cases on Tuesday’s zoning hearing agenda also have been continued to November, including a proposal for a two-story Starbucks at Paper Mill Village.

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.

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

Paper Mill Village Starbucks rezoning request delayed

September 30, 2022 6:30 PMSeptember 30, 2022 11:06 AM by Wendy Parker

Starbucks Paper Mill Village

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. Starbucks Paper Mill Village

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.

Z-66-2022 signs 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.

The full agenda for Tuesday’s Planning Commission meeting can be found by clicking here. A summary agenda can be found here.

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

Fast casual restaurant planned for former East Cobb cinema property

September 27, 2022 2:10 PM by Wendy Parker

East Cobb fast casual restaurant proposed — *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.

OB-56-2022 site plan — For a larger view **click here**.

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.

Cobb rejects ‘green’ Kinridge Court subdivision proposal

September 20, 2022 12:23 PM by Wendy Parker

Cobb rejects 'green' Kinridge Court subdivision proposal
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.”

2-story Starbucks, drivethru proposed for Paper Mill Village

September 17, 2022 3:12 PMSeptember 15, 2022 11:56 AM by Wendy Parker

Starbucks Paper Mill Village

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.”

Revised Starbucks PMV site plan — For a larger view **click here**.

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.

Prominent developer planning subdivision on Shallowford Road

September 2, 2022 9:33 PMSeptember 2, 2022 1:02 PM by Wendy Parker

*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.

The forthcoming redevelopment of a corner of the Johnson Ferry-Shallowford intersection for East Cobb Church and housing is still in plan review with the county, with the density of residential units still at issue.

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.

“A lot of our properties have been in the Lassiter area,” he added, including an 81-home subdivision on either side of Wesley Chapel Road near Garrison Mill Elementary School that was rezoned in 2020.

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.

Northeast Cobb subdivision, car wash rezoning cases delayed

August 16, 2022 12:20 PM by Wendy Parker

Northeast Cobb subdivision proposal delayed — *For a larger view and more details, **click here**.*

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.

Cobb to spend $500K for Unified Development Code consultant

August 2, 2022 3:49 PM by Wendy Parker

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.

Cobb Unified Development Code consultant — *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.”

Cobb Community Development has created a special page to explain what it wants to achieve with the UDC.

According to an agenda item, the contract with Clarion, with a regional office in Chapel Hill, N.C., begins on Aug. 15.

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.

Shallowford/Trickum convenience store/car wash plans delayed

July 19, 2022 12:53 PM by Wendy Parker

Shallowford Trickum car wash plans delayed

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.

You can read through the application by clicking here; the site plan can be found here and a Cobb DOT traffic analysis is here.

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.”

Z-41 2022 site plan — For a larger view of the site plan **click here**

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.

Cobb Planning Commission rejects Kinridge Court rezoning

July 5, 2022 5:49 PMJuly 5, 2022 12:30 PM by Wendy Parker

A 16-home environmentally-friendly subdivision proposed on rocky terrain in a Northeast Cobb neighborhood got a quick recommendation of denial Tuesday from the Cobb Planning Commission.

By a 3-0 vote, and with no discussion, the planning board voted against a proposal by Green Community Development, LLC to switch from R-20 zoning to OSC R-20 for 7.5-acre tract off Kinridge Court.

Planning commissioner Deborah Dance, who represents the area, was absent from the meeting.

The land is on a sloping ridge at 2077 and 2079 Kinridge Court, which includes a homesite and wooded, undeveloped land. Rezoning would increase the number of approved homes from 12 to 16.

The Open Space Community Designation would preserve some property for green space but has a density limit of 1.75 units per acre.

Green’s proposal would increase the density to 2.34 units per acre, prompting the Cobb Zoning Office to recommend denial.

A total of 15 residents from nearby subdivisions turned out in opposition, saying the development is too dense and presents public safety and stormwater issues.

Allen Smith, who lives across from the property on Kinridge Court, said a fire years ago at a home at 2077 Kinridge Court presented difficulties for responding fire crews.

A rezoning request in 2003 for four homes on the property was rejected in part to that and other factors, he told planning commissioners.

Christopher Hunt, the applicant, said in sometimes combative language that he’s been up-front with residents at several community meetings to discuss what’s being called Serenesee at Kinridge.

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.

He said he wasn’t invited to the first meeting and explained that the four additional homes are needed because of the expenses associated with building a “sustainable” community, and with the topographical challenges of the land.

Most of the preserved space is along the northern and southern boundaries of the property.

“The density shows that it’s R-20 on three sides and then R-15 on the largest face of the property,” Hunt said, referring to surrounding rezoning categories. “It’s super-expensive to develop there.”

Opposition also came from the East Cobb Civic Association. Case manager Chris Lindstrom was asked by Planning Commission Chairman Stephen Vault about her concerns with the case, and she responded by saying that everything about it, including the site plan, was vague and confusing.

There were no renderings of the proposed homes included in the application.

The proposal also would include an underground retention area under a private road in the subdivision that Cobb Stormwater Management said would be very difficult to manage.

“At some point it’s going to have to discharge,” Cobb stormwater engineer Carl Carver said.

He said a solution would have to be engineered to simulate the drainage “in a sheet-flow fashion. It’s going to be kind of difficult, but I won’t say that it can’t be done.”

The Planning Commission recommendation will be considered by the Cobb Board of Commissioners on July 19.

Kinridge Court subdivision proposal to get first hearing

July 4, 2022 10:13 AM by Wendy Parker

Plans to carve out a 16-home subdivision on a challenging 7.5-acre tract off Kinridge Court in Northeast Cobb are being recommended for denial by the Cobb Zoning Office. Kinridge Court subdivision proposal

An application submitted by Atlanta-based Green Community Development, LLC is scheduled to be heard Tuesday by the Cobb Planning Commission.

Most of the parcels at 2077 and 2079 Kinridge Court are largely undeveloped on a sloping wooded area, although there is a homesite on the latter.

Green is proposing changing the existing R-20 zoning category, which would permit up to 12 homes, to R-20 OSC.

That stands for Open Space Community, a special “overlay” zoning designation meaning that some of the land would be protected as open space. Green plans to designate 35 percent as “green community space.”

The only point of access would be on Kinridge Court, between two homes in the Sandy Plains Estates subdivision.

In addition to the 16 single-family homes, recreation amenities, and passive amenities are included (you can view the agenda item here and the site plan here).

Green is calling the proposed development Serenesee on Kinridge, with homes at least 3,000 square feet made of four-sided brick, stone and/or hard coat stucco. Parking, according to a stipulation letter, “will have 4 spaces per home on Grasspave directly across the street from homes.”

But in its analysis, Cobb zoning staff said that while the topography of the land allows an OSC designation, the density of the project (2.34 units an acre) is over the OSC limit of 1.75, as well as Sandy Plains Estates, which has a density of 1.49.

Nearby Cambridge Park is zoned R-15 but has a density of 2.21 units an acre, according to the staff analysis.

The zoning staff also cited potential runoff issues, noting the Cobb Stormwater Management comments that “due to the steepness of the topography downstream properties could be adversely affected by this project.”

A number of variances reducing front and side setbacks and reducing the width of the subdivision road present traffic and fire safety concerns, the analysis concluded:

“With the number of variances necessitated by the currently submitted plan, Staff believes that the property can be more suitably developed under its base R-20 zoning or, perhaps, with a more compliant OSC plan that may include less lots.”

In other cases in the East Cobb area, the Planning Commission will hear a request by Parallel Towers III to build a cellular tower at 4648 Canton Road, a convenience store and gas station at 3705 Trickum Road and a personal care home at 1900 Sandy Plains Road.

Zoning staff is recommending approval of all three applications with conditions.

The zoning hearing starts at 9 a.m. Tuesday in the second floor board room of the Cobb government building (100 Cherokee St., downtown Marietta).

The consent and summary agenda can be found by clicking here; here’s the thumbnail agenda and full packet agenda.

Planning commission recommendations will be considered by the Cobb Board of Commissioners on July 19.

The hearing also will be live-streamed on the county’s website, cable TV channel (Channel 24 on Comcast) and Youtube page. Visit cobbcounty.org/CobbTV for other streaming options.

Commissioners OK overhaul plans for The Avenue East Cobb

June 21, 2022 4:40 PMJune 21, 2022 10:39 AM by Wendy Parker

The Avenue East Cobb renderings — *Optional valet parking at The Avenue East Cobb will be available between the “jewel box” restaurant and retail buildings and near a concierge and public plaza.*

The overhaul of The Avenue East Cobb was approved by the Cobb Board of Commissioners Tuesday with only a slight change added.

During a zoning hearing, the site plan change request by North American Properties was passed on the commission’s consent agenda, meaning there was no opposition.

The back portion of the retail center on Roswell Road, just east of Johnson Ferry Road, will be redeveloped to include two “jewel box” buildings with restaurant and retail space, a live music and special event stage, a concierge building, a public plaza and optional valet parking.

The only change from the formal request came from District 2 commissioner Jerica Richardson, who was adding language about traffic queuing in that area to accommodate what she called “multimodal” forms of transportation.

There was no other discussion of the request. Last week, a spokeswoman for NAP told East Cobb News that new tenants for the jewel box buildings could be revealed soon.

The area for redevelopment is what’s being called The Avenue’s “Central Avenue” area, where live music and other events have been taking place since last fall.

Last summer, NAP—which developed the Avalon complex in Alpharetta and overhauled Colony Square and Atlantic Station in Midtown—entered into a joint partnership with present owners PGIM to manage the 23,000-square foot The Avenue, which opened in 1999.

The objective is to create a more dynamic lifestyle destination space, prompting a dramatic conceptual revision.

In an interview with East Cobb News in April, NAP officials said that construction could get underway in August with possible completion in the first quarter of 2023.

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!

Sterling Estates East Cobb proposing additional cottages

June 17, 2022 3:50 PM by Wendy Parker

Sterling Estates East Cobb cottage

The Sterling Estates senior residential facility on Lower Roswell Road is a mix of the main assisted living building and separate cottage buildings at the front of the property.

On Tuesday Sterling Estates will go before the Cobb Board of Commissioners to request a site plan change to construct two new cottage buildings.

The agenda item (you can read it and see the site plan here) states that the two proposed buildings, with three independent living units each, would be built in the back of the property.

“The applicant’s facility has a waiting list and the applicant would like to build two more single family cottages in the rear that would each have three units per cottage,” said the agenda item.

A summary of the items on Tuesday’s zoning hearing agenda can be found here; the full agenda can be found by clicking here.

Like the proposed site plan changes at The Avenue East Cobb we reported on earlier this week, the Sterling Estates request is on the commission’s consent agenda, meaning there’s no known opposition.

A stipulation letter from Sterling Estates attorney Garvis Sams said his client “been a good neighbor to the Kings Cove neighborhood and have complied with all the buffering and lake protection requirements.”

There are currently six rental cottage buildings at Sterling Estates, which opened with two in 2010. Four more cottage buildings were approved in 2014

The zoning hearing starts at 9 a.m. Tuesday in the second floor board room of the Cobb government building (100 Cherokee St., downtown Marietta).

The hearing also will be live-streamed on the county’s website, cable TV channel (Channel 24 on Comcast) and Youtube page. Visit cobbcounty.org/CobbTV for other streaming options.

RENDERINGS: The Avenue East Cobb ‘jewel boxes’ concept plan

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!

RENDERINGS: The Avenue East Cobb ‘jewel boxes’ concept plan

June 15, 2022 10:29 AMJune 14, 2022 1:25 PM by Wendy Parker

North American Properties has filed site plan changes for The Avenue East Cobb that includes expanded restaurant and retail space and a live music stage and public plaza.

The Atlanta-based commercial real estate firm will go before the Cobb Board of Commissioners next week with a conceptual plan that has been months in the making.

As East Cobb News reported in April, the transformation of the 23-year-old retail center on Roswell Road near Johnson Ferry Road is being eyed with making it a destination space for shopping, dining and entertainment.

According to filings with the Cobb Zoning Office, NAP wants to construct two “jewel box” buildings for outdoor patio dining and small retail in the back side of the center’s current parking lot, which would become an area for optional valet service.

A permanent stage would be built for concerts in front of the current Bravura wedding fashion store, which would demolished for a public plaza with seating.

That’s what NAP has been calling its Central Boulevard, adjacent to the Kale Me Crazy and Stockyard Burgers & Bones restaurants.

The Avenue has been holding weekly live music and other events in a makeshift stage there for several months, not long after it entered into a joint partnership with PGIM to manage the 23,000-square foot retail center.

The Avenue East Cobb renderings

According to the Cobb zoning filing (you can read it here) “the applicant believes these amendments will help to keep The Avenue successful for years to come.”

NAP developed the massive Avalon mixed-use project in Alpharetta and more recently overhauled Atlantic Station and Colony Square in midtown Atlanta.

NAP officials told East Cobb News in a recent interview that while The Avenue East Cobb is a project on a smaller scale, “everyone feels it has all this potential to be tapped into.”

A number of musical, recreational and entertainment events is geared toward “everyone who comes here.”

Brittni Johnson, a spokeswoman for NAP, told East Cobb News Tuesday that she “cannot disclose the jewel box occupants at this time but [NAP officials] are planning to have a leasing update ready to share soon.”

Shops and stores in that part of the center include Michael’s, Williams-Sonoma, Pottery Barn, Banana Republic and Gap. Johnson said Bravura, a wedding fashion store, will be relocating to Old Milton Parkway in Alpharetta.

The valet and concierge service will be optional, Johnson said, saying it’s designed for shoppers and patrons who choose to have that convenience.

She said there’s not a figure yet on the capacity for the plaza since that’s still in code review. But she said furniture will be added, “and it will be available for use when it’s not activated for events (i.e., eating lunch or mingling with friends).”

Like the plazas at Avalon and Colony Square, she said, “it is really meant to serve as a community gathering space—or as we like to call it the property’s ‘living room.’ ”

Since NAP’s plans don’t require rezoning, they don’t have to go before the Cobb Planning Commission. Site plan changes are listed as “Other Business” items on the agenda of the Cobb Board of Commissioners zoning hearing.

That hearing starts next Tuesday at 9 a.m., and you can view the full agenda by clicking here.

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!

Paper Mill Village seeks rezoning but plans to stay the same

April 29, 2022 4:25 PM by Wendy Parker

Paper Mill Village rezoning revisions

Most of the Williamsburg-style buildings at Paper Mill Village are painted in an airy, light color, with some occasional canary-colored trim and furnishings.

With spring abounding, the mixed-use retail, restaurant and office complex at Johnson Ferry Road and Paper Mill Road may also be getting a rezoning refresh soon.

Healey Weatherholtz Village LLLP, Paper Mill Village’s manager, doesn’t want to change anything about the open-air, pedestrian-friendly complex, which has been operating in a neighborhood-focused fashion for more than 40 years.

But it wants to revise what had been some court-ordered zoning categories that it says are out of date, and make it more challenging to maintain the facilities and attract future tenants.

Paper Mill Village rezoning changes — *Paper Mill Village features an array of restaurants, retail shops, medical offices and other small, local businesses.*

Healey Weatherholtz Village has filed a rezoning application to convert 6.83 acres from future commercial (CF) and two low-density residential designations, R-40 and R-80, to neighborhood retail (NRC).

(You can read the application and zoning analysis by clicking here.)

That request is scheduled to go before the Cobb Planning Commission on Tuesday, and it’s on the consent agenda, meaning that there’s not known opposition.

In filings with the Cobb Zoning Office, Healey Weatherholtz Village says the shops, stores and businesses located there now fall into the NRC category, and the land has been designated as a Neighborhood Activity Center in the Cobb Future Land Use Map.

In a stipulation letter dated April 27 (you can read that here), Healey Weatherholtz Village attorney Garvis Sams wrote that “over the years, scores of developers, builders, lenders, property owners and others have sought clarity with respect to the governance of Paper Mill Village,” which was zoned into the unusual mix of categories following 1973 and 1982 orders in Cobb Superior Court.

(Among those involved in the legal proceedings was Sams’ father, who was the Cobb County Attorney.)

The zonings included the CF use—sort of a placeholder for future development under specified commercial categories—which is no longer an active zoning category.

“In the interim decades, the BOC has approved amendments to certain uses by amending the Court Order through the submission of Applications for Rezoning, Other Business Applications, Special Land Use Permits and/or Variances, dependent upon the individual circumstances concerning each property thus revised or amended,” Sams continued in his letter.

He said that Healey Weatherholtz Village is proposing no new construction, but getting NRC designation would enable it to address future utilization of the property “with relative ease rather than the cumbersome process of proceeding through a Rezoning or other types of Entitlement applications and the attendant process every time a prospective tenant presents itself.”

Sams said he has met with county staff, notified all property owners within a thousand feet of the property and discussed the application with neighborhood officials from Chattahoochee Plantation, Hampton Farms and the East Cobb Civic Association.

His stipulation letter also includes a number of prohibited uses, and the architectural style of the 11 commercial buildings will remain the same.

The Cobb Zoning Office is recommending approval of the request, including a new site plan submitted in March (you can see that here) and adherence to the Johnson Ferry Design Guidelines.

The Cobb Planning Commission meets at 9 a.m. Tuesday in the second floor board room of the Cobb government building (100 Cherokee St., downtown Marietta).

The full agenda can be found here; a link to the summary agenda can be found here.

The hearing also will be live-streamed on the county’s website, cable TV channel (Channel 24 on Comcast) and Youtube page. Visit cobbcounty.org/CobbTV for other streaming options.

The board’s recommendations will be forwarded to the Cobb Board of Commissioners, which will hold a zoning hearing on May 17.

Valvoline oil change proposal OK’d for Roswell-Johnson Ferry

April 29, 2022 3:37 PMApril 19, 2022 1:22 PM by Wendy Parker

Valvoline Roswell-JF site plan approved

Cobb commissioners on Tuesday approved a site plan amendment and development details for an oil change business at a vacant quadrant of the Roswell-Johnson Ferry Road intersection.

The proposal by Valvoline Instant Oil Change to build a 2,088-square-foot building at the site of a former Chevron station was included on the commissioners’ consent agenda during a rezoning hearing.

You can read through the revised request by clicking here and an updated development plan by clicking here.

The new business will have three bays and will have access on a right-in, right-out basis. Plans call for a landscaping plan and 15 parking spaces. The Chevron station, which closed in 2020, was demolished last year and the nearly three-acre tract has stood vacant ever since.

The land stands in front of, but is not part of, the Merchants Festival Shopping Center.

Also submitted before the vote were comments by the East Cobb Civic Association that were not immediately available online.

PHOTOS, VIDEOS: Demolition of Sprayberry Crossing begins

April 13, 2022 2:35 PMApril 11, 2022 3:46 PM by Wendy Parker

Sprayberry Crossing demolition begins — *A bulldozer attacks the roof of the former Bruno’s grocery store comes down as the demolition of the Sprayberry Crossing Center began on Monday.*

Joe Glancy and Shane Spink grabbed sledgehammers and took a few hearty belts at the exterior of what had been a Bruno’s grocery store on Monday afternoon.

“It felt good,” Spink said to a group of around 100 people who witnessed a long-awaited moment:

The beginning of the end of the Sprayberry Crossing Shopping Center.

After decades of blight, inviting crime and rodents and just being an ugly eyesore with a pothole-ridden parking lot, what once had been one of East Cobb’s trendy retail centers will be leveled for a mixed-use development.

Glancy and Spink, who spearheaded a community push for redevelopment via their Sprayberry Crossing Action Facebook group, had the honor of taking a ceremonial first swing, along with with Cobb Commissioner JoAnn Birrell.

To say it was cathartic was an understatement.

“Everybody who lives around here probably wants to take a swing,” Spink said.

In early 2018, they organized a town hall meeting at Sprayberry High School that turned out elected officials and county leaders.

While there was little they said they could do—aside from imposing a meager blight tax on the property owner, NAI Brannen Goddard—a residential developer was taking note.

Atlantic Residential, an Atlanta-based apartment builder, would soon be in talks with NAI Brannen Goddard to buy the assemblage on Sandy Plains Road, between East Piedmont Road and Post Oak Tritt Road.

Three years after proposing a mixed-use development, including a lengthy and contentious rezoning process, Atlantic Residential is planning to start construction on townhomes, senior apartments and retail space later this year.

The residential component is being called East Cobb Walk and includes 102 for-sale town homes and a 55-and-older apartment building with 102 units to be named Evoq East Cobb.

“I’m happy with stuck with it,” said Richard Aaronson, Atlantic Residential’s CEO and founding partner.

“It’s just a fantastic location,” he said, explaining his company’s patience. “It was too good of an opportunity to pass up.”

Along with the rebuild of Sprayberry High School, “this area is going to look completely different,” Aaronson said.

He said the anticipated price point for the townhomes could be in the high-$400,000 range, designed to attract young families and first-time homebuyers.

Birrell, who said Sprayberry Crossing redevelopment has been high on her priority list—as well as that of her predecessors, Sam Olens and Tim Lee—saluted residents and community leaders.

“Y’all got the ball rolling, you got the community involved,” she said before wielding a sledgehammer to the Bruno’s building. “It was brought to the forefront to the community.”

Numerous site plan revisions were made in response to opposition by some residents to a general apartment building that was eventually nixed because Birrell wouldn’t support it.

A planned grocery store fell through right before the rezoning case was voted on by county commissioners. Lidl pulled out due to issues over locating the main entrance to the redevelopment on Sandy Plains Road.

Birrell, who is up for re-election this year, stressed that the planned senior apartments “cannot be converted to multi-family.”

Some residents who are skeptical of that claim have vowed to work to defeat Birrell, who has an opponent in the May 24 Republican primary.

While the redevelopment wasn’t exactly how supporters initially envisioned it, Aaronson said that “today is the beginning of something great.

“Today we begin to reverse that eyesore you’ve had to live with,” he said.

As a bulldozer commenced tearing down the Bruno’s roof, the crowd hooted and applauded.

Aaronson said that demolition is expected to take 60 days, and pending permitting issues, construction could start as early as August.

Sprayberry Crossing demolition begins

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