East Cobb Zoning & Development Archives

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

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

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

Parking details for demolition of Sprayberry Crossing Bruno’s

April 10, 2022 3:04 PM by Wendy Parker

Sprayberry Crossing Bruno's demolition parking

If you want to attend the demolition of the former Bruno’s store at Sprayberry Crossing Shopping Center on Monday, you’ll need to be mindful of where you park.

The demo begins at 1 p.m., and the Sprayberry Crossing Action Facebook group has provided some details and the above map.

You can enter Sprayberry Crossing at three points, but keep in mind that there is fencing around the retail center.

What you can’t do is park in the parking areas around nearby businesses and the Parker Chase School.

Shane Spink of Sprayberry Crossing Action said that the school will be towing vehicles that are parked illegally.

You also cannot gain access behind the back driveway of the Zaxby’s at Sandy Plains Road at Post Oak Tritt Road.

The entry points will be on Sandy Plains between the Sprayberry Bottle Shop and the former SunTrust Bank, on East Piedmont next to the Walgreen’s and on East Piedmont at the Tiny Stitches.

The Bruno’s portion of the property will be redeveloped for townhomes, with retail in the middle and a senior apartment building constructed on the portion of the land nearest East Piedmont.

Townhomes also will be built next to the senior building, behind the retail space and fronting the Mayes Family Cemetery that will remain protected.

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!

Public invited to demolition of Sprayberry Crossing Bruno’s

March 31, 2022 5:35 PMMarch 31, 2022 3:15 PM by Wendy Parker

Sprayberry Crossing Shopping Center

Cobb commissioner JoAnn Birrell got in touch to let us know a few more details of the start of the demolition of the Sprayberry Crossing Shopping Center.

As we noted a couple weeks ago, the first building to be torn down will be the former Bruno’s grocery store on Monday, April 11.

Birrell said that process will start at 1 p.m. and that the public is invited.

Joe Glancy of the Sprayberry Crossing Action Facebook group that’s been pushing for redevelopment of the blighted retail center posted on Wednesday that fencing is starting to go up around the property that will become a mixed-use development.

“Cut throughs connecting Post Oak Tritt to East Piedmont will no longer be possible,” he said.

Construction on a project to include senior apartments, townhomes and some retail is expected to begin in August.

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!

Valvoline files site plan request for Roswell-Johnson Ferry land

April 19, 2022 1:04 PMMarch 28, 2022 2:59 PM by Wendy Parker

Valvoline Roswell-Johnson Ferry plans — *The Merchants Walk Chevron station building before it was demolished in 2021.*

What had been the site of a longstanding Chevron gas station at one of East Cobb’s busiest intersections may soon house an oil change business.

Valvoline Instant Oil Change has requested a site plan revision from the Cobb Board of Commissioners to develop the acre lot for a 2,088-square-foot oil facility.

Those plans are scheduled to be heard by commissioners on April 19 (you can read the filings here).

Filings with the zoning office indicate the facility will have three bays and will have right-in and right-out access only on Roswell Road (see rendering at the bottom).

There also will be landscaping a trash enclosure and 15 parking spaces.

Since rezoning isn’t required, the application doesn’t have to go to the Cobb Planning Commission. But county commissioners must approve changes to site plans.

Commissioners approved general commercial rezoning for the property in 1999, and it’s been the site of gas stations since the early 1970s.

The Chevron station closed in late 2020, and was demolished in early 2021, not long after we stopped in and snapped the above photo.

The Valvoline filings and county property tax records indicate that the two parcels making up the 0.95 acres have a combined appraised value of $822,240.

The owner of a 0.89 acre tract in that assemblage, Ruth McLaughlin, also owns 0.71 acres directly behind it that’s valued at $1.24 million.

Valvoline Roswell-Johnson Ferry plans

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!

Mt. Bethel Christian Academy athletic field plans approved

March 19, 2022 2:31 PM by Wendy Parker

Mt. Bethel Christian Academy athletic field site plan

After several months of delays, the Cobb Board of Commissioners this week approved a site plan change at the North campus of Mt. Bethel Christian Academy for the construction of an athletic field.

Since 2014, Mt. Bethel has operated a high school on Post Oak Tritt Road near Holly Springs Road.

The school was granted a special-land use plan the year before that, stipulating that changes must come back before commissioners. The SLUP included the future construction of an athletic field and related facilities.

In 2019 Mt. Bethel Christian proposed a sports stadium but later withdrew the application after community opposition surfaced.

The new site plan (above) was adopted on the commission’s consent calendar after the private school worked out a new list of stipulations with nearby residents of the Holly Springs subdivision and the East Cobb Civic Association.

Mt. Bethel Christian attorney Kevin Moore filed the new site plan on Tuesday and a stipulation letter on March 9 (you can read here; you can read the zoning staff analysis by clicking here).

The include relocating the parking area, removing an athletic track, creating an 85-foot undisturbed buffer between the field and nearby homes, and requiring the district commissioner (JoAnn Birrell) to approve the maximum elevations for the field.

Other provisions limit the scope of lighting and the hours for a public address and sound system to operate. The district commissioner also would approve a final landscaping plan with community and ECCA reviews.

The approval comes after some neighbors objected to the close proximity of the field to their backyards.

Commissioners voted in December to delay the request, and Mt. Bethel requested another continuance in February.

But at a Tuesday zoning hearing, Birrell told the involved parties “I appreciate y’all working this out with me in the background.”

The site plan changes also call for the addition of 39 parking spaces for a total of 121 on the campus.

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!

Sprayberry Crossing demolition to get underway in April

March 17, 2022 1:51 PM by Wendy Parker

A date many in the vicinity of the Sprayberry Crossing Shopping Center have been anticipating for years will soon come to pass.

On April 11, the first phase of the demolition of the blighted retail center begins, starting with the former Bruno’s grocery store.

What has been a community eyesore for more than two decades will be giving way to a mixed use development of senior apartments, townhomes and some retail and restaurant space.

Atlantic Realty Acquisitions LLC got rezoning last June from Cobb commissioners to redevelop Sprayberry Crossing, and existing businesses began relocating at the start of 2022.

The parcels making up the assemblage were sold in December to East Cobb Venture Partners, LLC, a holding company formed last October, for nearly $13 million.

“It’s been a long struggle, but the end is here,” said Joe Glancy, a co-founder of the Sprayberry Crossing Action Facebook group that’s pushed for the property’s redevelopment.

He said the area will be fenced off by the end of March, with openings for independent businesses fronting Sandy Plains Road.

But you won’t be able to cut through the backside of the property between East Piedmont Road and Post Oak Tritt Road.

Glancy said asbestos removal also is continuing through March, and a pest control company has installed around 200 rodent traps for the demolition process.

There also could be some Cobb fire and police training at the old structures.

Construction is expected to begin in August and should take around 18 months, Glancy said, and family members of the Mayes Family Cemetery will have access.

He said he doesn’t know yet whether the public will be invited to watch the demolition begin, “but I know many of us can’t wait and would like to be on site to witness it. I’d bring my own sledgehammer if they’d let me.”

He also posted the fencing map outlined below in red.

Once developed, the new Sprayberry Crossing will have 132 senior apartments and 102 townhomes and retail and restaurant space. The cemetery also will remain intact.

But plans for an anchor 34,000-square-foot Lidl grocery store were scuttled when the developer couldn’t come to a traffic agreement with the Sprayberry Bottle Shop, located across from the intersection of Sandy Plains Road and Kinjac Drive.

That’s where Cobb DOT recommended the main entrance to the new development, since there’s a traffic signal there now.

Sprayberry Crossing demolition map

Cobb Comprehensive Plan District 2 meeting set for Thursday

February 22, 2022 8:21 PMFebruary 22, 2022 8:10 AM by Wendy Parker

Cobb 2040 Comprehensive Plan update — *For a larger view of the Cobb Future Land Use Map, click here.*

A virtual meeting to present the 5-year update to the 2040 Cobb Comprehensive Plan will take place on Thursday.

The focus will be on District 2, which includes a part of East Cobb, and is scheduled for 6-8 p.m.

You can view the meeting by clicking here; the meeting number is 2308 013 1067. Participants can also call in toll free at 415-655-0003, with the same access code. 2308 013 1067

Four meetings have been scheduled, and will culminate with an in-person open house on April 14, at a location and time to be announced.

Every five years the state requires local governments to update their long-term planning priorities. The last update in Cobb was in 2017 (you can read it here).

The update covers a wide range of planning topics, including land use, transportation, housing, economic development, community facilities, human services, public health, education, natural and historic resources, public safety, intergovernment coordination, disaster resilience, military compatibility and place-making.

Citizens can also provide feedback to the Cobb Community Development Agency by clicking here to complete this survey today.

For more information on the Comprehensive Plan update, click 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!

Mt. Bethel Christian asks for continuance in site plan revisions

February 11, 2022 3:11 PM by Wendy Parker

Mt. Bethel Christian Academy athletic plans

In December the Cobb Board of Commissioners voted to hold a request by Mt. Bethel Christian Academy to change the site plan for its high school campus on Post Oak Tritt Road.

The private school, associated with Mt. Bethel United Methodist Church, was to have come back in February with revisions for its plans to upgrade athletic facilities.

But Kevin Moore, Mt. Bethel’s attorney, has requested a continuance to March. In a letter sent Tuesday to the Cobb Zoning Office, Moore said his clients need an additional month to continue working on site plan changes “in response to comments from the community.”

Nearby residents and the East Cobb Civic Association have expressed opposition to the proposed changes that would relocate a field house and add add 39 parking spaces for a total of 121.

They complained that the process is rushed, and that the athletic facilities would be placed too close to their property.

Mt. Bethel’s high school campus is located on 33.4 acres on Post Oak Tritt, near the intersection of Holly Springs Road, while the K-8 students attend classes on the main Mt. Bethel campus on Lower Roswell Road.

The full agenda for Tuesday’s hearing can be found here; it will take place at 9 a.m. in the second floor board room of the Cobb government building (100 Cherokee St., downtown Marietta).

A link to the summary agenda can be found here.

The meeting is taking place in-person but there is an option to participate virtually. More details can be found here; and you can sign up to speak by clicking 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.

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!

Virtual meeting slated for Cobb Comprehensive Plan update

January 22, 2022 2:53 PMJanuary 22, 2022 8:51 AM by Wendy Parker

A virtual meeting to present the 5-year update to the 2040 Cobb Comprehensive Plan will take place on Monday.

The meeting, which was to have taken place at the Mountain View Regional Library, is being limited to online participation due to county COVID-19 restrictions.

The first community meeting was cancelled on Jan. 13 due to the current Omicron variant surge.

Monday’s event lasts from 6-8 p.m. and will be conducted via Webex. The signup link can be found by clicking here. The meeting number is 2300 863 0071 and the password is “plan5.”

Participants also can join by telephone at +1-415-655-0003 with an access code of 2300 863 0071.

Every five years the state requires local governments to update their long-term planning priorities. The last update in Cobb was in 2017 (you can read it here).

Among the development issues in the update that’s raised concern is the proposed creation of a Unified Development Code.

The Cobb Community Development Agency has proposed a UDC—which exists in Atlanta, DeKalb County and the city of Roswell— that incorporates zoning, planning and land-use with design, landscaping, architectural and other guidelines.

The agency said on an information page that the changes are needed to “streamline these documents into one combined document that would be more easily accessible to the public, designers, and County staff reviewers.”

But some civic leaders around the county have been critical of UDC, saying it would change the suburban nature of many Cobb communities (see our previous post). One opponent has said it amounts to declaring “war” on the suburbs.

The 2040 Comprehensive Plan update process will take several months, with additional public meetings to be scheduled, and culminating with a vote by the Cobb Board of Commissioners.

A future meeting is slated for the Mountain View Regional Library, with a date to be determined.

There will be an open house at the Cobb Civic Center on April 14.

For more information click 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!

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