East Cobb Zoning & Development Archives

East Cobb Church rezoning goes before Cobb commissioners

August 14, 2021 3:18 PM by Wendy Parker

East Cobb Church rezoning case delauyed

Some minor changes to the site plan and stipulations for North Point Ministries’ rezoning request were submitted this week before Tuesday’s vote before the Cobb Board of Commissioners.

The mixed-use proposal at Johnson Ferry and Shallowford roads for East Cobb Church, residential and retail got a recommendation for approval by the Cobb Planning Commission on Aug. 3.

That vote, which took place on the fourth hearing, included numerous changes by planning board member Tony Waybright, who represents District 2 that includes the JOSH area.

They address residential density, traffic and stormwater issues that have been raised over the last several months, and as the proposal has been revised.

What commissioners will be voting on Tuesday is a 130,000-square foot church and accompanying parking lot, 71 townhomes and 59 single-family detached homes, a small amount of retail space and a public park area that includes a multi-use trail.

The density of the residential would be 5.8 units per acre, something nearby residents and the East Cobb Civic Association say does not fit with a suburban setting.

But Kevin Moore, North Point Ministries’ attorney, has said several times that the JOSH area already is heavily commercialized, and there’s nearby residential that’s just as dense.

The North Point Ministries request is the first major rezoning case in the East Cobb area for District 2 commissioner Jerica Richardson.

While commissioners typically don’t discuss how they may vote on rezoning cases in advance, she is holding a preview of Tuesday’s zoning hearing on her Facebook Live page at 7 p.m. Monday.

Another case in the East Cobb area of note is scheduled for a vote on Tuesday, and it’s drawn opposition from the Bells Ferry Civic Association.

They’re concerned about a parking lot for a 36-acre distribution facility/warehouse proposed by Scannell Properties on Chastain Meadows Parkway south of Chastain Road.

While that may sound mundane, an open letter the civic group is distributing claims that nearby residents “were not informed that these vehicles were fleets of delivery vans” supporting a yet-to-be-built warehouse between Chastain Meadow, Big Shanty Road and I-575.

“Residents ask that the entire plan for the parking lot and the distribution facility be combined in an open and public hearing, so that their concerns could be heard by the Board of Commissioners,” the Bells Ferry Civic Association letter states.

“Area residents would like measures taken to divert the significant influx of van and tractor trailer traffic away from established residential neighborhoods.”

(There’s more on the BFCA website).

Scannell Properties submitted this stipulation letter on Wednesday.

Tuesday’s zoning hearing begins at 9 a.m. in the second floor board room of the Cobb government building, 100 Cherokee St., downtown Marietta. It 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.

Here’s an agenda summary of the hearing, as well as a thumbnail breakdown of each of the cases to be heard. The full packet can be found by clicking here.

Richardson to appoint new member of Cobb Planning Commission

August 5, 2021 7:52 PMAugust 5, 2021 2:56 PM by Wendy Parker

Richardson Cobb Planning Commission appointment

Cobb Commissioner Jerica Richardson is set to announce a new appointment to the Cobb Planning Commission next week, days after her holdover representative steered through a vote on a major rezoning case in East Cobb.

According to Tuesday’s meeting agenda, Richardson will appoint East Cobb resident David Anderson to succeed Tony Waybright.

Waybright had been appointed in March 2020 by former District 2 commissioner Bob Ott, whose time in office ended last December. Planning commissioners, who serve as an advisory board on planning and zoning cases, serve terms running concurrently with the commissioners who appoint them.

According to an agenda item, Anderson would serve through the end of 2024, when Richardson’s term expires.

Anderson is a real estate executive and entrepreneur with a background in commercial real estate investment and development, urban planning and data analytics.

He has been a project manager with the New York City Economic Development Corporation and according to a biographical profile sent by Richardson’s office, “his goals as Planning Commissioner include enhancing the transparency of, engagement with, and usefulness of planning guidelines and data for all stakeholders.” David Anderson, Cobb Planning Commission

Anderson earned a bachelor’s degree in economics from Harvard University and an MBA from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. East Cobb News has contacted Richardson seeking more details.

Anderson would be the fourth person on the five-member Planning Commission to be appointed this year.

They include Deborah Dance, a former Cobb County Attorney who was appointed by Northeast Cobb Commissioner JoAnn Birrell after longtime board member Judy Williams died of COVID-19 in January.

Dance assumed her position just as the Sprayberry Crossing rezoning case went before the Planning Commission. After a third hearing, the board passed her motion in June not to make a recommendation, although county commissioners approved that mixed-use proposal.

Waybright, a civic and school activist in the Smyrna/Vinings area, stayed on when Richardson began her term in January, and as the rezoning application of North Point Ministries at Johnson Ferry and Shallowford roads continued.

They held a virtual town hall meeting in February in which Waybright offered some conceptual changes to the North Point Ministries application for a mixed-use proposal for East Cobb Church, high-density residential, retail space and a community park and multi-use trail.

After full Planning Commission hearings in May, June and July ended with votes to delay, the Planning Commission voted on Tuesday to recommend approval. Cobb commissioners will take action on Aug. 17.

The North Point Ministries rezoning is the first major East Cobb case for Richardson, whose district stretches from the “JOSH” corridor through the Smyrna/Vinings/Cumberland area.

Nearly 60 people turned out in support of the rezoning at Tuesday’s Planning Commission hearing and nearly 30 came in opposition.

In his motion to recommend approval, Waybright made numerous changes, including capping the number of units and density.

Also on Tuesday, commissioners will consider a proposal to make changes to the public comment portion of their meetings. The agenda item is here; and further details are here.

The meeting begins at 9 a.m. in the second floor board room of the Cobb government building, 100 Cherokee St., downtown Marietta, and 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.

East Cobb Church rezoning gets Planning Commission approval

August 3, 2021 1:48 PMAugust 3, 2021 1:17 PM by Wendy Parker

East Cobb Church rezoning held — *Proposed townhomes fronting Johnson Ferry Road would be bounded by a brick wall and a community walking trail.*

The Cobb Planning Commission voted 4-1 Tuesday to recommend approval of a request to build a church and a high-density residential development at Johnson Ferry and Shallowford roads in East Cobb.

The vote came during the fourth presentation by North Point Ministries for its proposed mixed-use development on 33 acres, and after more than an hour of discussion Tuesday morning.

Despite concerted community opposition, based mostly on density and traffic issues, the advisory board signed off on the application, which will go before the Cobb Board of Commissioners for final action on Aug. 17.

North Point Ministries is planning a 130,000-square foot East Cobb Church, a smaller activities building and a parking lot along the Shallowford Road portion of the land, and will sell 22 acres at Johnson Ferry Road and Waterfront Circle to Ashwood Atlanta, a residential developer, for 71 townhomes and 59 single-family detached homes.

(For the proposal submitted by North Point Ministries, there’s a revised site plan that came in last Tuesday and a lengthy new stipulation letter last Wednesday.)

At the hearing Tuesday there were 58 people attending in favor of the request, and 29 opposed.

The residential portion of the project has raised the most concerns, and on Tuesday nearby residents and civic leaders repeated their objections.

They included numerous variances being requested for the homes, which North Point attorney Kevin Moore said were necessary after community pushback against what originally had been 125 townhomes.

Those variances include setbacks, separation between single-family buildings, lot sizes and guest parking.

“There will still be some lot-size variances,” said Planning Commission member Tony Waybright, who represents District 2 in East Cobb where the development would take place. “We’ve got to give a little to get somewhere.”

He also noted that North Point donated right-of-way along Shallowford and Johnson Ferry for a multi-purpose trail that will be open to the community.

“That’s the benefit to the public in return for looking at the variances,” he said, noting that they were a better option than seeking other zoning categories.

Waybright had recommended a fee-simple townhome designation for the townhomes, but North Point kept its request at RA-6, with a proposed density of 5.8 units per acre.

Moore said that’s less than a townhome development behind the Kroger on the southeast corner of Johnson Ferry and Shallowford with six units an acre.

“This is not some isolated suburban neighborhood with single-family homes,” Moore said, saying that 75 percent of the assembled property in the rezoning is bordered by commercial property.

But Ruth Michels, who lives in the adjacent MarLanta subdvisision, countered that while she and her neighbors want the land to be redeveloped, “this is not the right development.”

She said she is concerned that the amount of developable land is unclear because a flood plain study has yet to be done. That process, which would provide an assessment of land in a drained lake, typically comes after a rezoning vote, in what’s called the site plan review stage.

Michels cited what she called a “lack of transparency” in submitting a stipulation letter late Monday.

“What is the real density?” she asked, adding that “it’s impossible to have an accurate picture of how this property is to be developed.”

*A July 27 site plan shows the church at left, townhomes at the top and single-family homes on the bottom.*

Jill Flamm of the East Cobb Civic Association also expressed opposition to the number of variances, a lack of lot-size specifics, no landscape plan, few details on a proposed community park and no sidewalks within the residential areas.

In his motion to recommend approval, Waybright incorporated some of those issues. His conditions would cap density at 129 units and 5.82 units per acre, conceding those figures could go down depending on the results of a flood plain study.

He also said the residential building heights should be no more than 35 feet and no more than two stories (some of the renderings include three stories).

Other stipulations include at least one pavilion and gazebo in the park, streetlights and benches along the multi-purpose trail, sidewalks on at least one side of all internal roads in the residential development and limitations on external lighting, including a ban on floodlights.

Another stipulation Waybright added was to prevent right-turn traffic coming out of the church on Sundays, to keep vehicles out of the nearby neighborhoods.

The only vote against was Planning Commission chairman Fred Beloin, who said while he “liked the look” of the townhomes, wanted to keep the density under 5 units an acre. His motion to cap that figure failed.

Another East Cobb case that was to have been heard Tuesday is being delayed again. The Cobb zoning staff has continued a request by Pulte Homes for a proposed 99-home single-family detached development on nearly 50 acres on Ebenezer Road, between Blackwell Road and Maybreeze Road.

Pulte Homes revised that site plan and submitted a new stipulation letter last week, after questions were raised about density of around 2 units an acre, small lot sizes and a lack of amenities.

That case has been put on the September zoning calendar.

Rezoning redux: East Cobb Church, Ebenezer Road cases resume

July 30, 2021 3:46 PM by Wendy Parker

Tuesday’s Cobb Planning Commission agenda includes a fourth hearing for the East Cobb Church mixed-use proposal on 33 acres Johnson Ferry Road and Shallowford Road and a second hearing for a new single-family development on Ebenezer Road.

Also delayed from recent months is a proposal for a senior subdivision on Sewell Mill Road at East Piedmont Road on land currently owned by the McCleskey Family-East Cobb YMCA.

The five-member planning board, which advises the Cobb Board of Commissioners, voted to hold the first two cases at its July hearing. The third case was delayed at the request of the applicant.

Here’s a summary of what’s on tap Tuesday, and the full 1,280-page agenda packet can be found here.

New filings were made in all three cases this week. For the East Cobb Church proposal submitted by North Point Ministries, there’s a revised site plan that came in on Tuesday and a lengthy new stipulation letter on Wednesday.

The changes are minor. The 130,000-square foot church and retail/office space have generated support, but opposition has generated around the 22 acres that would make up a 129-unit residential development with access off Johnson Ferry via Waterfront Circle.

Plans still call for 71 townhomes and 58 single-family detached homes on property requested for RA-6 zoning.

That request continues, although Planning Commissioner Tony Waybright suggested a fee-simple townhome designation at the July hearing, saying it would provide an ideal medium-density purpose in a community with lower-density residential.

The RA-6 category would allow just under 6 units an acre, density nearby residents and the East Cobb Civic Association said was too urban and incompatible with the area.

Density issues were also raised in July for a proposed 99-home single-family detached development on nearly 50 acres on Ebenezer Road, between Blackwell Road and Maybreeze Road.

Pulte Homes revised that site plan and submitted a new stipulation letter this week, after questions were raised about density of around 2 units an acre, small lot sizes and a lack of amenities.

The Pulte proposal still calls for 99 homes, and the stipulation letter including enlarging some of the lots “to enhance the viewshed along Ebenezer Road” shifting some others and constructing sidewalks within the development.

Under the proposed R-15 OSC zoning category, 17 acres would be held in an open space conservation status.

Orchards Development LLC requested a delay until August for its proposed 17-unit single-family detached senior residential development on 3.59 acres on Sewell Mill Road at East Piedmont Road.

The undeveloped lots, currently owned by the nearby YMCA, would go from low-density residential (R-20) to residential senior-living (RSL). The density would be 4.74 units per acre, similar to an adjacent RA-4 townhome development on Sewell Mill Road.

The Planning Commission meeting begins at 9 a.m. in the second floor board room of the Cobb government building, 100 Cherokee St., downtown Marietta.They 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.

Self-storage facility approved at former Park 12 Cobb site

July 20, 2021 1:09 PMJuly 20, 2021 11:47 AM by Wendy Parker

Park 12 Cobb Cinema, closed East Cobb movie theater

The Cobb Board of Commissioners on Tuesday approved plans to convert the former Park 12 Cobb movie theater in Northeast Cobb into a self-storage facility.

Applications by Stein Investment Group to amend the uses for the general commercial zoning category and for a special land-use plan (required in unincorporated Cobb for self-storage facilities) were included in the commission’s consent agenda.

There was no one in opposition to the request at Tuesday’s meeting.

Several changes were made before passage by Commissioner JoAnn Birrell, including a stipulation that the operating hours would be from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday-Saturday and 1-6 p.m. on Sunday.

Stein has proposed to build 101,190 square feet of self-storage space on 5.81 acres 2925 Gordy Parkway and Shallowford Road. The former cinema building will be renovated, and a second one-story building with 33,785 square feet and a basement will be constructed next to it, according to the application.

The application also calls for a maximum of 10 parking spaces, one more than required.

Additional stipulations were filed last week by Garvis Sams, an attorney for Stein, that include regulations on what can be done during construction, including traffic access, as well as landscaping and architectural details.

The Park 12 Cobb theater closed last fall, more than three years after a community fight to keep it open as a movie theater.

Nearby residents opposed a rezoning case to turn the property into a Lidl grocery store. Some wanted to have movies nearby, and others were concerned about traffic, and the Cobb Board of Commissioners turned down the rezoning request in September 2017.

The cinema owner, Georgia Theatre Company, had expressed a desire at the time to sell the property.

Park 12 Cobb briefly reopened last fall after COVID-19 closures, but GTC made the decision to permanently shutter that cinema as well as others in its Georgia and the southeast region.

East Cobb rezoning hold: Ebenezer Road subdivision proposal

July 20, 2021 11:42 AMJuly 7, 2021 2:04 PM by Wendy Parker

Ebenezer Road zoning case held — *Pulte Homes reduced the size of its proposed subdivision on Ebenezer Road from 112 to 99 homes, but opponents have other concerns about the request.*

The Cobb Planning Commission was in a holding mood Tuesday when it came to the three major cases on its agenda for July.

In addition to the East Cobb Church mixed-use proposal that’s been delayed several months now, the planning board also voted to give another month for a proposed 99-unit residential development on Ebenezer Road.

Pulte Homes had revised its application on Ebenezer Road application seeking an R-15 OSC designation from 112 to 99 homes, on nearly 50 acres of property that would hold 17 acres in an open space conservation category.

The land is located on the western side of Ebenezer Road, between Maybreeze Road and Blackwell Road, in one of the largest remaining undeveloped tracts of land in the East Cobb area.

Rob Hosack, the former Cobb County manager who’s Pulte’s representative, said the proposed density of 2.03 units per acre is consistent with nearby subdivisions, including Blackwell Chase, Dylans Glen and Princeton Grove.

The homes would be a minimum of 2,500 feet and start at $500,000 in what Hosack called a “modern farmhouse” style.

But Chris Lindstrom of the East Cobb Civic Association said that the lot sizes are small—10,000 square feet compared to the minimum of 15,000 for R-15 OSC—and noted a lack of amenities that would be within the development.

Tom Milbeck, a nearby resident, said what Pulte has proposed “isn’t terrible. It needs to be brought up to standard [code] and it needs to be better.”

He recommended the case be held, and planning commissioner Deborah Dance did just that, saying that “I feel the deal has not been made.”

That case will go back on the Planning Commission’s Aug. 3 agenda.

The planning board also ecommended approval of a special land-use permit by Stein Investment Group to convert the former Park 12 Cobb movie theater into a self-storage facility.

That case will be heard by the Cobb Board of Commissioners July 20.

East Cobb Church rezoning held again after more revisions

July 8, 2021 2:20 PMJuly 6, 2021 10:31 AM by Wendy Parker

The Cobb Planning Commission voted Tuesday to hold the East Cobb Church rezoning case after it had a third hearing.

The matter will be taken up again in August at the request of Planning Commission member Tony Waybright, who said that despite improvements in the proposal in some areas, there are still concerns about the residential portion of the development.

He urged the applicant, North Point Ministries, to incorporate continuing concerns over traffic, density, setbacks, buffers and other proposed variances after a new site plan and stipulation letter were submitted last week.

Those changes include a proposal for the RA-6 category to accommodate 71 townhomes and 58 single-family detached homes.

But the request comes with variances that nearby residents and civic leaders said are too many, are not in line with the suburban nature of the area and do not meet Cobb County Code.

The detached homes are three stories, and the applicant is requesting reductions in front and back setbacks, and is proposing the distance between homes be reduced from the minimum 15 feet to 8 feet.

The intensity of the development, said Jill Flamm of the East Cobb Civic Association, “is out of character with this community and belongs in an urban setting.”

She also noted that there’s not a sidewalk proposed for the community because there isn’t room.

The residential portion of the 33-acre proposal at Johnson Ferry and Shallowford roads has been the subject of most of the opposition.

North Point would purchase the full assemblage of properties, keeping roughly 10 acres for East Cobb Church and selling most of the rest of the land to Ashwood, an Atlanta-based residential developer.

A resident of nearby Chimney Lakes told the Planning Commission he’s not opposed to a church, but the residential proposal, saying that even the single-family detached homes are more like “townhomes, just detached.”

The revised site plan includes a multi-purpose trail that would surround the proposed 130,000-square foot church lining Shallowford Road, and North Point also has included a park into the revisions that would be available to the larger community.

Kevin Moore, North Point’s attorney, said his client has gone far beyond what’s called for in the JOSH Master Plan to create “a sense of place,” and that the latest revisions “reflect the community of which [the church] is a part.”

The plans also called for reworking Waterfront Circle, an access point for a nearby subdivision, to align with a traffic signal on Johnson Ferry.

There were 41 people in attendance in support of the rezoning request and 27 in opposition, including a speaker who said the proposal would “urbanize East Cobb. That is not what we want.”

Waybright suggested the RA-6 category be revised to fee-simple townhomes, a medium-density zoning which would “provide a stepdown” from lower-density residential homes in the adjacent MarLanta subdivision.

The Planning Commission also was hearing on Tuesday two other major requests in East Cobb. One is for a 99-home residential development on Ebenezer Road that’s drawn community opposition.

The other would convert the closed Park 12 Cobb movie theater at Gordy Parkway and Shallowford Road into a self-storage facility.

East Cobb Church rezoning gets Planning Commission rehearing

July 5, 2021 3:02 PMJuly 5, 2021 1:00 PM by Wendy Parker

East Cobb Church rezoning case delauyed — *A rendering of the proposed East Cobb Church from Shallowford Road.*

A reminder that the East Cobb Church rezoning case that’s been delayed several times is getting another hearing Tuesday by the Cobb Planning Commission, which also is hearing a couple of other cases of interest in East Cobb.

The church-residential-retail mixed-use proposal at Johnson Ferry and Shallowford roads has been revised again, with another site plan and stipulation letter submitted last week.

The church leaders have launched a website with related details, including traffic and density figures that have concerned opponents.

The holdup from the Planning Commission stems from those factors and others, and the continuance until July was for the developer to make design changes.

The 33 acres would include a 130,000-square foot church building and parking lot, 58 single-family detached homes, 71 townhomes and a small amount of retail.

A 99-unit single-family detached subdivision proposal on Ebenezer Road will get its first hearing, and it’s also been delayed and changed.

Pulte Homes originally had proposed 112 homes on nearly 50 undeveloped acres between Maybreeze Road and Blackwell Road. A revised site plan was submitted last week, as was a stipulation letter outlining the changes.

Also held over from June is a proposed conversion of the closed Park 12 Cobb movie theater into a storage facility.

Stein Investment Group is seeking a special land-use permit for the property on Gordy Parkway at Shallowford Road, which has been dormant since the theater closed last year.

The Cobb Zoning Staff is recommending approval of all three applications.

The Planning Commission makes recommendations to the Cobb Board of Commissioners. Here’s a summary agenda of Tuesday’s meeting, and more details here, as well as the full agenda.

The meeting starts at 9 a.m. in the 2nd floor board room of the Cobb government building, 100 Cherokee St., in downtown Marietta.

There’s no more virtual participation; those wishing to speak must attend in person.

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

Cobb commissioners approve Sprayberry Crossing rezoning

June 19, 2021 11:00 PMJune 15, 2021 11:41 AM by Wendy Parker

Sprayberry Crossing rezoning approved

By a 4-1 vote Tuesday, the Cobb Board of Commissioners approved the long-awaited redevelopment of the Sprayberry Crossing Shopping Center.

The proposal by Atlantic Realty Acquisitions LLC would convert a blighted retail center into a mixed-use residential and retail development that drew as much opposition as support in a community eager for its redevelopment.

That was the conclusion of District 3 commissioner JoAnn Birrell, who said during a lengthy explanation for her motion to approve that while the plan isn’t perfect, “no plan is perfect.”

Most of the concerns expressed at Tuesday’s zoning hearing concerned traffic issues, especially the development’s main access point on Sandy Plains Road at Kinjac Drive.

The developer had been negotiating with the owner of the Sprayberry Bottle Shop to use part of that store’s parking lot for an entrance.

But those discussions came to an impasse, and on Friday Atlantic Realty filed a new site plan (see below) and a traffic route (shown in the map above) for an offset traffic signal that would contain traffic stacking or backup internally within Sprayberry Crossing.

Commissioner Keli Gambrill of North Cobb was the only vote against, citing the number of parking spaces being below county code.

Her comments drew applause from opponents attending the zoning hearing in person, and after the vote, and a 90-minute discussion, they vocally thanked her for her vote.

Sprayberry Crossing rezoning approved — *Atlantic Realty’s site plan filed Friday. For a larger view **click here**.*

The Sprayberry Crossing development calls for 132 senior apartments (ages 55 and older), 102 fee-simple town homes and a 34,000-square-foot grocery store.

In presenting his clients’ case to the commissioners for the first time, Atlantic Realty attorney Kevin Moore said Sprayberry Crossing has been “an anvil around the neck of this community” that has been on the county’s redevelopment list since 2013.

Rejecting Atlantic Realty’s proposal, he said, would “condemn this site and this property” to many more years of blight.

But opponents said the development would add more traffic to an already congested corridor of East Cobb.

Maureen Ritner of the Ashbury Point neighborhood said the redevelopment would add 3,500 trips a day to a portion of Sandy Plains Road—between East Piedmont Road and Post Oak Tritt Road—that averages more than 41,000 trips a day.

“That’s a comparison to Barrett Parkway,” she said.

Cobb DOT says that also level of service is an “F.”

Tony Raffa, who operates a McDonald’s on Sandy Plains at Post Oak Tritt, said he’s against a Cobb DOT recommendation to prevent a left-our traffic turn from a Sprayberry Crossing access point onto Post Oak Tritt.

DOT officials explained that’s a necessary safety measure because of the Sandy Plains-Kinjac offset signal, and Birrell agreed.

In her presentation, Birrell said that anything developed at Sprayberry Crossing is going to increase traffic.

“Sprayberry Crossing has been an eyesore for 25 years,” she said, adding that she’s been working on the matter during her 10-year tenure as a commissioner. “There have been numerous attempts to redevelop this in the past” but none have come to fruition.

She noted that “the obstacles to this are very challenging.”

In 2019, a judged imposed the first “blight tax” ruling in the county on Sprayberry Crossing, which was built in the 1970s but has sat largely vacant for many years.

During its decay, Sprayberry Crossing was the subject of numerous complaints made to police and code enforcement.

Birrell entered into the record details of those incidents, which she said included 127 calls to police from June 2016 to this May. Since 2004, she said, there have been 391 complaints to Cobb code enforcement staff.

Atlantic Realty’s request was made under what’s called a Redevelopment Overlay District, which is considered separate from typical zoning requests.

There are several stipulations, including that a rezoning on such property is not considered to set a precedent for the area.

ROD was enacted in 2006, but Sprayberry Crossing is the first case to be requested under that category.

Birrell prompted it to be removed from the zoning code during recent code amendments, saying Tuesday that “to me it’s flawed.”

She also said she was against multi-family apartments that were part of the initial Sprayberry Crossing request and were dropped from the site plan in March.

Some opponents of Sprayberry Crossing, in addition to being opposed to market-rate apartments, also feared loopholes for senior apartments could be exploited to rent to the general public.

The Cobb County Attorney’s office has concluded that cannot happen.

“They will remain 55 and older age restricted,” Birrell said. “Our attorneys know the law. I’m relying on our expert staff and attorneys for this one.”

In a message to the Sprayberry Crossing Action Facebook group, local resident Joe Glancy, who’s led a citizen effort to redevelop the shopping center, said he’s expecting more traffic and other changes to be made as the site plan goes to final review.

Birrell read off a number of stipulations that include her approval of a traffic plan and townhome design elevations.

“The developer has cleared a major hurdle, but this is not the end of the process,” Glancy said. “I believe there will be further revisions to the access/egress point near Kinjac Rd (Sprayberry Bottle Shop), and possibly Post Oak Tritt as well.”

Residents divided as Sprayberry Crossing rezoning vote looms

June 12, 2021 4:20 PMJune 12, 2021 3:30 PM by Wendy Parker

Sprayberry Crossing revisions — *Some residents living near Sprayberry Crossing say multi-family housing, even for seniors only, is not appropriate for their community.*

It’s been more than three years since residents pushing for a redevelopment of the Sprayberry Crossing Shopping Center organized a town hall meeting to press county officials to address the long-standing blight in their community.

The sentiment was nearly unanimous on that March evening at Sprayberry High School that the eyesore taking up a corner of Sandy Plains Road and East Piedmont Road needed an overhaul.

Two years later, an Atlanta apartment developer filed a rezoning request to do just that, proposing to convert Sprayberry Crossing into a multi-use development with apartments, town homes, a major grocery store, retail space and community trails.

Over the last year, Atlantic Realty Acquisitions LLC has made numerous site plan changes, especially as opposition grew to apartment dwellings.

Before the May Cobb Planning Commission hearing, Atlantic Realty dropped market-rate apartments altogether, but kept senior living (55 and older) in their plans.

That hasn’t been enough to appease opponents who fear the developer could convert senior-living apartments to market-rate apartments, and who also have concerns over traffic.

Those issues were addressed earlier this month by the Planning Commission, which issued a stunning no-recommendation on whether the Sprayberry Crossing rezoning should be approved or not.

That’s where the matter stands as the Cobb Board of Commissioners is scheduled to take up the case on Tuesday.

The latest Sprayberry Crossing site plan, filed in late May, reduces the number of senior apartments to 132 and increases the number of townhomes to 102.

The divisions among some residents who’ve organized for and against the Sprayberry Crossing plan run deep, and after the Planning Commission vote East Cobb News contacted parties on both sides for their perspectives.

*Sprayberry Crossing opponents have crafted t-shirts to fight the rezoning case.*

Tim Carini is among the vocal opponents of the Sprayberry Crossing request, whom Atlantic Realty attorney Kevin Moore has described as being part of a “mob” to derail what he says is a badly needed redevelopment in the area.

Carini and others have proudly worn “Rod Mob” t-shirts (the case number for Sprayberry Crossing is ROD-1, which stands for Redevelopment Overlay District).

He said the Planning Commission vote is “a disservice to the community and residents of Cobb County, especially with the way it was done and the timing.”

There were only three of the five Planning Commission members in attendance at the June 1 meeting, and Carini says he has been told by a County official that Planning Commissioner Deborah Dance and “[Cobb] Commissioner [JoAnn] Birrell are hellbent on getting this passed.”

He says the site plan doesn’t conform to the ROD code, and “now the County is throwing out significant portions of the ROD code to get this to pass. It’s now zoning at will in Cobb County, and it’s clear it’s at will for the developers and not the community, taxpayer, or voters.”

Moore said at the June 1 meeting that his client wants a vote, saying that contracts with the property owner and Lidl, the prospective grocery retailer, are nearing an end.

“If this was so time sensitive, why did the applicant continue this case for seven months?” Carini said. “Now, with known and publicly criticized traffic and safety concerns from the Planning Commission, this is urgent and had to be pushed through on a Tuesday after a holiday without a full Planning Commission Board.”

Carini and other opponents have created a Facebook page and are pressing for a big turnout at Tuesday’s commission meeting.

*Residents demanded county action at the blighted Sprayberry Corners Shopping Center during a 2018 town hall.*

One of the leaders of a group of citizens who’ve wanted to clean up Sprayberry Crossing for years is optimistic about Tuesday’s vote.

Shane Spink is a facilitator of the Sprayberry Crossing Action group and has said those in opposition may be vocal, but he thinks they’re a vocal minority.

He said the Sprayberry Crossing case “has basically come down to a traffic/in and out of the property issue that I think should be able to be resolved because frankly, these issues would exist with any development that goes into this particular property.”

Spink noted that Atlantic Realty has worked extensively with the community “to try to meet all of their concerns and demands, including dropping an apartment building and adding more for sale townhomes. So to think it comes down to just an ingress/egress issue is pretty amazing.”

He said his impressions speaking with others in the community—the Sprayberry Crossing Action group has more than 6,000 members—as well as other citizens and business owners in the area is that “the majority of the folks want to see this development go through and are ready for 25 years of blight to finally be over with.

“They want to have a quality development go in and continue the improvement of the Sprayberry area right along with the rebuild of the high school. And look, some opposition will always be there, but in this case I don’t believe they, from what I have seen, reflect the overall sentiment of the community.”

The Cobb Commission rezoning hearing begins at 9 a.m. Tuesday. There will be limited in-person attendance due to COVID-19 protocols, but the hearing will be aired on the Cobb County government’s Facebook and YouTube pages, as well as on the CobbTV public access outlet, Channel 23 on Comcast.

*Most portions of the Sprayberry Crossing Shopping Center have sat in disrepair for years.*

Planning Commission punts on Sprayberry Crossing rezoning

June 1, 2021 11:41 AM by Wendy Parker

After hearing the complicated Sprayberry Crossing rezoning case for the third month in a row, the Cobb Planning Commission decided on Tuesday to make no recommendation about whether rezoning should be approved or denied.

After hearing the latest site plan revisions and being briefed about last-minute meetings to create a signalized main entrance to the proposed mixed-use development on Sandy Plains Road, the three members of the planning board who were in attendance voted unanimously not to forward a recommendation to approve or deny.

Instead, the Cobb Board of Commissioners will be asked to make a final decision on June 15 with a number of issues pending, including traffic concerns that were the focal point of questions by planning commissioners.

While saying that “everyone ought to be commended for the great attention that’s been shown to this matter,” planning commissioner Deborah Dance said that “challenges remain.”

Yet “time is of the essence and there is a time for taking action,” she noted, in reference to comments by Kevin Moore, the attorney for the developer, Atlantic Reality Acquisitions LLC, that his client wants no further delays in rezoning decisions.

The redevelopment proposal for the blighted shopping center on Sandy Plains Road, between East Piedmont Road and Post Oak Tritt Road, has been underway for nearly two years by Atlantic Realty Acquisitions, LLC.

Atlantic Realty, an Atlanta-based apartment builder, has revised the site plan several times for more than a year.

In what went before the planning commission Tuesday, the developer would build a senior apartment building, townhomes and a retail grocery center on property that’s been the site of a run-down shopping center.

The latest Sprayberry Crossing site plan, filed last week, reduces the number of senior apartments to 132 and increases the number of townhomes to 102.

It was the latest attempt by the developer to alleviate community opposition to rental residential units, after Atlantic Realty dropped plans in April to build a market-rate apartment building.

“There could not be a greater candidate for redevelopment” than the Sprayberry Crossing property, Moore said, while acknowledging that his client’s proposal “does have some challenges.”

On Friday, the developer met with Brij Patel, owner of the Sprayberry Bottle Shop, which sits on an outparcel along Sandy Plains across from Kinjac Drive, where the main entrance would be located.

In order to align the traffic signal at Kinjac into Sprayberry Crossing, the developer is proposing to cut through what’s now the front parking lot of the liquor store and relocate parking to the other side of the building.

Moore and Shaun Adams, an attorney for the liquor store, said they’re confident they can continue discussions before county commissioners meet in two weeks.

Other traffic access challenges include Post Oak Tritt Road, and planning commissioner Fred Beloin fretted that Atlantic Realty hadn’t done much to address it.

“The applicant doesn’t want to spend any money to fix the problem on Post Oak Tritt,” he said, referencing a Cobb DOT recommendation to provide right-out-only access from Sprayberry Crossing.

While he said his preference would be to hold the case again, Beloin, serving in his first meeting as chairman, voted for Dance’s motion.

Planning commissioners Tony Waybright and Michael Hughes, appointed last week, were not in attendance.

East Cobb Church rezoning request put on hold until July

May 29, 2021 2:57 PMMay 29, 2021 11:49 AM by Wendy Parker

Another last-minute request for a major rezoning case before next Tuesday’s Cobb Planning Commission meeting involves North Point Ministries.

The Atlanta-based religious organization wants another month to finalize design changes for its proposed East Cobb Church-townhomes-retail multi-use development at the southwest corner of Shallowford and Johnson Ferry roads.

Kevin Moore, an attorney for North Point Ministries, asked for the request on Wednesday, the deadline for cases to be automatically continued without a vote of the planning board.

The applicant has also filed a new site plan (above, click here for a larger view) with the Shallowford-Johnson Ferry intersection in the top left.

In his letter, Moore said another month was needed due to the “detailed nature” of the design updates, and that the extra time “will allow circulation of these designs to the community well in advance of a public hearing.”

The North Point request has twice been heard by the Planning Commission, which has voted to hold the case both times.

Planning commissioner Tony Waybright said in April that he was concerned about proposed high-density housing when the JOSH Master Plan calls for medium density residential as a transition between commercial zoning and low-density residential in the surrounding community.

The new site plan has 70 townhomes and 59 single-family detached homes. The revised Cobb Zoning Staff analysis submitted April 26 indicates density levels of nearly 6 units an acre.

Also delayed until July is a request to turn the former Park 12 Cobb movie theater into a self-storage facility, more than four years after community opposition shot down a proposed Lidl grocery store on the site at Gordy Parkway and Shallowford Road.

As we noted earlier this week, the Sprayberry Crossing rezoning request, also held for the last two months by the Planning Commission, remains on Tuesday’s agenda, and some more changes were submitted after a community meeting.

The number of senior units have been dropped by 40 to 132 and 102 townhomes are in a revised site plan, up 40 from the April hearing.

The Planning Commission meeting is at 9 a.m. Tuesday and it has a loaded agenda.

In-person seating will be limited due to social distancing protocols, but there also will be commenting for those watching online. They can sign up to speak by clicking here.

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

More Sprayberry Crossing changes made after community meeting

May 27, 2021 2:28 PM by Wendy Parker

Just days before a third hearing before the Cobb Planning Commission, the developer of the proposed Sprayberry Crossing mixed-use project has revised the site plan again and made other changes.

Atlantic Realty Acquisitions submitted the changes with the Cobb Zoning Office after a meeting on Tuesday arranged by Cobb Commissioner JoAnn Birrell that involved the developer, county staff, and citizens both for and against the rezoning request.

The Cobb Planning Commission is scheduled to hear the request again on Tuesday, June 1.

The senior apartment building would have 132 units, which is 40 less than what was presented in May, and it would be reduced from five to three stories.

The new plans call for 102 townhomes and a maximum of 34,000 square feet of retail and commercial space. Here’s the new site plan that was submitted Wednesday, and the developer’s latest tipulation letter.

Traffic issues have also been a major concern, in particular the main entrance to Sprayberry Crossing on Sandy Plains Road, and attempts to align it with a traffic light at Kinjac Drive.

Here’s what Cobb DOT is recommending, noting that a final traffic study revision was submitted on May 20.

Sprayberry Crossing site plan — *For a larger view of the latest site plan **click here**.*

Not all of those new documents were available for the Tuesday meeting, according to resident Tim Carini, who’s led opposition to the project, mostly for traffic reasons as well as the apartments.

He reiterated that one reason he’s still opposed to senior apartments is a federal housing law that says age-restricted facilities that fall below 80 percent of the units occupied by that designated age group (Sprayberry Crossing would have 55 and up) lose that exemption.

“Once that happens the apartments become open to all ages,” Carini said in a message to a Facebook group opposed to the Sprayberry Crossing rezoning. That group has several hundred members, many of them proud to have been called part of a “mob” fighting the case by Atlantic Realty’s attorney.

The county disputes that interpretation, but Carini insists that “we are just a few steps away from having apartments in East Cobb that could become low income and open to all ages at some point in the future.”

The townhome units originally numbered 44 and were raised to 62 after another apartment building was dropped in April. The 102 units now being proposed would be at least 2,000 square feet and no more than 10 percent could be rented at any given time.

The Sprayberry Crossing Action Facebook group, which organized several years ago to push for redevelopment of the blighted shopping center, was also posting updated information for its nearly 6,000 members.

Group leader Shane Spink, who’s been one of the group’s leaders said “hope to see this resolved by Tuesday.”

The Planning Commission meeting is at 9 a.m. Tuesday, it’s a loaded agenda that includes another hearing for the delayed East Cobb Church-townhome proposal in the Johnson Ferry-Shallowford area.

In-person seating will be limited due to social distancing protocols, but there also will be commenting for those watching online. They can sign up to speak by clicking here.

Sprayberry Crossing townhomes — *The Sprayberry Crossing proposal now calls for 102 for-sale townhomes.*

Storage facility proposed for closed East Cobb movie theater

May 24, 2021 5:36 PM by Wendy Parker

Park 12 Cobb Cinema, closed East Cobb movie theater

A developer who is seeking to convert the former Park 12 Cobb Cinema in East Cobb into a storage facility wants some additional time to prepare its case.

On Monday, Stein Investment Group sent a letter to the Cobb Zoning Office seeking a delay in the proposal’s initial hearings to July.

Stein’s request for a special-land use permit is listed on the Cobb Planning Commission agenda for next Tuesday, June 1.

The zoning staff has recommended approval with some conditions. but Garvis Sams, an attorney for Stein, wrote in the letter that the delay is needed “in order to fully complete all tasks with which are charged.”

He wasn’t more specific than that.

In addition to a SLUP (site plan here), which is required for self-storage facilities in unincorporated Cobb, Stein also is amending a previous zoning decision for the general commercial category that had been approved for the theater.

The SLUP would be heard by the Planning Commission on July 6, and the “Other Business” item would be heard by Cobb commissioners on July 16.

Park 12 Cobb closed at the end of 2020, more than three years after a community fight to keep it open as a movie theater.

Nearby residents opposed a rezoning case to turn the property on Gordy Parkway at Shallowford Road into a Lidl grocery store. Some wanted to have movies nearby, and others were concerned about traffic, and the Cobb Board of Commissioners turned down the rezoning request in September 2017.

At the time, Lidl attorney Parks Huff said that “this is not a difficult decision. This is technically a property rights issue and needs to be approved.”

The cinema owner, Georgia Theatre Company, had expressed a desire at the time to sell the property.

Park 12 Cobb briefly reopened last fall after COVID-19 closures, but GTC made the decision to permanently shutter that cinema as well as others in its Georgia and the southeast region.

Another self-storage facility sits nearby, as part of the Sandy Plains MarketPlace retail center on the former site of Mountain View Elementary School.

Meanwhile, a Lidl store not far down in the Sandy Plains Road corridor would anchor the proposed Sprayberry Crossing redevelopment, that’s slated to be heard yet again by the planning board in June.

The Planning Commission voted to hold the case for further traffic details after a second full hearing in as many months.

The East Cobb Church proposed mixed-use development also was delayed to June.

The full agenda for next Tuesday’s Planning Commission meeting can be found here.

It begins at 9 a.m. in the 2nd floor board room of the Cobb government building, 100 Cherokee St., downtown Marietta.

There will be limited in-person seating due to social distancing protocols, but the meeting will be live-streamed on the county’s Facebook Live and YouTube channels and on Cobb TV 23 on Comcast Cable.

Sprayberry Crossing, East Cobb Church rezonings held again

May 4, 2021 1:00 PM by Wendy Parker

Sprayberry Crossing rendering

For the second month in a row, the Cobb Planning Commission has voted to hold two complex redevelopment cases in East Cobb, saying the proposals are improved but have not resolved issues over density, traffic and land use.

By unanimous 5-0 votes Tuesday, the Planning Commission is delaying the Sprayberry Crossing and East Cobb Church proposals until June, after last-minute revisions were submitted by the applicants last week.

Concerns by Cobb DOT over traffic changes at the Sprayberry Crossing proposal on Sandy Plains Road were enough for Planning Commissioner Deborah Dance and her colleagues to support another delay.

Atlantic Realty, which wants to redevelop the current blighted retail center on Sandy Plains between East Piedmont Road and Post Oak Tritt Road, dropped a proposed 125-unit apartment building for townhomes but is keeping a senior apartment building and grocery space.

The traffic changes include a proposed “offset” traffic signal into the development on Sandy Plains that would not align with the nearby Kinjac Drive intersection.

“Access is the No. 1 issue here,” planning board chairman Galt Porter said at the end of a discussion that lasted more than an hour. He also said the layout of the newly added townhomes “leaves a lot to be desired—it looks like a bowling alley.”

Porter also said making the senior apartment building—for renters ages 55 and up—from three to four stories, reflecting an increase from 125 to 172 units, is an issue.

Before that case, planning commissioners said plans by North Point Ministries for a campus of the new East Cobb Church, single-family homes and townhomes and retail at the intersection of Johnson Ferry Road and Shallowford Road are improved from the first hearing in April, but still need work.

Tony Waybright, who represents that area of East Cobb on the planning commission, said he was concerned about proposed high-density housing when the JOSH Master Plan calls for medium density residential as a transition between commercial zoning and low-density residential in the surrounding community.

“I don’t see a reason to go above” the master plan’s medium-density guidelines, he said in making his motion for another delay. The developer has not explained any hardship in making a request for high-density.

“This plan deserves a little more time,” Waybright said.

This story will be updated.

Sprayberry Crossing proposal drops apartments for townhomes

May 2, 2021 3:55 PM by Wendy Parker

Just a few days before going back before the Cobb Planning Commission, the Sprayberry Crossing developer has produced another new site plan, and it’s a major change.

Atlantic Realty is dropping plans for a 125-unit apartment building as part of the mixed-use redevelopment and is adding 62 townhomes to the 44 previously proposed.

A senior apartment building that originally called for 125 units now is proposing 172 units.

While keeping 34,000 square feet for a grocery store, the new site plan also has eliminated other retail space and green space.

The Cobb Planning Commission, an advisory body to the Cobb Board of Commissioners, voted in April to hold the application for a month. Kevin Moore, an attorney for Sprayberry Crossing, also submitted a new stipulation letter on Wednesday.

Reaction to the last-minute revisions have been mixed on social media channels devoted to the Sprayberry Crossing redevelopment issue.

Joe Glancy, creator of the Sprayberry Crossing Action Facebook page, said he’s been told “the developer made this change because they were told by Commissioner [JoAnn] Birrell last week that she would not approve the apartments.”

Participants on another Facebook group, ROD-1 Residents Against Apartments at Sprayberry Crossing (named after the zoning application number) said they’re still opposed because of the senior apartments, as well as for traffic and density concerns.

Tim Carini, a leader of that group, told East Cobb News “the new site plan still has apartments, and several other unresolved items, so we will be speaking on Tuesday.”

At the April Planning Commission meeting, Deborah Dance, Birrell’s new appointee, asked Moore if the developer would be “open to [consider] more ownership opportunities” instead of rental units.

She also said she had been getting slightly more messages opposed to the previous site plan than those in favor.

The Sprayberry Crossing case is one of two major applications in East Cobb to be held to Tuesday’s meeting.

The other, involving North Point Ministries’ request for East Cobb Church and residences at the Johnson Ferry-Shallowford intersection, also has a new site plan that was submitted last week.

That includes 59 single-family homes and 72 townhomes.

The Tuesday Cobb Planning Commission meeting begins at 9 a.m. and can be seen on CobbTV, the county’s government access channel, as well as its Facebook and YouTube channels, and on Comcast Channel 24.

The full agenda and individual items can be found by clicking here.

East Cobb Church launches ‘Revitalize JOSH’ rezoning campaign

April 23, 2021 4:45 PMApril 21, 2021 4:00 PM by Wendy Parker

East Cobb Church Revitalize JOSH — *A new rendering of the proposed East Cobb Church parking area includes greenery fronting Shallowford Road.*

With its rezoning case held until May, East Cobb Church has launched a new website to advocate for its redevelopment plans that have changed yet again.

“Revitalize JOSH” is the name of the renewed effort supporting plans for a church, residential and retail complex at the southwest corner of Johnson Ferry and Shallowford roads.

The Cobb Planning Commission voted to hold the case until its May 4 meeting. The new proposal alters the residential mix. Initially most units were to have been townhomes, but they’re now with 55 percent of the 110 units, with the other 45 percent being single-family detached homes bordering an adjacent subdivision.

East Cobb Church is planning to sell the residential portion of the 33-acre tract to a developer if the rezoning is approved, and both entities would work together to create community space that includes a park on Shallowford Road, greenspace around a proposed creek where a lake once stood, and jogging trails to connect the adjoining Marlanta neighborhood.

There’s also a parking deck and area for 900 spots, which East Cobb Church says will be mostly below street level (rendering at top of this post) and will be shielded by a wall and greenery.

At the April Planning Commission meeting, several nearby residents objected to density and traffic issues, and commission members voted to delay for more updated information.

The new website has outlines of those plans along with renderings and links to a traffic study, but as of yet there’s nothing new in the Cobb Zoning Office files.

Kevin Moore, an attorney for the applicant, said through a spokeswoman for the East Cobb Church plans that a new site plan was submitted on Tuesday.

Marietta City Council denies Powers Ferry rezoning requests

April 15, 2021 2:39 PMApril 15, 2021 8:28 AM by Wendy Parker

After months of delays and a torrent of opposition from nearby residents, the Marietta City Council on Wednesday quickly nixed two proposed redevelopment projects in the Powers Ferry Road with little discussion.

By unanimous 7-0 votes, the council rejected rezoning requests by Nexus Gardens and Nexus Marietta for a mixed-use and housing developments, respectively, along either side of the South Marietta Parkway.

The projects would have been built by Macauley Investments, an Atlanta developer, on assembled land parcels owned by real estate investor Ruben McMullan and his related interests.

Several times the rezoning requests were tabled or otherwise delayed, including last month, after the Marietta Planning Commission voted to recommend denial.

Residents who turned out for the meeting implored the council beforehand to reject the rezonings, saying they’re too dense, provide access through their narrow neighborhood streets and will devastate their quality of life.

The Nexus Gardens project, according to Anna Holladay, a resident of nearby Virginia Place, “will ruin the lives of everyone in this neighborhood.”

Cloverdale Heights resident Brian Peters, who lives near the proposed Laurel Park residential project, said he moved from Buckhead a decade ago to to escape “runaway development” and was aghast he was fighting it in Marietta.

“We’ve had enough,” Peters said, referring to the constant delays in the rezoning case. “We’re pushing back. End of story.”

Before Wednesday’s council meeting, Kevin Moore, an attorney for both projects, submitted a revised plan for Laurel Park, scaling down what had been a mainly townhome project of 204 units to 134 units, with 84 townhomes and 50 single-family homes.

He said the Loop corridor between Roswell Road and Interstate 75 hasn’t seen new development in 50 years. The Nexus Gardens project, Moore said, is an opportunity that “would be fantastic for the city and fantastic for the nearby community.”

In addition to the density of the Nexus Marietta project—two five-story apartment buildings totalling 280 units served by a three-story parking deck, a five-story senior-living building with 160 units, 39 townhomes and restaurants and retail space—nearby residents in unincorporated Cobb objected to a single point of access, along Meadowbrook Lane.

City council members were unconvinced of Moore’s claim. Michelle Cooper-Kelly, whose district includes the Nexus Gardens land, told residents that “you guys came together as a community. You’re doing exactly what democracy is designed to do.”

After acknowledging the heavy amount of e-mails she received about that rezoning case, Cooper-Kelly said that “I don’t think this project is right for this community.”

She made a motion to deny the request, and the vote was unanimous with no further discussion.

Council member Joseph Goldstein, whose district includes the Laurel Park property, said even less, commenting that the rezoning proposal was inappropriate” as he made a motion for denial.

None of his other colleagues offered comments before the vote.

After first hearing, Sprayberry Crossing rezoning held again

April 15, 2021 2:39 PMApril 6, 2021 3:27 PM by Wendy Parker

East Cobb zoning changes

The Cobb Planning Commission is holding both of the major East Cobb redevelopment cases on that were on its rezoning agenda in April.

Not long after voting to delay the East Cobb Church mixed-used project at Johnson Ferry and Shallowford, the planning board voted to do the same thing for Sprayberry Crossing.

Both got their first hearings Tuesday after many months of delays and continuances. They’re tentatively scheduled to go back before the Planning Commission in May, but numerous questions remain, and plenty of opposition surfaced during lengthy presentations.

The Sprayberry Crossing case took up two hours before the Planning Commission, which voted 5-0 to get more updated information for its May meeting.

In making a motion to hold the request by Atlantic Realty for apartments, townhomes, a grocery store and retail and greenspace at Sandy Plains and East Piedmont, planning commissioner Deborah Dance said “it’s hard to mesh all the information that’s coming in at once.”

She referred to a late traffic study that was submitted by the developed on March 31, and comments on them by Cobb DOT that were made only Monday.

Traffic issues include a signalization at Sandy Plains at Kinjac Drive, the main access point for the proposed development, and creating a median at Post Oak Tritt Road to limit access into and out of the project.

Other concerns are over stormwater and water and sewer issues.

Perhaps the most divisive issue, however, is the proposal for apartments. Atlantic Realty is an Atlanta-based developer of upscale apartments, but opponents of the Sprayberry Crossing plans said Tuesday they’re convinced multi-family housing will hurt a community dominated by single-family neighbornoods.

Its proposal includes 125 apartments, 125 senior apartments and 44 townhomes.

Craig Blafer, who lives near Sprayberry Crossing, said that “we think this builder is building badly. This is not the right plan for the property. We can do better.”

Apartments, resident David Stafford said, would attract “transient, lower-income individuals who would bring crime and other problems” to the area.

“This is not the East-West Connector,” he said. “This is Sandy Plans and East Piedmont.”

Kevin Moore, an attorney for Atlantic Realty, was asked by Dance to address that point.

“I don’t believe that to be the case at all,” he said, adding that most of the apartments would be one-bedroom units starting at $1,400 a month.

Atlantic Realty also has asked in its rezoning request to waive a requirement for the redevelopment category it is seeking to earmark 10 percent of residential units for affordable housing purposes.

In his initial presentation Tuesday, Moore said that after a two-year-long process of working with the community, his client has worked to produce a plan with “meaningful” components, including what would be a Lidl grocery store, to make redevelopment on the property successful.

Some residents who have long wanted to see the existing blighted shopping center redeveloped concurred.

Sally Platt, president of the Autumn Ridge homeowners association, said while not everything is perfect about Atlantic Realty’s request, “it’s a wonderful compromise” and that outstanding issues are “not deal-breakers.”

Sprayberry Crossing, Moore said, needs to be redeveloped “badly.” He later said that after nearly two decades of sitting as an eyesore, this may be the last chance to do something about it.

“If we miss this opportunity, we miss it,” Moore said emphatically. “I can’t imagine missing this.”

But Dance, a former Cobb County Attorney who was appointed by Commissioner JoAnn Birrell in January, said that she’s received 145 e-mails in favor of the rezoning and 165 against, with more petitions coming in.

She also asked Moore if the developer would be “open to [consider] more ownership opportunities” instead of rental units.

Cobb Planning Commission holds East Cobb Church rezoning

April 7, 2021 1:34 PMApril 6, 2021 1:24 PM by Wendy Parker

East Cobb Church site plan

The Cobb Planning Commission on Tuesday voted to hold a mixed-use development anchored by the proposed East Cobb Church for a month, saying it lacks critical information to make a decision.

The advisory board on county rezoning cases voted 5-0 to push back the application, which has already been delayed several times, until May.

That means that the Cobb Board of Commissioners will not be hearing the case later this month.

(UPDATE: Cobb Commissioner Jerica Richardson will be holding an online informational meeting about the case Thursday at 6 p.m., and you can register at this link: https://staff315236.typeform.com/to/J9g7pewB.)

Planning commissioner Tony Waybright, who represents the area at the Johnson Ferry-Shallowford intersection where the development would be built, said there are concerns about traffic, stormwater issues, residential density and a “sense of place”—a key component of a recently approved JOSH master plan—that need to be addressed.

North Point Ministries, Inc. wants to use 11 of the 33 assembled acres for the East Cobb Church, which began in 2019 and is currently meeting at Eastside Baptist Church.

The remainder of the property would be used for commercial space, a greenspace and park area on the site of a drained lake and 110 residential units, most of them townhomes.

Among the changes from the original site plan in October is relocating Waterfront Drive, which is located off Johnson Ferry Road and provides primary access to the adjacent MarLanta subdivision.

Some residents there spoke in opposition to the project for those reasons, and for the fee-simple townhome category that the applicant is seeking.

That’s among the initial changes to the original application by North Point Ministries, which operates East Cobb Church.

During an extended presentation session Tuesday, county staffers acknowledged that there isn’t a finished traffic study, nor can they address floodplain and wetlands issues because of incomplete information about density.

“We should have that information by now,” Planning Commission chairman Galt Porter said, who suggested that if the board doesn’t have more details by next month, it’s possible there could be a recommendation of denial.

North Point Ministries attorney Kevin Moore said rezoning isn’t required for the church, and that the nature of the community “is not a single-family area under any circumstances.” He pointed to nearby commercial development in the JOSH area, saying that “all of that is this neighborhood and brings it to bear on this property.”

He also said that the JOSH master plan is “not the law. It’s a guide.”

While there were a few residents who spoke in favor of the project, several others spoke against it, including Jill Flamm of the East Cobb Civic Association. That organization listed five objections to the application that she said were not addressed, including traffic, the church renderings not consistent with the master plan and residential density.

A resident on Waterfront Circle showed photos of water runoff issues, saying it’s been “a nightmare” since the lake was drained.

Referring to the applicant, she said that “they want it all, and leave us with nothing.”

Other residents took issue with differing staff analyses of the application, wondering how it could have gone from a strong denial in October to a general recommendation of approval.

They also questioned how residential density calculations have gone down when the latest site plan calls for only 15 fewer units from the original proposal.

zWaybright is scheduled to have a virtual town hall meeting Thursday with Cobb commissioner Jerica Richardson, with details to be announced.

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