East Cobb Zoning & Development Archives

Powers Ferry rezoning cases get first hearings in Marietta

March 3, 2021 2:42 PM by Wendy Parker

The Marietta Planning Commission on Tuesday recommended denial of two major rezoning cases in the Powers Ferry Road corridor, but the attorney for the applicants said he will appeal to the City Council next week for a delay.

The advisory planning board voted unanimously in both instances against a mixed-use project, Nexus Gardens, near Powers Ferry Elementary School, and Laurel Park, a townhome project in Cloverdale Heights.

Both projects would be developed by Macauley Investments, an Atlanta real estate developer specializing in mixed-use projects. The properties are owned by Ruben McMullan, a real esate investor with East Cobb ties, and his assorted entities.

Tuesday’s meeting was the first time the requests have been heard publicly after months of delays.

Nearby residents in both communities turned out to speak against the projects (see our weekend story), which they said are incompatible with their communities and would worsen traffic in the congested Powers Ferry area near the South Marietta Parkway.

“This will ruin the lives of everyone in the neighborhood,” said Anna Holiday, a resident of the Meadowbrook neighborhood, which is mostly in unincorporated Cobb.

Kevin Moore, the applicant’s attorney, wanted to table the Nexus Gardens case again after receiving comments from Cobb DOT on a traffic study on Tuesday afternoon. Meadowbrook Drive, the only access point for Nexus Gardens, is located in the county.

He also said Laurel Park, which would consist of 204 homes adjacent to Cloverdale Heights, is “not the plan we want to build, but we are working on it,” including a traffic study in progress.

The seven-member planning commission, however, voted twice against tabling the requests, which were first filed last fall.

The traffic issues stem from limited access to Powers Ferry in both Meadowbrook, which is mostly in Cobb County, and Cloverdale Heights, which is in the city of Marietta.

Nexus Gardens would have apartments, senior living and restaurants on nearly 17 acres, mostly undeveloped and facing Interstate 75. Some of those parcels include 19 single-family homes.

The density of the project calls for 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.

Laurel Park would be accessible via four residential streets in Cloverdale Heights, which residents said would be a traffic nightmare in their community.

“These are small homes, but they are our homes,” said Cloverdale Heights resident Brian Peters, describing his neighbors as “solid, working-class folks.”

Many of them are first-time homebuyers in a neighborhood with homes costing around $200,000.

“Clo-Hi is that American dream, and we feel it’s now under threat,” Peters said, adding that he’s not against development, but “reckless, poorly thought development.”

The land tracts—nearly 17 acres for Nexus Gardens and 30 acres for Laurel Park—are mostly undeveloped and front I-75.

Moore said the land proposed for Nexus Gardens was rezoned by the city for “more intense purposes” in the 1980s, although development plans then fell through.

“You will hear that this doesn’t reflect the neighborhood,” he said. But “this proposal is a far better use than what is currently zoned.”

To say the property should not be developed for a mixed-use purpose, Moore said later, would be tantamount to “taking the owner’s property.”

Lily Reed, a Cloverdale Heights resident, urged the planning commission to consider the “cumulative effects” of both rezoning requests on the community.

James Rosich, who lives near Meadowbrook in the Hamby Acres neighborhood, said due to the lack of a completed traffic study, “there’s no reason [Nexus Gardens] should go forward.”

If it does, he said, “it’s a travesty.”

Among the issues are the close proximity of Meadowbrook Drive to the Powers Ferry-Loop intersection, the traffic impact on Powers Ferry Elementary School and the amount of general traffic that would use a small residential street for access to a large mixed-use project.

“Please deny this,” Rosich said. “They need to start over again.”

Planning commissioners didn’t discuss the Nexus Gardens case before voting unanimously against it, and only one member made brief traffic remarks about the Laurel Park project before the vote to recommend denial.

The Marietta City Council will meet next Wednesday, March 10, to consider the rezonings.

Sprayberry Crossing rezoning request granted continuance

March 2, 2021 3:24 PMMarch 2, 2021 11:04 AM by Wendy Parker

Sprayberry Crossing zoning case

The Cobb Planning Commission voted 5-0 Tuesday to grant another continuance to the developer of the proposed redevelopment of the Sprayberry Crossing Shopping Center.

As we noted over the weekend, Atlantic Realty, an apartment developer that first filed for rezoning in September, asked for another continuance last week after the deadline for a delay to be automatic.

The planning commission, whose members are appointed by county commissioners and whose recommendations are advisory, had to take a vote on whether to grant a continuance.

A few people turned out in person and online to speak against the mixed-use project, which has been the subject of vocal community support and opposition.

“Word must have gotten out that the applicant wanted a continuance on this one,” Planning Commission chairman Galt Porter said. “I expected to have a whole lot more here in opposition.”

Deborah Dance, the newly appointing planning board member from District 3, where Sprayberry Crossing is located, moved to grant the delay, but just for one more month.

She said a revised site plan submitted in January (above) hasn’t been fully analyzed by the Cobb zoning staff, which last fall recommended tentative approval of the project.

“My observation is that the applicant has been working in good faith with staff and has been responsive to the concerns that have been presented,” said Dance, a former Cobb County Attorney, who was reading from prepared remarks.

“At present there exists at least one critical issue affecting [transportation] access that’s in the process of being addressed by county staff and with the applicant’s expert.

“This case is not ready for consideration at the present time,” Dance added. “I believe there are good grounds for the continuance, and it’s in the best interests of all concerned that it is continued.”

She said she wanted her motion to be stipulated that “there would be no further continuances.”

Whiile many area residents have wanted the blighted shopping center redeveloped for years, others have opposed the proposed 125 apartments. Sprayberry Crossing also would include 125 senior living apartments, 44 townhomes, 36,000 square feet of retail (mostly for a Lidl grocery store) and 8,000 square feet of office space.

In the latest renderings (above), the height for the residential buildings has been reduced from five to three stories. But a previous site plan included community green space that is not part of the latest version.

Traffic concerns also have been raised, and in particular Cobb DOT is looking at the impact on Sandy Plains Road at Kinjac Drive, what would be the main access point for the development.

Porter said additional information from Cobb DOT about the latest revision “is pretty key to looking at this case. It’s not a minor issue. It’s a major access issue, so I fully agree with a continuance.”

Another major East Cobb rezoning case, involving another proposed mixed-use development, is being continued by the Cobb zoning staff.

That’s North Point Ministries’ application for the East Cobb Church and 125 townhomes at Johnson Ferry Road and Shallowford Road.

Both of those delayed cases will be scheduled to be heard by the Cobb Planning Commission on April 6.

More delays likely for East Cobb mixed-use rezoning cases

February 27, 2021 2:13 PM by Wendy Parker

East Cobb Church rezoning case delauyed — *A rendering of East Cobb Church, including a parking deck, fronting Shallowford Road.*

The Cobb Zoning Office on Friday said the East Cobb Church mixed-use zoning request won’t be heard on Tuesday.

It’s been pulled from the Cobb Planning Commission agenda and is being continued (you can view the agenda here).

There wasn’t any further explanation in the case filings for the continuance.

The proposal for a church, retail and townhomes at the southwest corner of Johnson Ferry and Shallowford roads has drawn community opposition as well as support.

East Cobb Church, which is run by Northpoint Ministries, is planning to sell a portion of the 33-acre assemblage to Ashwood Development for 125 townhomes.

That’s the part of the mixed-use proposal that’s drawn most of the opposition, as well as for traffic concerns.

The zoning staff recommended denial of original application in October, but site plan revisions have been underway.

As we noted on Monday, another major East Cobb redevelopment project was also to finally be heard, several months after being proposed.

The Sprayberry Crossing case is still scheduled for Tuesday, according to the meeting agenda, but the developer has asked for another continuance until April.

That’s according to the Sprayberry Crossing Action, a citizens group on Facebook that has been pushing for the blighted shopping center to be redeveloped for years, as well as a group opposed to the project.

Atlantic Realty, an apartment developer, made the request for a continuance on Thursday, a day after the deadline for getting an automatic delay.

When that happens, the planning commission must vote whether to grant a continuance or not.

If the planning commission denies a continuance, the Sprayberry Crossing case would be the first item to be heard following the consent agenda.

Those against the project are strongly opposed to apartments coming to an area dominated by single-family subdivisions.

Atlantic Residential has reduced the number of apartments and townhomes in the project, which includes a grocery store, other small retail and event space.

The meeting begins at 9 a.m. Tuesday and can be seen on the county’s Facebook Live and YouTube channels, as well as Channel 23 on Comcast Cable.

Limited in-person attendance is available in the meeting room, the 2nd floor board room of the Cobb government building, 100 Cherokee St., in downtown Marietta.

Powers Ferry Road communities oppose mixed-use proposals

February 27, 2021 3:39 PMFebruary 27, 2021 11:19 AM by Wendy Parker

Residents in two older neighborhoods along the Powers Ferry Road corridor have been organizing for several months to fight mixed-use proposals filed with the City of Marietta.

After several delays, both of those cases are scheduled to go before the Marietta Planning Commission Tuesday night (you can view the agenda here).

Both proposals are on either side of the South Marietta Parkway, on land that’s in the city of Marietta, and both projects would be developed by Macauley Investments, an Atlanta firm that specializes in mixed-use projects.

The Nexus Gardens project we’ve written about before would have apartments, senior living and restaurants on nearly 17 acres, mostly undeveloped and facing Interstate 75. Some of those parcels include 19 single-family homes, as seen above on Meadowbrook Drive, and all of the land is owned by Ruben McMullan, an East Cobb resident, or his related entities.

Sole access to Nexus Gardens would be via Meadowbrook Drive, which is in unincorporated Cobb. That’s one of the major objections, in addition to the density of the project, which calls for 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.

A group called Save Marietta has been created to oppose the project, and includes residents of the Meadowbrook neighborhood that’s partly in the city and also in the county.

McMullan’s real estate interests also include an assemblage of 22 parcels on 30 acres, mostly undeveloped but some with single-family homes, also off Powers Ferry and across the Loop.

That’s being proposed by Nexus Marietta for a 204-unit townhome development called Laurel Park.

Like the Nexus Gardens project, this one also has singular access via a residential street on Crestridge Drive, in the Cloverdale Heights neighborhood.

That’s entirely within the city of Marietta, and a community group has formed to oppose that project.

The full agenda packet for the Marietta Planning Commission meeting, with proposal details, maps and traffic information, can be found here.

The Marietta Planning Commission meeting starts at 6 p.m. Tuesday and will be streamed live on the city’s website.

The Marietta City Council make final decisions on March 10.

Zoning update: Sprayberry Crossing, East Cobb Church filings

February 27, 2021 2:00 PMFebruary 22, 2021 4:43 PM by Wendy Parker

Sprayberry Crossing zoning case — *For a larger view **click here**.*

After months of delays, the Sprayberry Crossing rezoning case has been placed on the March zoning calendar and the Cobb Zoning Office has conducted a formal analysis of the redevelopment project.

The office released its March agenda on Monday, ahead of next Tuesday’s Cobb Planning Commission meeting.

The zoning staff is recommending approval of the retail, townhome and apartment proposal by Atlantic Realty, an apartment developer, with conditions.

The proposal was first revealed last year, and included a virtual town hall meeting with the community.

But it’s a community that’s been divided over the project, with some citizens adamantly against apartments, and concerns about increased traffic.

The latest site plan (at the top) calls for 125 apartments, 125 senior living apartments, 44 townhomes, 36,000 square feet of retail and 8,000 square feet of office space. Most of the retail space would be for a supermarket, which on the latest map indicates a Lidl store.

The apartment numbers have been reduced from nearly 200 and the story height has come down from five to three, but community green space and a buffer around an existing cemetery that were on earlier site plans have been eliminated.

ROD projects are “site plan specific,” meaning that there aren’t minimum lot sizes, setbacks and buffers that are required in most rezoning cases.

At least 10 percent of the housing units in an ROD project must be set aside for residents making no more than 80 percent of an area’s average median income.

Last month Cobb commissioners voted 5-0 to eliminate the category, which stands for Redevelopment Overlay District.

That action doesn’t affect the Sprayberry Crossing case. The agenda item overview can be found here; here is the staff analysis. The full packet can be found at the first link in this post, pages 45-131.

Also on the agenda after two months of delays is another proposed redevelopment, for a campus of the new East Cobb Church and townhomes at Johnson Ferry and Shallowford roads (summary here).

North Point Ministries wants to purchase 33 acres at the southwest corner of that intersection to build the new East Cobb Church and an accompanying parking deck (latest site plan here).

North Point would sell the back portion of the property to Ashwood Development for 125 townhomes. There also would be some retail use.

The Cobb zoning staff has recommended denial for density, traffic and land-use reasons. Opponents are calling for low-density single-family housing. Citizens opposed to the project have made similar arguments, while others have applauded the addition of a new church to the community.

Kevin Moore, North Point’s attorney, said the single-family category is economically unfeasible; a 2016 rezoning case seeking a single-family development on the same property was withdrawn.

He repeated that claim during a virtual town hall earlier this month with Cobb Commissioner Jerica Richardson and Cobb Planning Commission member Tony Waybright, who offered a “conceptual plan” incorporating changes he said were suggested by community members.

Full packet information can be found on pages 244-271 of the meeting agenda.

Next Tuesday’s meeting will be the first for new Cobb Planning Commission member Deborah Dance. She’s formerly the Cobb County Attorney and was appointed by Commissioner JoAnn Birrell to represent District 3, which includes the Sprayberry Crossing property.

Dance succeeds longtime planning board member Judy Williams, who died of COVID-19 in January.

Cobb commissioners eliminate redevelopment zoning category

February 9, 2021 10:54 AM by Wendy Parker

Sprayberry Crossing virtual town hall

A zoning category that’s being requested for the proposed Sprayberry Crossing redevelopment in East Cobb was dropped from the Cobb County Code by commissioners on Tuesday.

In making code amendment changes, commissioners eliminated the ROD-1 category (Redevelopment Overlay District), although it won’t affect the status of the Sprayberry Crossing application.

That remains pending, and is scheduled to be heard in March after several continuances. The change to drop ROD-1 is effective immediately, so new new applications will be taken.

Commissioner JoAnn Birrell of District 3, which includes the Sprayberry Crossing area, said “I feel like [the zoning category] is not needed” and that anyone seeking to redevelop properties on the county’s designated redevelopment list could apply for other zoning categories.

Atlantic Residential, an Atlanta-based apartment developer, has proposed converting the run-down shopping center at Sandy Plains Road and East Piedmont Road into a mixed-use development with apartments, townhomes, senior living, a grocery store, other retail and community space.

That application was first filed last fall, and has been revised several times, including a new site plan in January that eliminates green space (see below).

The latest site plan calls for 125 apartments, 125 senior living apartments, 44 townhomes, 36,000 square feet of retail and 8,000 square feet of office space. Most of the retail space would be for a grocery store.

The apartment numbers have been reduced from nearly 200 and the story height has come down from five to three.

Sprayberry Crossing rendering 1.21 — *To see a larger view, **click here**.*

This is the first zoning case brought under ROD-1, which was created in 2005 and is designed to spur redevelopment of blighted properties.

Sprayberry Crossing has long been included on a redevelopment list approved by commissioners.

ROD-1 projects are “site plan specific,” meaning that there aren’t minimum lot sizes, setbacks and buffers that are required in most rezoning cases.

At least 10 percent of the housing units in an ROD-1 project must be set aside for residents making no more than 80 percent of an area’s average median income.

Sprayberry Crossing still has a few businesses open, but is largely empty, and nearby residents have been organizing for years for its redevelopment.

But other residents have been opposed to Atlantic Residential’s plans, some for traffic reasons but many because of the apartments.

Some have also asserted that the ROD-1 provisions don’t allow for apartments at all.

The commissioners’ vote to scrap ROD-1 was 5-0. Birrell asked that the code change be made effective immediately instead of March 1, as had been in the code.

“There could be something filed between then and now,” she said.

Revised ‘JOSH’ conceptual plan based on community feedback

February 5, 2021 1:30 PMFebruary 5, 2021 9:40 AM by Wendy Parker

Revised JOSH conceptual plan

A Cobb Planning Commission member on Thursday presented a conceptual site plan for a mixed-use development at Johnson Ferry and Shallowford roads based on feedback from nearby residents.

Tony Waybright, who represents District 2 on the planning board, said that his working plan is not an official proposal.

“It’s just a concept, not the developers’ new site plan,” he said during a virtual town hall organized by Commissioner Jerica Richardson.

(You can watch the town hall in its entirety by clicking here.)

The town hall presenters included Kevin Moore, an attorney for North Point Ministries, which wants to build a church on a portion of a 33-acre tract at the southwest corner of the Johnson Ferry-Shallowford intersection.

North Point’s rezoning case, which has been continued to March, would include 125 townhomes and a small amount of retail, as well as a parking deck for the church.

What’s being proposed as East Cobb Church would include a sanctuary with a capacity for 1,300 people.

More than 400 people logged in online to watch the town hall, and more than 500 offered comments. Many of those opposed to the rezoning are against the townhomes, and especially the number of town homes, saying it’s too dense for an area that includes an adjacent single-family neighborhood.

Others said they welcomed a church coming to the area and for that property to be improved.

(Petitions for and against the rezoning have been created; and we also talked to East Cobb Church Pastor Jamey Dickens earlier this week.)

Waybright has suggested adding some single-family detached residences as a buffer (in green on the map), extending Waterfront Circle (blue line) to address traffic issues and reconfiguring the church building (gold square block) to blend in with design and streetscape guidelines in the Johnson Ferry-Shallowford master plan.

That was approved in 2020 after a two-year process, with a focus on redevelopment of the land at the JOSH intersection. Most of the tracts in the 33-acre property are owned by prominent attorney Fred Hanna and his wife’s non-profit ministry. (See our interview with them here.)

That land was assembled for a 2016 rezoning case for a residential development, but was withdrawn. Moore has said an all-residential use for the land is economically unfeasible.

Most of the parcels contain small, older homes that are occupied by low-income residents served by Lynn Hanna’s True Vine Experience. Some of the lots are empty, including one that included the home of former Gov. Lester Maddox on Johnson Ferry Road.

Community greenspace also would be incorporated into the concept presented by Waybright, who based his map on what he’s heard from the community in recent weeks.

The JOSH master plan, he explained, included “creating a sense of place.”

Moore said in response to questions about the church and the parking lot that both would be built into the topography along Shallowford Road.

“We believe that we can succeed with the community and we will continue with those efforts,” Moore said.

He didn’t say what revisions there might be to the number of townhomes, which would be built by Ashwood Development, an upscale builder with projects in the city of Atlanta and Florida.

North Point would acquire all the property and then sell a portion to the developer. Moore said a starting price point for the townhomes may be in the $500,000 range.

East Cobb Church was created in 2019 and last year became part of North Point, which has several similar non-denominational churches in metro area, although this one would be smaller. Church members have been meeting at Eastside Baptist Church.

During the Q and A session, someone asked about a traffic study. Moore said one has been completed by an independent engineer under the auspices of Cobb DOT and has been submitted for review. (It’s not included in any of the existing filings.)

Moore said the recommendations include turn lanes and other measures designed to improve traffic flow in the busy JOSH intersection, and that what’s being proposed would yield less traffic than a purely residential development.

Dickens said East Cobb Church will have off-duty police guiding traffic on Sundays, and there will not be a pre-school or other activities during the week.

The Cobb zoning staff recommended denial of North Point’s initial application for land-use, traffic, density and stormwater issues.

Waybright said that conclusion is based on a “conservative approach” to evaluating those factors and others.

He also noted that a church was not included in the JOSH Master Plan, which like the land-use plan isn’t law but a guide for planners and decision-makers.

Waybright said the task at hand is to find a balance between the rights of the property owners and the community, and that reflects the land-use plan and master plan.

Planning commissioners and county commissioners do not take public positions on zoning cases before their votes. The planning board is scheduled to hear the case March 2 and Cobb commissioners on March 16.

When asked where she stood on the matter, Richardson said her office is cataloging every e-mail and other message.

“I’m listening, just like you,” she said.

Mixed-use rezoning case at Loop-Powers Ferry Road delayed again

February 4, 2021 5:00 PMFebruary 3, 2021 12:49 PM by Wendy Parker

Nexus Gardens

A mixed-use project that would turn an older single-family neighborhood into apartments, senior living and restaurant space at the intersection of the South Marietta Loop and Powers Ferry Road is being delayed again.

At its meeting Tuesday night, the Marietta Planning Commission agreed to table the proposal by Nexus Gardens, after the developer’s attorney added new stipulations and other changes the day before.

We first reported in November about Nexus Gardens, which would occupy 17.14 acres that also includes undeveloped land that fronts Interstate 75 at the South Marietta Loop exit.

The initial filing has since been revised (you can read it here) and here are the revised stipulations.

The assemblage includes 17 homes on Meadowbrook Drive and one on Virginia Place that are within the city limits.

Nexus Gardens would include two five-story apartment buildings totalling 280 units served by a three-story parking deck, a five-story senior-living building with 160 units and 39 townhomes.

A commercial building at the center of the project would have a restaurant with outdoor dining. An “alternate” three-story building would contain more restaurant and retail space, event space and a coffee shop. Two smaller retail buildings would line Powers Ferry at Meadowbrook Drive, the lone access point for the development.

The proposal also calls for a variety of amenities in and around the residential buildings as well as a community walking trail, courtyard areas, “gardenesque” landscaping, a dog park and a reflecting pond with water jets.

But plenty of community opposition has mounted since then, including from a nearby neighborhood that’s in unincorporated Cobb. They’ve launched a website, Save Our Marietta.

Among their objections is that Nexus Gardens would have only one access point—on Meadowbrook Lane, which is in unincorporated Cobb.

The Nexus Gardens developers recently commissioned a traffic study (that you can read here) and also submitted into the case filings.

The Save Our Marietta group is claiming the development would bring an additional 800 trips a day through that and other residential streets and is urging the county to ask that the traffic study be reviewed by Cobb and state DOT.

Petitions created to support, oppose East Cobb Church zoning

February 3, 2021 2:42 PMFebruary 3, 2021 9:34 AM by Wendy Parker

Johnson Ferry-Shallowford proposal

We got a message Wednesday morning from Rachel Bruce, who lives near the mixed-use project at the Johnson Ferry-Shallowford intersection being proposed by North Point Ministries, which wants to build the East Cobb Church there.

Yesterday we posted our interview with East Cobb Church Pastor Jamey Dickens; Bruce tells us she’s part of a group of more than 200 residents opposed to the project who have been gathering online.

They’ve also started an online petition to oppose Z-72, which includes townhomes and retail, “due to the high density, and not being in line with the JOSH study.”

That’s the Johnson Ferry-Shallowford master plan that was adopted last year, after more than two years of community input, and reflects a desire to keep a single-family residential area that way.

A number of the petition’s signatories have expressed that sentiment.

There’s also a petition that’s been created to support the rezoning, saying the project “will bring a community-centric church” and other amenities to property where “dilapidated homes and property have existed for over a decade.”

Cobb Commissioner Jerica Richardson is holding a virtual town hall Thursday at 5:15 p.m. that will be streamed live on her Facebook page.

She’ll be joined by Cobb Planning Commission member Tony Waybright; and Dickens told us the meeting includes a presentation of the project by Kevin Moore, North Point’s attorney.

The town hall also will take questions from the public, pro, con or undecided.

The zoning case, as we noted yesterday, is being continued to March.

You can sign up for Richardson’s town hall by clicking here. Her office will send out an e-mail prior to the meeting with a link to the event and information on the meeting structure.

Here’s the latest site plan for Z-72 and here’s the initial zoning analysis; as well as traffic analysis. You can look through all the related files by clicking here.

Dickens said in our interview that numerous changes are in the works, and what they’re including thus far will be presented by Moore at Thursday’s town hall.

East Cobb Church zoning: ‘What we’re doing is ever-evolving’

February 2, 2021 2:11 PM by Wendy Parker

East Cobb Church rezoning — *A rendering of the proposed East Cobb Church at Johnson Ferry and Shallowford roads.*

While he’s building a faith community during a pandemic, Rev. Jamey Dickens is also taking a crash course in how the zoning process works in Cobb County.

The pastor of East Cobb Church, the newest addition to the North Point Ministries family of Atlanta-area non-denominational congregations, Dickens lives not far from the proposed church home at the southwest corner of Johnson Ferry and Shallowford roads.

His church’s motto is “to love where you live,” and Dickens said in an interview with East Cobb News on Monday that “we want to listen to our new neighbors.”

Dickens has been poring over site plans and learning the language of planners and developers as the church’s application for a mixed-use development proceeds.

North Point’s request is for more than a new sanctuary and church-related facilities. More than 100 townhomes and some retail space are planned for the 33-acre site that’s at the heart of the “JOSH” community.

North Point’s zoning case, first filed last fall, was to have been heard Tuesday by the Cobb Planning Commission. But that has been continued to March by the Cobb zoning staff, which initially recommended denial for traffic, density and land-use reasons.

Johnson Ferry-Shallowford zoning case subject of town hall

January 30, 2021 5:41 PMJanuary 28, 2021 10:10 AM by Wendy Parker

Johnson Ferry-Shallowford proposal

Following up a story we’ve been reporting since the fall, about the proposed mixed-use development at the Johnson Ferry-Shallowford intersection:

Cobb Commissioner Jerica Richardson and Cobb Planning Commission member Tony Waybright are having a virtual town hall next week to hear from the public about Z-72-2020.

The town hall meeting is set for Thursday, Feb. 4 at 7 p.m. and is free for the public to attend.

The February zoning files indicate that Z-72, which was continued from November, will not be heard on Tuesday before the Cobb Planning Commission. The case is being continued again, likely until March.

The development would be anchored by what’s being called East Cobb Church, townhomes and retail on 33 acres. The Cobb Zoning Office has initially recommended denial based on traffic and density concerns.

The church would seat up to 1,300 have four stories and a parking deck, while 125 townhomes are being planned.

The church would be part of the Alpharetta-based North Point Church. Since early last year, East Cobb Church has been formed and is holding services at Eastside Baptist Church.

The land is owned by prominent attorney Fred Hanna and his wife’s outreach ministry, and which they tried to assemble for a residential project in 2016 that was withdrawn.

This will be the first major zoning case in District 2 for Richardson, who succeeded now-retired commissioner Bob Ott this month. Cobb doesn’t hold zoning hearings in January.

If you want to sign up for the town hall you can do so by clicking here. Richardson’s office will send out an e-mail prior to the meeting with a link to the event and information on the meeting structure.

For questions and information contact Allie Korucu, Richardson’s assistant: aliye.korucu@cobbcounty.org.

Planning Commission member from East Cobb dies from COVID

January 27, 2021 2:38 PMJanuary 27, 2021 9:30 AM by Wendy Parker

Cobb Planning Commission member Judy Williams died Monday from COVID-19, according to Cobb commissioners who announced her death at their meeting on Tuesday. Cobb Planning Commission Chairwoman Judy Williams

Williams was appointed by Commissioner JoAnn Birrell from District 3, which includes Northeast Cobb, and had served as the five-member board chair for two years until last year.

“We lost a great public servant and a true friend,” Birrell said in remarks at the end of Tuesday’s meeting. “She was my rock.”

The commissioners also held a moment of silence for Williams.

Williams was a lifelong Cobb resident who graduated from Marietta High School and was a planner for Cobb County government from 1972 until her retirement in 2000. According to her obituary, one of the first projects she signed off on was the creation of Indian Hills in East Cobb.

Williams later returned to serve on both the planning board and the zoning appeals board.

A memorial service will be held at 2 p.m. Thursday will be limited to family only but can be viewed on the Mayes Ward Dobbins website.

Contributions in Williams’ memory can be made to the Wellstar Foundation.

The Cobb Planning Commission is scheduled to meet Tuesday to hear the first zoning cases in 2021.

East Cobb Church, Sprayberry Crossing rezoning cases delayed

November 27, 2020 1:01 PM by Wendy Parker

East Cobb Church rezoning case delayed

After we posted details earlier this week about North Point Ministries’ plans for a church campus at Shallowford and Johnson Ferry roads, the Cobb Zoning Office is continuing the case until February.

The Cobb Zoning Office noted the continuance in updating the agenda for Tuesday’s Cobb Planning Commission meeting—which you can read here.

In its staff analysis posted earlier this week, the zoning office recommended denial of North Point’s application for land-use, density, traffic and school capacity reasons.

The Alpharetta-based church wants to build a 4-story building for what it’s calling East Cobb Church with close to 125,000 square feet, including a sanctuary seating capacity of nearly 1,300, along with a parking deck, parking lot and future retail space.

The back of the 33-acre assembly would contain 125 townhomes, which zoning staff contends is far too dense for an area with mostly single-family detached residential communities.

The land is owned by prominent attorney Fred Hanna and his wife’s outreach ministry, and which they tried to assemble for a residential project in 2016 that was withdrawn.

East Cobb Church was formed in January and has been meeting at Eastside Baptist Church on Lower Roswell Road.

We also noted earlier this week that another major rezoning request on Tuesday’s agenda—Sprayberry Crossing—also has been scratched again, until February.

Kevin Moore, an attorney for Atlantic Realty Acquisitions, LLC, which is submitting the mixed-use development request, filed for the continuance on Wednesday, the deadline for removing it from Tuesday’s agenda.

Moore said another continuance would give his client time to incorporate revisions to its site plan “in continued response to community concerns.”

While many nearby residents have pushed for redevelopment of the blighted shopping center for years, some are opposed to apartments that are a major part of Atlantic Realty’s proposal.

Cobb County does not hear zoning cases in January.

North Point East Cobb church plans: 4 stories, 1,300 seats

November 25, 2020 5:37 PMNovember 24, 2020 11:43 AM by Wendy Parker

North Point East Cobb church plans

A few more details about North Point Ministries’ plans for a church and townhome project at the Johnson Ferry-Shallowford intersection have been posted in the Cobb Zoning Office filings on the application, which is scheduled to be heard next Tuesday by the Cobb Planning Commission.

The 33 acres sits on land owned by prominent attorney Fred Hanna and his wife’s outreach ministry, and which they tried to assemble for a residential project in 2016 that was withdrawn.

North Point is proposing a 4-story building for what it’s calling East Cobb Church with close to 125,000 square feet, including a sanctuary seating capacity of nearly 1,300, according to the revised filing.

(You can read it here.)

East Cobb Church is the seventh congregation overall and the first in Cobb County for North Point Ministries, which is based in Alpharetta and was founded by Andy Stanley. He’s the son of Charles Stanley, the retired longtime pastor at First Baptist Church in Buckhead.

North Point’s campuses in Alpharetta and Buckhead have sanctuary seating capacities of around 3,000.

The new East Cobb congregation was formed in January and has been meeting at Eastside Baptist Church on Lower Roswell Road.

The East Cobb Church building (in the top left corner of the site plan above) would have a parking deck—details still not revealed—fronting Shallowford and a parking lot along Johnson Ferry.

The Cobb Zoning Office has done its analysis, and is recommending a denial, for traffic, density, land-use and other reasons.

For starters, staff analyst Jeannie Peyton concludes the the proposal doesn’t permit a use “that is suitable in the view of use and development of adjacent and nearby properties. The property is in an area with commercial and lower density residential uses.”

The application includes 125 townhomes located in the back of the property assemblage, bisected by Waterfront Drive, which has access from Johnson Ferry and connects to the Johnson Ferry Estates subdivision.

Nearby residential properties are zoned for R-20 single-family use, while the townhomes, proposed for the RM-8 zoning designation, would come in at a density of 11.55 units an acre.

The staff is recommending density of no more than 5 units an acre. The rezoning request calls for townhomes of at least 1,800 square feet, but doesn’t indicate a price range.

North Point has not filed a traffic study, which staff is recommending, and the proposal to close off Waterfront Drive also was noted by Peyton as a concern.

Capacity at nearby schools—Pope HS, Hightower Trail MS and Shallowford Falls ES—also would be negatively affected by the townhomes, according to the staff analysis.

Above all, Peyton wrote, the application doesn’t conform to the county’s comprehensive land-use plan.

“The property is delineated in LDR and NAC future land use categories,” the report concluded. “The requested zoning districts are not consistent with the LDR and NAC future land use designations. Staff has concerns about how this fits with the recently adopted JOSH study.”

That’s the Johnson Ferry-Shallowford Master Plan that was approved in September after a community process of more than two years.

Another major item in East Cobb that was to have been on the December zoning calendar is being delayed again.

The Sprayberry Crossing case, which first was scheduled for September, has been continued ever since then.

The Cobb Zoning Staff has continued the application once more, until February. Zoning cases are not heard in Cobb County in January.

‘Nexus Gardens’ project proposed for Loop-Powers Ferry area

November 16, 2020 5:36 PMNovember 16, 2020 4:51 PM by Wendy Parker

A major mixed-use development proposed for the South Marietta Parkway (Loop) and Powers Ferry Road area is scheduled to get its first public hearing in December.

What’s being called “Nexus Gardens” would contain nearly 500 units of apartments, senior-living units and townhomes, as well as restaurant, retail and event space and greenspace amenities on 17.14 acres.

Nexus Marietta, the applicant, has assembled 20 parcels of land, including two big undeveloped tracts fronting Interstate 75 and the Loop and single-family homes in an adjoining neighborhood.

All but one of the parcels is located within the City of Marietta. The rezoning request goes before the Marietta Planning Commission on Dec. 1.

(You can read through the full agenda item here.)

The landowners are RGM Properties Partnership LLLP, McMullan Partners LLC and Rube McMullan. He’s an East Cobb resident, and Nexus Marietta LLC filed as a corporation with the Georgia Secretary of State’s office in July.

Nexus Marietta has hired prominent Cobb zoning attorney Kevin Moore to request converting the land use from regional retail commercial (RRC), community retail commercial (CRC) and office-industrial (OI) zoning categories to mixed-used development (MXD).

The assemblage includes 17 homes on Meadowbrook Drive and one on Virginia Place that are within the city limits. A home at 492 Meadowbrook Drive is in unincorporated Cobb County.

Nexus Marietta’s application also includes an annexation request for that tract, which is located on Meadowbrook Drive at Powers Ferry Road.

The land doesn’t include a Chevron station and convenience store at the intersection.

Nexus Gardens would include a courtyard and townhomes behind it at the top of a project that slides below the Loop and along the western side of Meadowbrook Drive.

That’s a neighborhood of single-family homes built in the late 1950s that is partly in the city, but mostly in the county.

Nexus Gardens rezoning map

According to a site plan filed with the City of Marietta Planning & Zoning Office, Nexus Gardens would include two five-story apartment buildings totalling 280 units served by a three-story parking deck, a five-story senior-living building with 160 units and 39 townhomes.

The property directly fronting I-75 is in a floodplain, and the proposal calls for separating it from the smaller apartment building with a wild flower meadow.

A total of 100 retail parking spaces are planned, 156 spaces are proposed for the townhomes and 542 spaces for the apartments and senior-living units.

The latter is far less than a minimum of 632 spaces required under the requested zoning categories.

The townhomes would be for sale only, and no more than five percent of the units could be renter-occupied.

They would be at least 1,800 square feet and would have two-car garages and driveway space for two additional cars.

Nexus Gardens color site plan

The Nexus Marietta application includes “visioning” renderings of what the project may look like, and it’s similar to other mixed-use proposals in Cobb and metro Atlanta.

The former “Restaurant Row” area along Powers Ferry Road at Windy Hill Road that’s currently under construction includes apartments and senior-living units and is slated to welcome back the Rose and Crown Tavern that was the sole existing business on that property.

An Atlanta-area apartment builder, Atlantic Residential, is proposing to convert the blighted Sprayberry Crossing Shopping Center in East Cobb into a mixed-use development, also with apartments, senior-living units and townhomes, a major grocery store and other retail space.

That proposal, which is tentatively slated to be heard in December, has been delayed for several months and has drawn community opposition, mostly because of the apartments.

The area around Sandy Plains and Piedmont roads is dominated by single-family subdivisions.

Nexus Gardens would be the first development of its kind in an area of East Marietta that includes older single-family housing and scattered commercial uses.

Land owners: East Cobb church plans ‘good for the community’

November 14, 2020 3:33 PMNovember 14, 2020 2:54 PM by Wendy Parker

Not long after our Monday post about a major rezoning request at Johnson Ferry and Shallowford roads, we heard from Fred Hanna, the prominent debt-collection lawyer and East Cobb resident who with his wife owns much of the land that’s being proposed for a church and townhomes.

What’s been put on the Cobb zoning calendar in December would be a new campus of the Alpharetta-based North Point Ministries plus 125 townhomes on 33 acres.

Hanna’s private property company and a non-profit ministry run by his wife have owned most of that property for nearly two decades.

Hanna Land Company owns 15 parcels and the True Vine Experience Foundation—which works to help those at risk of homelessness—owns 14 parcels. Another was owned by Sara Sweeney, a chiropractor whose office is on Shallowford Road.

Hanna told us he hoped the county would approve the church “and let it be tall and shine a light in the face of Tokyo Valentino [the controversial new adult retail store further down Johnson Ferry, whose business license was revoked last month by the county].

“Let’s send a message of what East Cobb is about.”

He said he bought his first property there, a house on Shallowford Road, in 2003 with the intention of knocking it down for redevelopment.

Lynn Hanna, his wife, urged him to let some needy people move in instead, and a family of four soon began living there rent-free.

Hanna bought 24 more homes in the same neighborhood, and many of those dwellings have been occupied by people trying to fend off homelessness.

True Vine’s work includes helping those people develop life and financial planning skills and job training in exchange for the free rent, which she estimates has added up to more than $3 million over the years.

When we called the Hannas to find out more, she explained to us that “we’ve always had in mind that we would sell.”

In 2016, CalAtlantic, a residential developer, applied for rezoning for single-family and some multi-family homes. But community opposition developed and in early 2017 the application was withdrawn.

Cobb commissioner Bob Ott suggested at the time that any redevelopment should wait until the Johnson Ferry-Shallowford master plan process that was approved in August.

*A current land use map of the proposed North Point church and townhomes, outlined by the Cobb Zoning Office.*

In those intervening four years, Lynn Hanna said there have been some other overtures from potential buyers.

A few months ago, their agent contacted North Point, which initially wasn’t interested, and that she said had been holding makeshift gatherings in East Cobb at Eastside Baptist Church.

But in recent months, discussions began with North Point in earnest, and now the church is the applicant for the proposal (which you can read here).

While North Point campuses in Alpharetta and Buckhead have capacities of 3,000, she said the East Cobb campus “won’t be a megachurch.”

The plans call for up to 1,500 adults and 400 kids “on the best Sunday.”

“The reason I think it’s so good for the community is that it’s only going to be two hours on Sunday,” she said.

North Point doesn’t have a day care or pre-school, so there won’t be traffic during the week stemming from the church. The proposal also includes a small amount of retail and restaurant space.

But the 125 townhomes being proposed would need an RM-8 zoning that category that isn’t in the vicinity. That’s prompted traffic concerns—as well as a proposed parking deck next to the church—from some readers we’ve heard from.

Lynn Hanna said she understands that, and admits that “there are always people who object.” But she said they’re not going to make nearly the money selling to a church that they would have for an all-commercial assemblage.

North Point’s rezoning request, which was submitted by noted Cobb zoning attorney Kevin Moore, states that single-family residential use currently zoned “is economically unfeasible.”

According to Cobb Tax Assessor’s Office records, the properties owned by Hanna Land and True Vine range in appraised value from $35,000 (empty lots) to $647,000 for a lot at 3085 Johnson Ferry Road.

Most of the parcels with homes on them have appraised values in the low-to-mid 200s.

Those same records indicate that on Oct. 22, Sweeney sold her property at 4260 Shallowford Road to North Point Ministries for $650,000 (it has an appraised value of $491,530).

Lynn Hanna said she began notifying those living in the houses they own several months ago about the rezoning, and are working with them to find new housing

“We’re feeling good about this,” she said. “Knowing that it’s a church and that we’ve been helping near-homeless people is our reward.”

Said Fred Hanna:

“I think this matter has been a God thing. God had a plan some 17 years ago but first, he needed some 500 people to pass thru the houses, and be ministered to. But now is the time for the church.”

Johnson Ferry-Shallowford proposal calls for church, townhomes

November 12, 2020 1:30 PMNovember 9, 2020 3:45 PM by Wendy Parker

Johnson Ferry-Shallowford proposal

Zoning notice signs have gone up along the southwest corner of the Johnson Ferry-Shallowford intersection, and the proposal is a major one that’s been placed on the December calendar.

A little more than 33 acres is being proposed for a mixed-use development that’s quite different than what came before Cobb commissioners before being withdrawn in early 2017.

That was for single-family homes and townhomes by CalAtlantic Group, a residential developer, and drew some vocal community opposition.

What’s been filed with the Cobb Zoning Office would include a megachurch, restaurant and retail space and 125 townhomes.

(You can read the initial filings by clicking here.)

The applicant is different, too: North Point Ministries, Inc., which has seven non-denominational churches in metro Atlanta. The founder is Andy Stanley, son of retired First Baptist Church of Atlanta pastor Charles Stanley.

Since its founding in 1995, North Point has added churches in Buckhead, Gwinnett County, Woodstock and Decatur.

This one would be what North Point is calling its “East Cobb campus.” According to an initial site plan filed with the county, it would be located right on the Johnson Ferry-Shallowford corner, with parking fronting both roads.

The site plan calls for a parking deck facing Shallowford, and parking along Johnson Ferry also is being designated for “future commercial” space that would have restaurant and retail uses; neither of those components have any further details for now.

Those filings also don’t indicate the proposed capacity inside the church—the flagship North Point Community Church in Alpharetta can hold up to 3,000 people, as does North Point’s Buckhead Church.

Z-72 large site plan — *For a larger view, **click here**. Shallowford Road is at the left; Johnson Ferry Road is at the top.*

The rezoning request also calls for 125 townhomes in the back of the development, on either side of Waterfront Drive, under the RM-8 zoning category. The townhomes would have a minimum size of 1,800 square feet.

Most of that land is currently zoned R-20 and is where single-family homes now exist.

The property would be divided by an existing stormwater management area that includes a dry lake. That’s been referred to as Maddox Lake—it was located behind the now-demolished home of former Gov. Lester Maddox along Johnson Ferry.

There aren’t any renderings, elevations or variance requests that are included for now in the rezoning request.

The North Point Ministries rezoning request comes three months after Cobb commissioners approved the Johnson Ferry-Shallowford master plan.

In that plan, several redevelopment options for the southwest intersection of “JOSH” were detailed, most of them of the mixed-use variety.

None of them included a facility for religious worship. The request states that single-family residential use “is economically unfeasible” and that the zoning proposal comforms to the county’s future land use map.

Nearly 30 parcels of land making up the North Point request have been assembled by The ‘True Vine’ Experience Foundation, Inc.; Sara M. Sweeney and Hanna Land Company, Inc.

The latter is headed by Fred Hanna, an East Cobb resident who’s the founder of the Frederick J. Hanna & Associates debt-collection law firm.

The ‘True Vine’ Experience is a pastoral ministry founded by Hanna’s wife, Lynn Hanna, and he’s listed as its CFO and secretary in non-profit filings.

Sweeney is a chiropractor whose practice is at 4260 Shallowford Road, one of the parcels in the assemblage. Hanna interests have owned some of the parcels as early as 2004.

The Cobb Zoning Office hasn’t yet released a detailed analysis of the rezoning request with recommendations.

The Cobb Planning Commission is scheduled to hear the case on Dec. 1 and the Cobb Board of Commissioners on Dec. 15.

Sprayberry Crossing rezoning case delayed until December

October 27, 2020 5:19 PM by Wendy Parker

Sprayberry Crossing virtual town hall

For the third time, the Sprayberry Crossing rezoning request is being delayed.

Cobb Zoning Staff is continuing the case, which was to have gone before the Cobb Planning Commission on Tuesday, to Dec. 1.

When the case was delayed last month, the reason cited was that a new site plan was in the works. The Sprayberry Crossing project would include 61,500 square feet of office and retail space (30,000 for a major grocer), 178 apartments, 122 senior-living apartments and 50 townhomes on more than 17 acres.

There are no changes shown in a preliminary agenda item or in any case folders with the Cobb Zoning Office. The continuance is being made at the request of the developer, Atlantic Realty Acquisitions Inc., as those proposed revisions are continuing.

Shane Spink of Sprayberry Crossing Action, a group of residents who’ve been pushing for redevelopment of the blighted shopping center, said “we have not had any conversations or heard from for the developer for many months so we are not privy to what those revisions may be or any other reason for the delays.”

Atlantic Realty is seeking a rezoning category called redevelopment overlay district (ROD), for the first time since it became a category in 2006.

The ROD use allows for redevelopment of blighted properties, and specified that any development would not set a precedent for the surrounding area.

But there’s been some opposition to apartments and some have questioned whether they’re allowed in the ROD category, citing stipulations approved by the Cobb Board of Commissioners for that specific property in 2006.

The December zoning meetings will be the last until February 2021, since zoning cases are not heard in Cobb County in the month of January.

Sprayberry Crossing rezoning case continued to November

October 1, 2020 2:59 PM by Wendy Parker

Sprayberry Crossing rezoning

For the second time, the Sprayberry Crossing rezoning case is being continued.

Atlantic Realty Acquisitions LLC, an Atlanta-based apartment developer that is proposing a mixed-use project on the grounds of the downtrodden Sprayberry Crossing retail center, asked for the continuance until November.

The case, initially filed for the September zoning calendar, was to have been heard Tuesday by the Cobb Planning Commission.

(A summary of Tuesday’s meeting agenda can be found here.)

Another site plan is in the works for the Sprayberry Crossing project, which would include 61,500 square feet of office and retail space (30,000 for a major grocer), 178 apartments, 122 senior-living apartments and 50 townhomes on more than 17 acres.

The developer also wants to build an open-air entertainment and food hall and incorporate walking trails and greenspace around an existing family cemetery.

Atlantic Residential is seeking a rezoning category called redevelopment overlay district (ROD), for the first time since it became a category in 2006.

The ROD use allows for redevelopment of blighted properties, and specified that any development would not set a precedent for the surrounding area.

Residents in the Sprayberry Crossing area have organized to urge redevelopment for years, and have been working with Atlantic Residential, which conducted a Zoom town hall meeting in August.

But opponents have objected to the apartment units, saying they’re incompatible with a community that’s overwhelmingly made up of neighborhoods with single-family homes.

More recently, questions have arisen about whether apartments can be included in the Sprayberry Crossing project at all.

The minutes of the Cobb Board of Commissioners’ April 27, 2006 meeting reflect a 4-0 vote to include ROD stipulations specifically pertaining to the Sandy Plains/East Piedmont corridor in the county’s comprehensive land-use plan.

(You can read those here, on the last two pages).

Those stipulations include limiting residential development to no more than four units an acre, and to no more than 60 percent of a proposal’s land use.

The majority of the Sprayberry Crossing’s proposal is residential, and the 350 proposed living units on the 17-acre property would come to 20.5 units an acre.

In addition, the stipulations limit building height to 35 feet; the current Sprayberry Crossinng site plan calls for two five-story buildings that would exceed that height.

The only commissioner not to vote on those measures, ironically enough, was the late Tim Lee, then the District 3 representative for the Sandy Plains/East Piedmont area, and who later became the county chairman.

Tim Carini, leader of a Facebook group opposing apartments at Sprayberry Crossing, wrote in a letter to planning and county commissioners last month that those stipulations must stand, even though they were not included in the 2007 Comprehensive Plan.

He said that was an error since there wasn’t a vote by commissioners to remove the stipulations.

“The residents of this area worked diligently with the BOC in 2006 to create a smart plan for this area, much like the residents who worked with the BOC on the Johnson Ferry-Shallowford master plan recently,” Carini wrote in a letter dated Sept. 17, before the latest continuance was requested. “A vote approving ROD-1 will diminish the trust Cobb County residents have for their elected officials.”

Wesley Chapel Road subdivision rezoning gets final approval

September 15, 2020 11:23 AM by Wendy Parker

Wesley Chapel Road subdivision

An 81-home subdivision proposal on either side of Wesley Chapel Road gained final approval from the Cobb Board of Commissioners Tuesday.

The vote was a unanimous 5-0, and residents of nearby communities that had voiced opposition for density, traffic and environmental reasons were generally in support after the developer added a number of stipulations.

(You can read the case filings here.)

The 49 acres of property is bisected on both sides by streams that feed into lakes at the Loch Highland community to the south, and is between Mabry Park and Garrison Mill Elementary School.

Brooks Chadwick Capital, LLC, an East Cobb-based developer, offered new stipulations on Sept. 9 (you can read the letter here) and on Monday met with the homeowners association of Highlands at Wesley Chapel, which surrounds what would be called Willis Woods, to iron out more differences.

The developer was seeking R-15 zoning, which would have a smaller density than nearby subdivisions.

Among the stipulations include tree preservation, increased setback areas along the rear edges in exchange for smaller setbacks at the front and additional green space around the creeks.

Kevin Moore, the attorney for Brooks Chadwick, said the county code allows for lots to come much closer to the streams than what his client was seeking.

Springmill runoff — *A photo of runoff in the Springmill neighborhood, just below the proposed Willis Woods subdivision.*

Stormwater issues have been a problem in the area for years, especially on the eastern side of Wesley Chapel, where streams and creeks feed into the Loch Highland lakes.

Debbie Fisher, speaking on behalf of the the Loch Highland Homeowners Association noted during Tuesday’s zoning hearing that residents there have spent more than $1.5 million dredging the lakes, much of it due to stormwater runoff upstream.

“We are the recipient of runoff for 2,400 acres, from Sweat Mountain on down,” she said.

During her presentation, she showed pictures of the effects of runoff from the nearby Springmill neighborhood.

“We have lost trees and some people have lost parts of their yard,” Fisher said, “and this is only going to be exacerbated.”

She asked for additional stormwater-releated stipulations and perpetual tree buffers and wanted assurances that the Loch Highland HOA would “have a seat at the table” at any kind of settlement discussions over negative impact of silt and runoff accumulations.

One of the stipulations agreed to by the developer is to allow no more than 35 percent of the developed area to be impervious surfaces.

The property falls in the districts of East Cobb commissioners Bob Ott and JoAnn Birrell. Ott said most of the stormwater issues fall on the east side of Wesley Chapel, which is in his district, and in his motion to approve included items from the developer’s stipulation letter.

He also added a condition that would require the county’s stormwater management chief to determine mediation steps for negative impact assessments, and also stipulated that the developer could not make any variances to the impervious surface provision.

A nearby resident said the density of the development was still too much, and said more than 1,000 people had signed an online petition in opposition.

But the Highlands at Wesley Chapel HOA president specified conditions to some of the revised Brooks Chadwich stipulations that he said would earn the support of his community.

“The applicant has addressed their concerns and that’s important,” Ott said.

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