A new faith community in East Cobb wants to build its own worship facility in a residential area, which isn’t unusual.
For the last three years, Grace Resurrection Methodist Church has leased a former church building at Roswell Road and Indian Hills Parkway.
But Grace Resurrection, which was formed by former members and a former senior pastor of Mt. Bethel Church in 2022, wants have its own facility.
Grace Resurrection is seeking to build a 15,000-square-foot building and a 286-space parking lot on 6.5 acres of undeveloped land surrounded by subdivisions.
The land, owned by the Barkis Family Revocable Trust, is located near the intersection of Oak Lane, Casteel Road and Bill Murdock Road. It contains a single-family home and like surrounding property is zoned R-30.
Grace Resurrection doesn’t need rezoning since houses of worship are zoned in residential categories.
But the Cobb County code requires that worship facilities in residential areas have “primary access” to and from major or arterial roads.
The point of access would be on Oak Lane, which is considered by the county to be a collector or neighborhood road.
The church will be requesting a waiver from that requirement at a Cobb Board of Zoning Appeals hearing on Dec. 10 (you can read the filing here).
The BZA is a five-member appointed body that hears such matters as zoning variances and appeals for waivers to county zoning ordinances.
The church also is requesting a variance to reduce a required 50-foot setback to eight feet for an accessory structure, a 6,200-square-foot playground.
In a statement, Grace Resurrection told East Cobb News that it is “exploring long-term options for a permanent church home to support its growing congregation. One of the properties under evaluation is a nearly seven-acre parcel on Oak Lane in East Cobb. This location is one of several being considered, and no decisions have been made regarding its future use.”
The statement didn’t identify any other properties, and indicated that its application before the BZA is a “request for clarification” as it does due diligence in the zoning process.
Grace Resurrection has hired noted Cobb zoning attorney Kevin Moore to handle the case. There’s been some concern expressed on social media channels, especially over traffic and environmental issues.
Applicants before the BZA are asked to “state what hardship would be created by following the normal terms of the ordinance.”
In its response, Grace Resurrection said that “to grant the requested variance and allow the development of the Church campus would in minimal impact upon adjacent properties and residences as the surrounding roads are arterials.”
The northwestern part of Barkis property is located at the curved intersection of the three roads, and is bordered on the south by the Blake Ford subdivision and on the east by the Greyfield neighborhood.
There is no other non-residential use of property in the area, and there are a number of other nearby larger parcels along Oak Lane that are also owned by family trusts.
Grace Resurrection initially was leasing the former Lutheran Church of the Incarnation site on Indian Hills Parkway from the Southeastern Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.
In April 2023, the synod sold that property to the adjacent Congregation Etz Chaim synagogue for $1.1 million.
In its statement to East Cobb News, Grace Resurrection said it “remains committed to transparency, responsible planning, and being a good neighbor in the East Cobb community. We will continue to provide updates as our evaluation process moves forward and as additional information becomes available.”
Related stories:
- Cobb to hold Unified Development Code open houses
- Drive-through coffee proposal on Sandy Plains Road continued
- RaceTrac rezoning continued to November
- Cobb Planning Commission scuttles RaceTrac proposal
- RaceTrac proposal continued to October
- RaceTrac rezoning plans at NE Cobb historic site to be heard
- New townhouse plans filed at rejected Marietta site
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Cobb needs more hosing, and east Cobb doesn’t need any more churches, which sit mostly empty for 6 days a week, and cause traffic chaos the one day they do get used.
This is a horrible idea & worst plan! I think that’s a floor plain anyway!!! BUT NO! Just NO!
yea ANOTHER massive church? What is it with these people?
Being a Christian is about helping people deal with life and it’s struggles, NOT making money and destroying neighborhood and families.
Our current administration, federal AND local it appears, has no idea what being Christian is and it appears neither does Johnson Ferry Baptist or whoever is building the massive church at Roswell and Shallowford!
The BZA will approve it by finding some hardship deserved or not. They mostly ignore the neighbors and will find some excuse to approve it. The Board of Commissioners will never have a chance to review this which they should.
Great, just what our quite neighborhood needs, a mega church slapped dab in the middle of single family housing. Traffic sure will be fun with our single lane roads and stop signs. And there is no way to fight it because they can’t deny churches zoning in this state.
I can’t blame the mega church, they figured out their racket. I blame the congregation. Remember folks, if your pastor can’t name everyone in their congregation, it isn’t a church, it’s a get rich scam. The shame falls on the folks that attend these kind of churches. I wouldn’t mind a small church, 50-100 people. But a 1000 person facility is too much. Build it in a commercial zone.
As soon as you see Kevin Moore’s name attached to it, you know it will be terrible for the neighborhood.
He’s a slick character and the Commissioners call him “Kevin” as if he is their buddy. I don’t trust anything he says.
Yay – just what we need here – more churches.
No! This is going to destroy Casteel. This road gets backed up during rush hour as is. A mega church is going to ruin this road. This neighborhood does NOT want a mega church.