Cobb commissioners eliminate redevelopment zoning category

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.

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.

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