A long-delayed request to build homes on property containing an historic 19th century cabin is being held again after the Cobb Planning Commission voted for a 30-day hold on Tuesday.
The 5-0 vote came after a lengthy discussion about a number of other issues—including stormwater, dam repair and traffic access issues—that weren’t resolved after the applicant submitted a revised site plan last month.
“It’s pretty clear to me that we don’t have enough information,” said Planning Commissioner David Anderson, who represents District 2, which includes the 13.38 acres at 4701 Post Oak Tritt Road.
The five-member board, appointed by members of the Cobb Board of Commissioners, voted to hold the request last month for similar reasons.
Kenneth Clary, the property owner, wants to sell the land adjacent to the Clary Lakes subdivision for what would be an 18-home development (case file here).
His property is currently zoned R-30, the lowest-density residential category in Cobb. After initially making an R-15 request, his attorney, Parks Huff, submitted an R-20 site plan per the recommendation of the Cobb Zoning Office.
Huff told the planning board that many of the outstanding issues mentioned by opponents can be resolved during the plan review process.
“Your job is to zone property,” he said. “You cannot say that R-20 is not a proper category for that property. Let’s not overthink this. Let’s put this in the proper zoning category and move on.”
But the requested zoning category wasn’t why opponents came forward.
Another outstanding issue is historic in nature, that being the possibility of three graves on the site located near the Power-Jackson Cabin, one of the last one-room structures left in the county dating from the 1840s.
Huff said his client knows of no human remains on the property.
But Jimmy Richards of the Cobb Cemetery Preservation Commission cited a book about the early history of Cobb County (up to 1932), indicating a young mother, part of the Power family, died there nearly 140 years ago giving birth, and she is buried there with her baby twins.
He asked for the delay for the applicant to hire an archaeologist, per county code, to conduct a survey to discover if, and where, they may be resting.
The site plan submitted by Huff, according to Richards, doesn’t indicate anything about the location of the cabin or the possible graves.
Joe Ovbey, who lives in an adjacent home on Post Oak Tritt, said his family has known the Clarys for decades.
“I’ve been shown where those graves are for many years,” he said, urging that the rezoning be delayed.
Cobb Landmarks, an historic preservation non-profit, wants to have the cabin relocated to Hyde Farm, near other Powers family cabins.
The Power-Jackson Cabin includes Masonic markings on the chimney that are “why it wasn’t burned down during the Civil War,” Ovbie said.
More modern concerns also prompted the additional delay.
Richard Grome, president of the East Cobb Civic Association, said the new site plan “seems to have some of the same problems as the old one.”
One of the lots would not be accessible by the subdivision street at all, but via Post Oak Tritt Road.
other lots are included on a flood plain on the southern edge of the two Clary lakes. There also is a dam that is located on one of the lots.
When Anderson asked who would bear responsibility for repairing the dam, Huff indicated that it might not be a homeowners association but rather an individual property owner.
“We’re doing this the same way [as nearby subdivisions],” Huff said. “We’re doing it at a lower density.”
But Anderson wasn’t reassured by that response, nor some of the traffic access problems. His motion to delay included provisions for a community meeting between the applicant and nearby residents, a third-party analysis of the possible graves and further addressing dam and stormwater issues.
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