Some construction equipment has been brought to the future site of East Cobb Church along Johnson Ferry Road, near its intersection with Shallowford Road.
More than year and a half after getting rezoning from the Cobb Board of Commissioners, the latest North Point Ministries congregation received a land disturbance permit from the county.
Rev. Jamey Dickens, the senior pastor of East Cobb Church, said in a recent interview with East Cobb News that the plans for the church haven’t changed.
What’s to get underway in the coming months is a 125,000-square-foot building and parking lot for the church—which has been meeting at Eastside Baptist Church.
He was hopeful a year ago that the work could have begun by the end of 2022, but there were delays in getting the building permit and other issues, and he’s continuing to preach patience.
“It’s going to be a long process,” Dickens said, estimating that the initial phase could take up to six months before ground is broken on the church facility.
What’s happening now is a dam reconstruction—part of the land North Point sold to a residential developer has been deemed to be in a flood plain that was formerly a lake—and relocation of a portion of Waterfront Drive, which will be the main access point for the homes.
The rezoning approval allowed for 44 townhomes and 51 detached homes on 20 acres, to be built by Ashwood Atlanta.
But the flood plain declaration by the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Administration reduced the number of residential units by 22 to meet agreed-upon density levels.
That was the point of contention during the rezoning process from nearby residents.
Cobb commissioner Jerica Richardson appointed a citizens’ committee to work with the county during site plan review after approval.
One of those members, Rachel Bruce, who was opposed to the density of the homes, said communications are continuing over such things as landscaping along the church’s greenspace area and reducing the percentage of impervious surfaces for the residential area.
She provided East Cobb News with a copy of proposed concept for a cul-de-sac to address the latter (above).
Ashwood Atlanta has revised the plans dramatically, knocking out all the townhouses and drawing up a new site plan (below) for 77 single-family detached homes.
The developer is seeking a variance to increase the percentage of impervious surfaces above the 40 percent threshold requested by the citizens’ committee.
A request to allow for 45 percent impervious surfaces will be considered by Cobb commissioners at their zoning hearing on April 18.
“While it may not be possible to get to the 40% . . . we would like to see an effort to get closer,” committee member Ruth Michels wrote in late March to Kevin Moore, a zoning attorney who will be presenting a change to the impervious surface stipulation at that meeting.
“The creek does feed into a dam on this property which feeds into a floodway under Johnson Ferry Road, so we hope to continue working with them to find a solution that keeps the impervious surfaces to a minimum while maintaining the detached single family home structure of the proposed community,” Bruce said in response to a message from East Cobb News.
Although North Point is not involved in the residential construction, Dickens admitted that “there were a lot of parties involved and there was a lot of super complex stuff” to consider, both before and after the rezoning.
He said once church construction begins later this year, he’s hopeful it will be completed in 18 months, and no more than two years for East Cobb Church to begin occupancy.
Dickens said the congregation, which has around 600 “active families,” feels blessed to have “such a great relationship” with Eastside Baptist.
Afternoon services will continue to take place there, and East Cobb Church will continue to follow its motto of “loving where we live” with involvement in various community activities.
“For a lot of people, it’s not ideal,” he said of the current worshipping situation, but taking more serious steps to begin construction is “wind in our sails.
“The thing we love to do the best, we can do that from anywhere,” Dickens said. “It’s not stopping us from doing our core ministries.”
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