East Cobb Church plans taking shape after rezoning conflict

Jamey Dickens, East Cobb Church — *Rev. Jamey Dickens*

Before a lengthy process that culminated last fall in controversial fashion, East Cobb Church Senior Pastor Rev. Jamey Dickens was fond of saying of his congregation that “we want to love where we live.”

The leader of the newest of the North Point Ministries family of churches said community goodwill has been a focal point of its efforts to build a new facility at Johnson Ferry and Shallowford roads.

During months of delays for site plan and other revisions, Dickens said that “I had so many personal conversations [with nearby residents]. I walked in the neighborhood.”

But while nearby residents had no issue with the church, some heatedly objected to the high-density residential component of the mixed-use development, as well as traffic and stormwater issues.

And they were incensed in October when a site plan was filed days before Cobb commissioners were set to vote on the rezoning case, and without seeking community input.

Commissioners voted 3-1 to approve the project, which includes 44 townhomes and 51 single-family detached homes in a zoning category opponents said is too dense for the community.

“I never wanted people to feel divided,” he told East Cobb News in a recent interview.

But he said taking the time to work through site plan, traffic and stormwater details were worth it.

“I’m proud of the fact that we did spend so much time talking about it,” Dickens said. “That’s what the process is there for, and I do think it made [the development] better.”

In December, North Point completed the purchase of all 24 parcels of the 33-acre tract from the land development company of retired attorney Fred Hanna and his wife’s homeless ministry non-profit for an estimated $10 million, according to county deed records.

The Hannas insisted on selling their land all at once, complicating the rezoning case. A leader of a group of residents in opposition publicly stated it may not have been approved had a church not been applying. So did a member of the Cobb Planning Commission.

The Cobb Republican Party came out in opposition to the rezoning, and the case has been caught up in East Cobb Cityhood politics.

The Committee for East Cobb Cityhood has cited the North Point rezoning as an example of the need for more local control of planning.

But a resident near the North Point development, attending a meeting of the anti-Cityhood East Cobb Alliance, said his concerns about the rezoning were satisfied and “it made me a believer in local government” at the county level.

Dickens said the church has submitted an application for a land disturbance permit, and groundbreaking for the 125,000-square-foot church building and accompanying parking lot could take place by the end of the year.

North Point has sold 20.3 acres of the property assemblage for for the residential portion to be developed by Ashwood Atlanta.

A floodplain study was completed by the Federal Emergency Management Administration to determine the number of homes that could be built.

Cobb government spokesman Ross Cavitt said in a statement that the study “apparently resulted in a larger floodplain than expected, resulting in the loss of 20 units by the developer.”

We’re working to get more details of the site plan changes that have been made since the post-rezoning review process.

Dickens said a “conservative” estimate for the church opening would be in the first quarter of 2024.

“We’re taking it one step at a time,” he said.

Meanwhile, East Cobb Church is continuing to hold Sunday afternoon services at Eastside Baptist Church.

(On Easter Sunday, however, the church will have a 10:30 a.m. service at East Cobb Park.)

Dickens said the church currently has around 600-700 members, and it could grow to more than 1,000 in the new building.

“We just want to be a church that loves our community,” he said.

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4 thoughts on “East Cobb Church plans taking shape after rezoning conflict”

Folks, the only way to protect East Cobb is to become our own entity (City) to ensure the JOSH plan is followed, our schools and our neighborhoods are protected, and to prevent the next zoning debacle from being shoved up our collective. Don’t let the naysayers scare you into believing this brings increased taxes with poor police and fire coverage. That is simply smoke-n-mirrors. Take charge, Vote YES, and lead from the front!

Also agree. I would have preferred to see low density housing geared toward seniors. But I guess that would not have not made them enough money.

Community goodwill has been a focal point? If that was true they would have built their church without having to do a shady land deal and cramming a bunch of unwanted high density housing in an area that specifically said that it didn’t want it. If they cared about community goodwill, they would have abided by the JOSH survey. All churches are about money, but mega churches are really about the money, and in this case they made out like bandits and the neighbors that they lied about caring about are left holding the bag. I would say that they should be ashamed of themselves, but I don’t think they are capable of shame.