East Cobb Church rezoning request put on hold until July

Another last-minute request for a major rezoning case before next Tuesday’s Cobb Planning Commission meeting involves North Point Ministries.

The Atlanta-based religious organization wants another month to finalize design changes for its proposed East Cobb Church-townhomes-retail multi-use development at the southwest corner of Shallowford and Johnson Ferry roads.

Kevin Moore, an attorney for North Point Ministries, asked for the request on Wednesday, the deadline for cases to be automatically continued without a vote of the planning board.

The applicant has also filed a new site plan (above, click here for a larger view) with the Shallowford-Johnson Ferry intersection in the top left.

In his letter, Moore said another month was needed due to the “detailed nature” of the design updates, and that the extra time “will allow circulation of these designs to the community well in advance of a public hearing.”

The North Point request has twice been heard by the Planning Commission, which has voted to hold the case both times.

Planning commissioner Tony Waybright said in April that he was concerned about proposed high-density housing when the JOSH Master Plan calls for medium density residential as a transition between commercial zoning and low-density residential in the surrounding community.

The new site plan has 70 townhomes and 59 single-family detached homes. The revised Cobb Zoning Staff analysis submitted April 26 indicates density levels of nearly 6 units an acre.

Also delayed until July is a request to turn the former Park 12 Cobb movie theater into a self-storage facility, more than four years after community opposition shot down a proposed Lidl grocery store on the site at Gordy Parkway and Shallowford Road.

As we noted earlier this week, the Sprayberry Crossing rezoning request, also held for the last two months by the Planning Commission, remains on Tuesday’s agenda, and some more changes were submitted after a community meeting.

The number of senior units have been dropped by 40 to 132 and 102 townhomes are in a revised site plan, up 40 from the April hearing.

The Planning Commission meeting is at 9 a.m. Tuesday and it has a loaded agenda.

In-person seating will be limited due to social distancing protocols, but there also will be commenting for those watching online. They can sign up to speak by clicking here.

You also can watch on the county’s website, Facebook Live and YouTube channels and on Cobb TV 23 on Comcast Cable.

There needs to be a limit on how often the same developer can try again for approval on the same lot with minimal changes and a limit on the total number of any approval request (regardless of the reason or size of change on the agenda). It would be interesting to hear how they got the density of “nearly 6 units per acre”. If that is calculated on the size of the entire parcel, then it’s inaccurate or, at best, misleading. In my opinion, it should be calculated on the portion of the parcel actually being used for housing. Other questions I have include: how all the added pavement and removed mature trees will be affecting the area, including the illustrated stream that used to be a lake (and will that parking deck be stable that near to the waters; how all those units won’t affect traffic; the intended type of retail they’re using to make this a mixed community (is it going to be things like a Christian bookstore and other church-related items or would a teen clothing shop be allowed) and what the percentage of retail is supposed to be vis a vis residential – 4,290 sq ft doesn’t seem like a lot given the number of houses and townhouses – and if the church is counted in that; and why does a church need so many offices – that’s a huge sanctuary. The long and short of it for me is that I don’t trust that these developers aren’t gaming the system.

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