East Cobb Guthrie's Chicken proposal gets initial approval

Guthrie's Chicken files for rezoning for East Cobb restaurant

The Cobb Planning Commission voted Tuesday to recommend approval of a proposed Guthries’ Chicken drive-through restaurant in East Cobb.

After continuing the application for a month, the board placed the application on the consent agenda by a 4-0 vote when no opposition arose.

The initial request to convert 3.17 acres at the southwest intersection of Lower Roswell Road and Johnson Ferry Road from planned shopping center (PSC) to neighborhood retail commercial (NRC) was on consent.

East Cobb Guthries LLC wants to convert an empty medical building for a two-lane drive-through only restaurant and purchased the property last year.

But the East Cobb Civic Association objected to some of the variances and was concerned about the lack of a detailed site plan and asked for more time to review the request.

Guthrie’s hired noted zoning attorney Kevin Moore, who submitted a stipulation letter dated Nov, 27 that addressed some of those issues and included a site plan (you can read it here).

The 1,500-square-foot building will be remodeled and the property will include 10 parking spaces, down from an original range between 22-25 spaces. The operating hours will be daily from 10 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. and access will be on Lower Roswell only.

The stipulation letter indicates that Guthries “will utilize outdoor employee order service . . . during expected, heavier volume times.”

Traffic concerns also came up during the initial hearing in November. Cobb DOT revised a traffic study and requested that Guthrie’s donate right-of-way to complete the project and for an upcoming improvement project along Lower Roswell.

District 2 Planning Commission member David Anderson included in his motion to place the application on the consent agenda a stipulation that Guthrie’s conduct a traffic study.

The Cobb Board of Commissioners is scheduled to hear the case on Dec. 19.

East Cobb Guthrie's site plan