After several months of delays, the Cobb Board of Commissioners on Tuesday approved site plan changes at a vacated restaurant in East Cobb for a Whataburger location.
The board voted 4-0 to approve changes that would allow Whataburger to convert the former O’Charley’s site on Sandy Plains Road at Shallowford Road into a 7,000-square-foot fast-food restaurant with drive-through service.
Stipulations approved for the O’Charley’s rezoning in 1999 included restrictions against those uses.
“Since that time, the world has become a different place,” said Kevin Moore, an attorney for Whataburger, explaining a built-up corridor with several commercial and retail complexes.
O’Charley’s closed last year on former Gordy Family land that is subject to an architectural control committee, which has been working on landscaping details that will have to come back to commissioners.
“Instead of a dark O’Charley’s, we have a brand new Whataburger.”
On the consent agenda, the board also approved a special-land-use permit for a baseball complex on 12 vacant acres on Jamerson Road, between Lake Drive and Lee Waters Road near Kell High School.
It’s located adjacent to the East Cobb Baseball complex and will have a 5,000-square-foot barndominium, a 14,400-square-foot batting cage facility, a 600-square-foot concessions building, and two baseball fields (agenda item here).
The hours will be from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily for the baseball fields and concessions, from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily for the batting cage facility, and from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily for the barndominium. A total of 173 parking spaces would be built at the complex.
The land has been zoned residential and includes a small lake along Lake Drive. The applicant, Blake Bondurant, has been a coach at East Cobb Baseball, a youth travel baseball organization.
In a 3-1 vote, a two-acre low-density residential lot near Atlanta Country Club was rezoned to a medium-density zoning category to split the parcel into two for the construction of a home.
Murray Gray sought rezoning from R-80 to R-40 for another home adjacent to an existing residence on the east side of Atlanta Country Club Drive and the south side of Paper Mill Road (case filing here).
He’s the owner of the existing home at 101 Atlanta Country Club Drive; the second lot would front Paper Mill Road.
While Commissioner Jerica Richardson made a motion to approve the request, Commissioner JoAnn Birell was opposed due to a nearby resident in opposition.
Commissioners voted to continue another East Cobb application until September.
Naushad Ahmed is seeking reduction of of required public road frontage at the western end of Hembree Drive from 75 feet to 28 feet for a residential development.
Ahmed, who occupies a home there on 1.41 acres, wants to divide the parcel into two two lots to build another home zoned at R-30. The staff analysis states that the back lot has only 28 feet of frontage and needs the reduction in order to meet zoning requirements.
The continuance is needed due to insufficient public notice, and six people turned out in opposition Tuesday (case file here).
Related stories
- Planning Commission OKs farmer’s market at NE Cobb church
- East Cobb Whataburger site plan request continued again
- Whataburger seeks site plan changes for East Cobb location
- Marietta annexes, rezones Sandy Plains Road subdivision
- East Cobb civic leader named to Planning Commission
Get Our Free E-Mail Newsletter!
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
That Whataburger location is excellent, if they find customers. On a corner, as people go home from work. Easy out for 3 directions (I assume).
A few times a week, long ago when at University, I’d have a Whataburger meal, so I’ve had them before.
20+ yrs later, I tried it again, after living away from their normal region. My tastes have changed, it appears. It wasn’t as tasty as I recall. I suppose that’s life.
I’ll try this location when it opens. We shall see.
Other restaurants have opened along Sandy Plains Rd that had hype, but couldn’t deliver for our tastes, I’m sad to say.