Several months after ruling out a gas station a busy corner in the Town Center Mall area, the Cobb Planning Commission on Tuesday voted in a similar manner on a revived rezoning case that has generated substantial opposition.
By a 3-2 vote, the board voted to recommend approval of a request by RaceTrac, Inc. to rezone two acres on Bells Ferry Road at Barrett Parkway in Northeast Cobb for Neighborhood Retail Commercial (NRC) zoning (you can read the request and analysis here).
The stipulations included in the approved motion prohibit fuel and alcohol sales, which is primarily what RaceTrac had in mind for a 16-pump fueling center and convenience store that would be open 24/7.
Following a discussion that lasted more than an hour and a half, Planning Commission member Fred Beloin made a substitute motion to incorporate those and other restrictions, just as he had in October.
Beloin renewed his concerns about traffic and environmental issues at the site, where the historic McAfee House once stood, and that is next to a daycare center and across from Bells Ferry Elementary School.
At last month’s meeting some citizens suggested professional or office use for the land, which has sat vacant for years.
The McAfee House was built in the 1840s and was used by a Union general during the Civil War. The home was relocated to Cherokee County earlier this year by Cobb Landmarks, an historic preservation non-profit.
RaceTrac withdrew its initial request in October before the Cobb Board of Commissioners was scheduled to hear it, then refiled it earlier this year with few changes.
The Planning Commission held the revived case last month, but Beloin said that “my concern is that this is too close to a school.”
Nearby residents, school parents and the operator of the day care center turned out to speak out against the RaceTrac proposal.
Kevin Moore, RaceTrac’s attorney, reiterated previous statements that the pumps and fuel tanks would have equipment to capture gas vapors from the pumps.
He added the land in question—currently zoned for Planned Shopping Center, which doesn’t allow for a gas station—is suited for the requested use, since it’s surrounded by commercially zoned land.
“To deny this property the very same level of commercial use that the other properties have been provided, is making this property a sacrificial buffer for this intersection,” Moore said.
“That does not comport with the laws and rules of planning and zoning.”
Sara Micheletto, a new Planning Commission appointee of Commissioner Erick Allen—whose District 2 includes the two-acre property—had made a motion at Tuesday’s hearing to recommend approval with a number of stipulations that allowed for a gas station.
But after reading from environmental reports about cancer risks from benzine, a distilled petroleum product, Beloin said that “I don’t think there’s any serious question that people should not be breathing any great quantities of benzine on a regular basis.”
He cited various distance requirements in other jurisdictions, as well as those cited for increased cancer risks, and noted that Cobb has no such restrictions on how close fuel storage tanks can be located to such sensitive operations like child care centers and schools.
“We don’t have a strict rule, but we don’t have a strict rule that we’re supposed to stick our heads in the sand like an ostrich,” Beloin said, generating some applause in the audience.
“Where this community stands, there is no doubt. I just don’t see that this is an appropriate use of this property.”
The other uses that would be prohibited include vaping and tobacco sales, car washes, automotive uses or any type of drive-through business.
Beloin and Planning Commission members Deborah Dance and Deidre Massey voted for his substitute motion; Micheletto and Chairwoman Nadia Faucette voted against it.
Micheletto said before the vote that “we have a prime corner that has to have something built here and this solution did bring positives for the community.”
The Cobb Board of Commissioners will consider the case on May 19.
Related stories:
- East Cobb father’s bid for child’s emotional support pony denied
- Cobb shoots down drone kiosk for East Cobb Walmart store
- RaceTrac rezoning request held by Cobb Planning Commission
- New Johnson Ferry-Shallowford subdivision getting underway
- East Cobb Walmart files plans for drone delivery station
- RaceTrac refiles Bells Ferry/Barrett Parkway rezoning plans
- Cobb approves Mt. Bethel Christian Academy expansion plans
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