Plans for children's camp at Paper Mill Road home withdrawn

An East Cobb resident who wanted to use her home on Paper Mill Road to run an outdoor summer day camp for up to eight children withdrew that request Tuesday before the Cobb Board of Commissioners.

Following a lengthy discussion about concerns over traffic and setting an unwelcome community precedent, Emily Jordan withdrew the request for a 24-month land-use permit without prejudice.

Commissioners approved the withdrawal by a 4-0 vote, with new commissioner Erick Allen absent.

The vote means that Jordan can bring the proposal back at any time, since it wasn’t denied.

Commissioner JoAnn Birrell of East Cobb said while she commended Jordan for wanting to work with children, “but to me this is not really appropriate in a residential area. It’s not a home-based business. It’s not allowed.”

Jordan and her family last fall moved into a home on a two-acre property on Paper Mill Road near Woodlawn Drive on land zoned R-80 (low-density residential).

An occupational therapist, she has children aged one and two years old, and wanted to operate the camp on a half-day basis with age-appropriate activities that she said would be “therapeutic based.”

She would run the camp one week a month in June, July and August, and the activities might include meal preparation and nutrition, gardening, as well as carpentry and similar trade-oriented activities for older children to supplement traditional academic subjects.

“These are things that can help them be more independent,” Jordan told commissioners. “This is a passion project. This doesn’t pay our bills.”

Although the Cobb Zoning Staff recommended denial, the request was recommended for approval two weeks ago by the Cobb Planning Commission.

The original proposal would have had between 5 and 12 additional people on the property each day, including volunteers and professionals to help with the teaching and a state requirement for child-to-adult ratios at camps.

Jordan said the driveway is large enough to accommodate parking for the camp and that there would be no deliveries while it is in session.

She also said that she properly informed neighbors of her camp plans and none of them objected.

But the zoning staff said the use was not compatible with the neighborhood and cited the lack of a traffic plan with Jordan’s application.

Richard Grome of the East Cobb Civic Association countered that traffic would be a problem, and commercial activity makes this “a precedent-setting case.”

He said the proposal is confusing and short on specifics, in terms of how many people would be on the property and for how long, and what activities in particular would be offered.

Approval “would set a negative precedent for homeowners in residential neighborhoods to use their property for summer camps,” Grome said. “This is not a home occupation. There are too many clients visiting the home at the same time and is too intense for a business operated from a residence.”

He said there’s additional traffic using the Paper Mill-Woodlawn area as a detour due to the ongoing Lower Roswell Road construction project.

“This isn’t a big operation,” Jordan said, “This isn’t 100 kids at a YMCA camp.”

She said she never heard from anyone at the ECCA or anyone who might be opposed to the camp.

Birrell suggested holding the application but Commissioner Keli Gambrill said she would vote to deny it “because there’s a lot homework that needs to be done,” including traffic plans, getting proper permits for the food activities and meeting code requirements.

A denial would have meant that Jordan couldn’t bring her plans back for 12 months.

Gambrill suggested she resubmit the application after resolving those issues.