The Marietta Planning Commission on Tuesday recommended denial of two major rezoning cases in the Powers Ferry Road corridor, but the attorney for the applicants said he will appeal to the City Council next week for a delay.
The advisory planning board voted unanimously in both instances against a mixed-use project, Nexus Gardens, near Powers Ferry Elementary School, and Laurel Park, a townhome project in Cloverdale Heights.
Both projects would be developed by Macauley Investments, an Atlanta real estate developer specializing in mixed-use projects. The properties are owned by Ruben McMullan, a real esate investor with East Cobb ties, and his assorted entities.
Tuesday’s meeting was the first time the requests have been heard publicly after months of delays.
Nearby residents in both communities turned out to speak against the projects (see our weekend story), which they said are incompatible with their communities and would worsen traffic in the congested Powers Ferry area near the South Marietta Parkway.
“This will ruin the lives of everyone in the neighborhood,” said Anna Holiday, a resident of the Meadowbrook neighborhood, which is mostly in unincorporated Cobb.
Kevin Moore, the applicant’s attorney, wanted to table the Nexus Gardens case again after receiving comments from Cobb DOT on a traffic study on Tuesday afternoon. Meadowbrook Drive, the only access point for Nexus Gardens, is located in the county.
He also said Laurel Park, which would consist of 204 homes adjacent to Cloverdale Heights, is “not the plan we want to build, but we are working on it,” including a traffic study in progress.
The seven-member planning commission, however, voted twice against tabling the requests, which were first filed last fall.
The traffic issues stem from limited access to Powers Ferry in both Meadowbrook, which is mostly in Cobb County, and Cloverdale Heights, which is in the city of Marietta.
Nexus Gardens would have apartments, senior living and restaurants on nearly 17 acres, mostly undeveloped and facing Interstate 75. Some of those parcels include 19 single-family homes.
The density of the project calls for two five-story apartment buildings totalling 280 units served by a three-story parking deck, a five-story senior-living building with 160 units, 39 townhomes and restaurants and retail space.
Laurel Park would be accessible via four residential streets in Cloverdale Heights, which residents said would be a traffic nightmare in their community.
“These are small homes, but they are our homes,” said Cloverdale Heights resident Brian Peters, describing his neighbors as “solid, working-class folks.”
Many of them are first-time homebuyers in a neighborhood with homes costing around $200,000.
“Clo-Hi is that American dream, and we feel it’s now under threat,” Peters said, adding that he’s not against development, but “reckless, poorly thought development.”
The land tracts—nearly 17 acres for Nexus Gardens and 30 acres for Laurel Park—are mostly undeveloped and front I-75.
Moore said the land proposed for Nexus Gardens was rezoned by the city for “more intense purposes” in the 1980s, although development plans then fell through.
“You will hear that this doesn’t reflect the neighborhood,” he said. But “this proposal is a far better use than what is currently zoned.”
To say the property should not be developed for a mixed-use purpose, Moore said later, would be tantamount to “taking the owner’s property.”
Lily Reed, a Cloverdale Heights resident, urged the planning commission to consider the “cumulative effects” of both rezoning requests on the community.
James Rosich, who lives near Meadowbrook in the Hamby Acres neighborhood, said due to the lack of a completed traffic study, “there’s no reason [Nexus Gardens] should go forward.”
If it does, he said, “it’s a travesty.”
Among the issues are the close proximity of Meadowbrook Drive to the Powers Ferry-Loop intersection, the traffic impact on Powers Ferry Elementary School and the amount of general traffic that would use a small residential street for access to a large mixed-use project.
“Please deny this,” Rosich said. “They need to start over again.”
Planning commissioners didn’t discuss the Nexus Gardens case before voting unanimously against it, and only one member made brief traffic remarks about the Laurel Park project before the vote to recommend denial.
The Marietta City Council will meet next Wednesday, March 10, to consider the rezonings.
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Ole Rube the greedy landowner for the two parcels screwed up his hometown being greedy too. Now He sits on the board of the gateway and well connected with the good ole gang down at Marietta City Hall. Don’t think the planing commission not looking at anything and voting to deny was about stopping this. They just gave a pass like that feller said they would. I wouldn’t trust anything any of em said. They present to be fair but anything but. They have to be forced to do the right thing!
Just slightly further south on the Powers Ferry Corridor in a neighborhood connected to Powers Ferry School one of the small brick ranches is going for close to $400,000 right now. This is not the place to add 5-story apartment buildings.
The process in marietta let Kevin Moore dump critical documents at the last minute. Then he waits until an hour before to Jerk the community around asking to table. Then the planning commissions hears a case that their own public works (after having been embarrassed the last time by giving an OK to a traffic study that had serious errors that a citizen and the Cobb DOT caught ) wanted the Cobb and Georgia DOT to review. Then they hear the other case without any plans and send this on to city council. It’s like a seven ring circus! This is far from over. It will be voted upon on April 14! Everyone needs to come.
The traffic in this area is already not the best, let’s not make it worse!
Glad to see the community push back on this development.
The headline here seems misleading – the Marietta planning board denied the zoning variance by a unanimous vote.
Unless the council is going to override them it appears this project is dead for the time being.
Far from dead. Planning commission decisions non-binding. City council has approved rezonings against commission’s recommendation before.
These planned developments are absolutely crazy! Come out and see it for yourself! Adding 579 units within a quarter mile on either side of Powers Ferry at the Loop, right next to Exit 263’s exit ramp and on ramp will be perilous! Shame on Macauley Investments and Rube McMullan for such thoughtless plans and putting dollars over sense!
The planning process seems to be in need of significant improvement. Completed plans need to be submitted on time and completed so that citizens in the planning commission have an opportunity to review it. It raises questions about the ethics of how things get done.
People can’t realize the frustrations caused by the City of Marietta accepting I completed applications. This is another case where all of the info was not included and resulted in attempts to table while people got their “ducks in a row”. Mr Moore did have a meeting where he promised concerned residents an updated/real plan. The meeting was in January and no real plan as of yet. It is unconscionable that City and Moore have pretended to have a good faith effort. Please look at package and try to figure why buildings in a creek or a major sewer line. Why did the City not point out the obvious that there are 18 foot existing roads and no plan for improvement.
First of all, Traffic studies are incomplete and have been revised with different dates but all say the same thing!! Both of these projects should be denied!! They both ALREADY have traffic issues in the area. Secondly, Overcrowding Powers Ferry Elementary is not a good idea! Does MCS and more specifically Lockheed Elementary even know this is going on???
wasn’t Macauley the guy that screwed up Fort McPherson project so bad they had to buy him out to get rid of him?
Yeah I think that’s him. Bringing a developer with screwy financing issues to our City isn’t the best idea. Right?!?
Land owner McMullan’s made a terrible name for himself in this area for years. Him teaming up with Macauley guy and Moore jerking everyone around at planning department with last minute tables and it sounds like the 3 M’s of the apocalypse for Marietta to me.