Sprayberry Crossing, East Cobb Church rezonings held again

Sprayberry Crossing rendering

For the second month in a row, the Cobb Planning Commission has voted to hold two complex redevelopment cases in East Cobb, saying the proposals are improved but have not resolved issues over density, traffic and land use.

By unanimous 5-0 votes Tuesday, the Planning Commission is delaying the Sprayberry Crossing and East Cobb Church proposals until June, after last-minute revisions were submitted by the applicants last week.

Concerns by Cobb DOT over traffic changes at the Sprayberry Crossing proposal on Sandy Plains Road were enough for Planning Commissioner Deborah Dance and her colleagues to support another delay.

Atlantic Realty, which wants to redevelop the current blighted retail center on Sandy Plains between East Piedmont Road and Post Oak Tritt Road, dropped a proposed 125-unit apartment building for townhomes but is keeping a senior apartment building and grocery space.

The traffic changes include a proposed “offset” traffic signal into the development on Sandy Plains that would not align with the nearby Kinjac Drive intersection.

“Access is the No. 1 issue here,” planning board chairman Galt Porter said at the end of a discussion that lasted more than an hour. He also said the layout of the newly added townhomes “leaves a lot to be desired—it looks like a bowling alley.”

Porter also said making the senior apartment building—for renters ages 55 and up—from three to four stories, reflecting an increase from 125 to 172 units, is an issue.

Before that case, planning commissioners said plans by North Point Ministries for a campus of the new East Cobb Church, single-family homes and townhomes and retail at the intersection of Johnson Ferry Road and Shallowford Road are improved from the first hearing in April, but still need work.

Tony Waybright, who represents that area of East Cobb on the planning commission, said he was concerned about proposed high-density housing when the JOSH Master Plan calls for medium density residential as a transition between commercial zoning and low-density residential in the surrounding community.

“I don’t see a reason to go above” the master plan’s medium-density guidelines, he said in making his motion for another delay. The developer has not explained any hardship in making a request for high-density.

“This plan deserves a little more time,” Waybright said.

This story will be updated.