Sprayberry Crossing project hinges on rare rezoning request

Sprayberry Crossing rezoning

The developer of a proposed mixed-use project at the Sprayberry Crossing Shopping Center is requesting a category for the development that has never been sought before in Cobb County.

Atlantic Residential, an Atlanta-based apartment builder, has filed for what’s called an ROD designation, to go with existing neighborhood shopping and planning shopping district uses.

The request, case number ROD-1, scheduled to be heard in September, has been the subject of intense discussion in the community.

While many residents there have been seeking a solution for years to the blighted retail center that’s there now, others are opposed to apartments, the proposed five-story height of residential buildings seen in renderings by the developer and have expressed traffic concerns.

The Sprayberry Crossing proposal (rezoning filings here) would include 61,500 square feet of office and retail space (30,000 for a major grocer), 178 apartments, 122 senior-living apartments and 50 townhomes on more than 17 acres.

Atlantic Residential also wants to build an open-air entertainment and food hall and incorporate walking trails and greenspace around an existing family cemetery.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

During a virtual town hall meeting Wednesday organized by Cobb commissioner JoAnn Birrell, county zoning, community development and transportation officials explained more details about ROD and preliminary findings of a traffic study conducted by the developer.

The virtual town hall meeting was informational only, and Birrell and her Cobb Planning Commission appointee, Judy Williams, did not offer comments.

Birrell encouraged citizens to contact planning board and county commission members ahead of next month’s public meetings.

ROD has some other unique components.

Jason Gaines, the Cobb Community Development Agency’s planning director, said ROD projects are pedestrian-oriented and designed for traffic integration to meet the scale and variety of such developments.

They’re also “site plan specific,” meaning that there aren’t minimum lot sizes, setbacks and buffers that are required in most rezoning cases.

Atlantic Residential submitted a revised site plan below in late July that call for 10-foot front sidebacks and 5-foot setbacks to the side and rear of buildings.

To see a larger view, click here. Source: Cobb Zoning Office.

ROD projects also are not to set a precedent for the area surrounding a property that may be zoned that way.

At least 10 percent of the housing units in an ROD must be set aside for residents making no more than 80 percent of an area’s average median income.

Those opposed to apartments have said those are their biggest concerns in an area with classic suburban single-family neighborhoods.

Cobb DOT engineer Amy Diaz said during the presentation that her office received a copy of the developer’s traffic study last week, but showed some slides with preliminary information that’s subject to change.

She said much of the data is based on 2015 numbers. Due to COVID-19 business and school closures, “no doubt there have been traffic impacts” in a busy area at Sandy Plains and East Piedmont Roads that includes Sprayberry High School and other commercial activities.

Diaz said what she’s seen of the traffic study thus far is in line with what’s projected for that part of the Sandy Plains Corridor. “We do know there’s congestion in the area,” she said.

She said senior-living units have reduced traffic rates compared to single-family residential housing.

The traffic study is available by contacting her at amy.diaz@cobbcounty.org.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

The Cobb zoning office has conducted a preliminary analysis of the Sprayberry Crossing request (you can read it here), which means that it has received the initial filings and is conducting a full review of the proposal.

Once that process is complete, staff offers a recommendation before public hearings begin.

The Sprayberry Crossing case will be heard Sept. 1 by the Cobb Planning Commission, which will make a recommendation. The Cobb Board of Commissioners will hold a zoning hearing Sept. 15.