East Cobb Civic Association

Legislative leader to speak to East Cobb Civic Association

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State Rep. Sharon Cooper, a Republican from District 45 in East Cobb, is the featured speaker at the East Cobb Civic Association‘s monthly meeting on Wednesday.East Cobb Civic Association logo

The meeting takes place at 7 p.m. at Fullers Park (3499 Robinson Road), and is open to the public.

Cooper, the chairwoman of the Georgia House Public Health Committee, is expected to review the recently concluded 2023 legislative session.

The East Cobb Civic Association is an all-volunteer organization of around 9,000 homeowners that influences development in the community by getting involved in zoning and code matters, as well as transportation, community service and other issues.

The meetings are held the fourth Wednesday of each month and include a discussion of and recommendations on zoning cases to be heard by the Cobb Planning Commission and Cobb Board of Commissioners.

Upcoming zoning cases include a rezoning on Post Oak Tritt Road for a subdivision near Clary Lakes, and replacing the current Starbucks at Paper Mill Village with a larger coffee shop in a standalone building.

Those cases have been delayed several months and are tentatively scheduled to be considered in May.

The ECCA opposed a decision last week by Cobb commissioners to allow for a King’s Hawaiian restaurant at Shallowford Road and Gordy Parkway.

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East Cobb Civic Association opposes building design standards bill

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Cobb commissioners local design standards

Shortly before Cobb County became the latest metro Atlanta government to oppose legislation that would strip cities and counties of local control of residential building design standards, the East Cobb Civic Association weighed in on the matter.

In response to a message from East Cobb News on Tuesday, ECCA president Linda Carver said that the organization “is firmly opposed” to companion bills in the House and the Senate, “and we will be encouraging our ECCA members to let their state representatives know of our opposition.”

(See previous ECN story here).

The ECCA, which was formed in 1982, represents around 90 subdivisions in the East Cobb area and takes an active role in examining zoning cases, making recommendations to the Cobb Planning Commission and Cobb commissioners.

Carver said in an initial response Tuesday afternoon that her organization hadn’t had time to sort through HB 302, but indicated that “anything that would take away local control of building standards would not be looked on favorably.”

She followed up later Tuesday when learning of the Senate bill and stated the ECCA’s opposition.

The bills, HB 302 and SB 172, are being sponsored by lawmakers in smaller towns and rural parts of Georgia, and some metro Atlanta cities and counties have taken exception.

The legislation would cover design elements for one- and two-family homes, and would take away local approval for such things as exterior building color, style and materials for roofs and porches, exterior architectural ornamentation, location and styling of windows and doors, types of flooring and the interior layout of rooms.

On Tuesday night, the Cobb Board of Commissioners voted 5-0 to adopt a resolution by commissioner Bob Ott of East Cobb to oppose the bills.

He said he’s been getting a lot of e-mails about the matter, saying it “smacks in the face of local control. We spend a lot of time working with the community” on standards governing the look and materials of new homes.

Commissioner JoAnn Birrell of Northeast Cobb said it “would be a disaster for the community and surrounding neighborhoods” if local governing bodies lost the ability to set design standards.

The bills are supported by those in home building and real estate industries.

Also on Tuesday, the commissioners voted 5-0 to adopt a resolution seeking an extension for for a special transit committee in Cobb.

The resolution seeks an amendment to current state law, which call for the termination of the committee in December 2019. It’s made up of county commissioners and the Cobb legislative delegation and its duties include drawing up the boundaries for a special transit area.

Cobb is planning to hold a referendum to extend the SPLOST one-cent sales tax for county government in 2020, and Chairman Mike Boyce is eyeing 2022 for a possible transit referendum, saying the extra time is necessary to draw up a viable project list.

The commissioners also approved an alcohol license for Catfish Hox, a seafood restaurant at 2595 Sandy Plains Road, and that was recognized at the 2018 Taste of Marietta festival.

The restaurant’s initial application for beer, wine and Sunday pouring had been rejected by the Cobb License Review Board because it’s located within 600 feet of Sprayberry High School.

Owner Vivian Creasor said in her appeal that while the industry standard is to check identification of customers ordering alcohol who appear to be under 40, carding at Catfish Hox will occur “100% of the time regardless of appearance.”

She said the application for a pouring license is to compete with other restaurants in the vicinity. Kumo, a Japanese restaurant in the same shopping center, also serves alcohol.

 

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Self-storage facility approved at former Mountain View ES site; Canton Road ‘blight’ case held

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The Cobb Board of Commissioners voted 5-0 Tuesday to approve a request for a self-storage facility at the former Mountain View Elementary School site, despite opposition from some nearby residents.

The three-story building will be part of a mixed-use development on the 14-acre site on Sandy Plains Road that will include restaurants, shops and other retail businesses.

Some residents of the adjacent Cutters Gap subdivision complained that their privacy would be diminished, and there would be noise and other issues.

They also accused the developer of a “bait and switch” by not including the self-storage plans when the zoning for the full project was granted in October. However, the developer, Brooks Chadwick Capital, had to get a special land-use permit, which is required for self-storage facilities to be approved.

Kevin Moore, an attorney for Brooks Chadwick, reiterated that point, saying his clients still would have to have applied for the SLUP even if they had known at the time there was interest from a potential storage facility builder.

Additional stipulations proposed since the Cobb Planning Commission recommended approval earlier this month include a 42-foot height limit for the nearly 100,000-square-foot building, down from 45 feet.

Other restrictions include no overnight parking or vehicle idling, and limited hours for unloading, including none during overnight periods.

Brooks Chadwick also agreed to keep a 50-foot buffer between the development and nearby homes as part of the original zoning.

When some residents pointed out that there were more than a dozen storage facilities in the area, District 3 commissioner JoAnn Birrell said: “It’s free enterprise,” a subject that is “not what we’re here to consider” in a zoning matter.

The East Cobb Civic Association also spoke in favor of the SLUP, as it had for the redevelopment in general.

The commissioners agreed to hold another zoning case in Northeast Cobb, this one involving a proposal to improve a blighted property in the Canton Road corridor (previous East Cobb News coverage here) that has been delayed before.

Canton Road

PetroPlex ventures wants to rezone 0.87 acres at 2120 Canton Road, near the Canton Road connector, for a low-rise office building. It’s on the site of a gas station that closed in 2003 and has become increasingly deteriorated.

Tom Mitchell, an attorney for the applicant, presented revised plans for remodeling the building, including architectural and other changes recommended by the planning commission.

But Carol Brown of Canton Road Neighbors said the revised proposal doesn’t meet Cobb development standards and guidelines set forth in the Canton Road Corridor project.

Specifically, she objected that a canopy that was part of the gas station would remain, but the only proposed improvement to it would be a repainting.

The structure, she said, “needs more than a fresh coat of paint. . . . Please don’t ignore 13 years of community planning and investment” for improving what she called “one of the most blighted properties” on Canton Road.

Another contested East Cobb zoning case was withdrawn Tuesday. Robert Licata, a pediatrician, had proposed converting empty office space at Johnson Ferry Road and Lassiter Road for a restaurant, gym, medical offices and retail shops.

The planning commission recommended denial, saying that 37 proposed parking spaces wouldn’t be enough, and there was no rear loading space. Residents at the adjacent Lassiter Walk subdivision and the East Cobb Civic Association also were opposed.

 

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Former Mountain View Elementary School redevelopment approved

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Mountain View Elementary School redevelopment

By a 5-0 vote Tuesday morning, the Cobb Board of Commissioners approved a proposal for the former Mountain View Elementary School redevelopment plan on Sandy Plains Road.

The applicant, Brooks Chadwick Capital, LLC, wants to raze the school to build a 103,000-square foot development to include restaurants, retail, a bank and supermarket (agenda packet here).

The plan calls for seven separate buildings on the 13.8-acre site, which is owned by the Cobb County School District, and would include and expanded buffer at the back property line that is adjacent to the Hunters Lodge neighborhood.

“I think we’ve made a lot of progress,” Northeast Cobb commissioner JoAnn Birrell said, explaining the multiple meetings between the developer and residents who had opposed the rezoning.

After the Cobb Planning Commission recommended rezoning approval from R-20 to CRC (previous East Cobb News post here), the developer’s attorney Kevin Moore, presented additional stipulations at Tuesday’s meeting to address nearby residential concerns.

Those stipulations, which were submitted in an Oct. 12 letter, include no automotive, convenience store, liquor, laundromat and dry cleaning services in the back three buildings.

A 30-foot undisturbed buffer between the back property line and the residential area would include an eight-high fence, plus an additional 20-foot landscape buffer. The fencing would be enclosed at either end of the property line, and would be inspected by a certified arborist, Moore said.

Moore also stressed that at no location within the development will amplified outdoor entertainment be allowed, a stipulation he said is similar to The Avenue at East Cobb.

The redevelopment was supported by the East Cobb Civic Association.

Birrell moved to approve the rezoning, subject to the latest stipulations and final site plan amendment, as well as a landscaping plan that she would approve as the district commissioner.

“There have been some long meetings, but I think it’s going to be a win-win-for the community,” Birrell said.

In other East Cobb items at Tuesday’s zoning hearing, an application to rezone 2.172 acres at Lower Roswell Road and Bermuda Drive from R-20 to R-15 was withdrawn without prejudice. The Planning Commission voted to recommend denial earlier this month after strong community opposition (previous East Cobb News post here).

Former Mountain View ES redevelopment plans get initial OK

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The Cobb Planning Commission is recommending approval of a rezoning that would create a major commercial complex on the site of the former Mountain View Elementary School.

Although some nearby residents were seeking a delay, the commission voted 5-0 on Tuesday for a plan (packet item here) that would change the zoning category on Sandy Plains Road from R-20 (many schools are zoned on residential land) to CAC (community activity center).

The 13.8-acre development would include seven separate buildings for restaurants, retail shops, banks and a grocery store. The complex, which would exceed 100,000 square feet, is being developed by Brooks Chadwick Capital LLC of East Cobb and Jeff Fuqua, a private developer.

Residents living in the adjacent Hunters Lodge neighborhood were concerned about the reduction of the hill on which the former school sat affecting their sight lines, and some were opposed because they say the area already has enough businesses of the kind being proposed.

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But Trish Steiner of the East Cobb Civic Association said the organization voted unanimously to support the rezoning.

“We realize this is difficult for the neighbors to accept change,” she said. “However, we believe this application is appropriate.

Kevin Moore, an attorney for the applicants, said a full site plan hasn’t been completed because of possible changes in the final building design, depending on what businesses locate there. He said he couldn’t divulge which specific businesses are interested in the new development.

“When they sign the lease, that’s when things get set in stone,” Moore said. “We’re confident where we are with the placement of the buildings.”

Moore said the developer’s agreements to provide several buffers—50 feet of undisturbed buffers, a landscape buffer and a wall—will not change.

Those stipulations are final, he said: “We wanted to be transparent up front . . . to show the guardrails” between the development and the neighborhood.

Planning commission member Judy Williams, who represents District 3, said she also understands the opposition, but “the community has changed since the subdivision was built. I think they came up with a good plan.”

The Cobb Board of Commissioners will decide that case on Oct. 17.

Tiny, older Bermuda Drive neighborhood puts up East Cobb density fight

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Bermuda Drive neighborhood
The front portion of residential property at Lower Roswell Road and Bermuda Drive that’s up for higher density rezoning. (East Cobb News photos by Wendy Parker)

Tucked away on a cul-de-sac street off Lower Roswell Road, not far from the clatter of the East Cobb Pipeline Project and featuring some lush and ample residential elbow room, lies the Bermuda Drive neighborhood.

More formally it’s known as the Carter subdivision, named after the homebuilder who constructed nine ranch-style homes on big lots in the early 1960s. This was just before East Cobb went from rural to suburban, and as developers were still maintaining something of a pastoral atmosphere for new properties.

Several residents have been there nearly as long as the subdivision (located just across Lower Roswell from Holy Family Catholic Church), and some are related to one another. To say that the Bermuda Drive neighborhood is a tight-knit one is an understatement.

“It’s a community, not just a street,” said Elaine Dover, who’s lived in her home on Bermuda Drive for 44 years.

Yet like many East Cobb neighborhoods, Bermuda Drive isn’t immune to a rapid, explosive new wave of residential building that emphasizes density over just about anything else. When a 2.172-acre tract of land at the entrance to her community was proposed for rezoning, Dover and her neighbors were concerned.

Bermuda Drive neighborhood
R-15 communities are nearby, but not contiguous, to the Bermuda Drive neighborhood.

The rezoning (here’s the agenda item information) is being sought by Rabin Dayani, an established developer in the area. He wants to change the current R-20 zoning to R-15 to build five two-story homes on the land.

Dayani wants not only bigger houses (with a minimum of 2,500 square feet) than what’s on Bermuda Drive, they also would be on higher density land than what’s nearby. He could build four homes on the land under the present zoning category, which would have been fine with the Bermuda Drive neighborhood.

According to the Cobb zoning staff (which is recommending denial), the land was initially zoned for two lots in 1959.

When Dover and others spoke in opposition to the rezoning Tuesday before the Cobb Planning Commission, they used word “precedent” often. It’s a word that has come up frequently in recent East Cobb zoning cases, as residents have seen higher-density many residential and commercial projects proposed near their communities. Some have been approved, others have not, but in so many cases, the battle that’s being fought is quite often over precedent.

Even if it’s a difference over one house, as is the case in the Bermuda Drive neighborhood.

Bermuda Drive neighborhood
Developer’s rendering of five homes with access to Bermuda Drive. Current zoning would allow up to four homes.

“We feel it will set a precedent in this area,” said Jill Flamm of the East Cobb Civic Association, who also spoke in opposition before the planning commission. “R-20 is suitable for new development in this area.”

Dover submitted a petition to the planning commission, saying that reducing density from R-20 would open up the Bermuda Drive neighborhood “to a negative precedent.”

The planning commission—which is an advisory board appointed by the Cobb Board of Commissioners—agreed, and voted to deny Dayani’s proposal by a 5-0 vote. Mike Terry, the planning commission chairman who represents District 2 in East Cobb, said at first he didn’t think the rezoning would draw much opposition. But he heard plenty from Bermuda Drive homeowners, and read excerpts from e-mails he’s received.

Terry said the neighbors aren’t anti-growth, but favor “smart” growth that complies with the land use plan and isn’t dramatically out of step with existing residences.

“They’re not saying don’t build here, but let’s leave the current zoning and build four quality homes,” Terry said. “I think four will be fine, but five is out of character. We need to protect the character of the neighborhood.”

Terry encouraged Dayani to revise his proposal before before Cobb commissioners have the final say on Oct. 17.

Bermuda Drive neighborhood
The back lot area along Bermuda Drive.

New Cobb police chief responds to officer incidents, vows to change training, community policing methods

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Mike Register, Cobb Police Chief
“We’re having some challenges,” Cobb Police Chief Mike Register told the East Cobb Civic Association Wednesday. (East Cobb News photo by Wendy Parker)

Mike Register brought several pages of prepared remarks to Wednesday’s East Cobb Civic Association meeting as he aimed to lay out his vision as the newly named Cobb Police Chief.

After detailing his long career in the military and his return to the Cobb PD after serving as Clayton County Police Chief, real-time matters intervened to punctuate Register’s desire to make significant changes in the way officers are trained and how they deal with the public.

An hour before Register’s ECCA address at the East Cobb Library, WSB-TV reported that Lt. Greg Abbott, a 28-year Cobb PD veteran, had been placed on administrative leave after a dash-cam video revealed him making racially charged remarks to a female passenger riding in a car pulled over on a traffic stop in July 2016.

According to what was heard on the video, the white woman reached for her cell phone as Abbott approached, making a reference to police shootings. He said to her: “Remember, we only kill black people. We only kill black people, right?”

In the WSB-TV report, Abbott’s attorney said the officer’s comments were not taken in their proper context, claiming he was trying to defuse the situation.

Register, who succeeded retired chief John Houser in June, told the ECCA gathering that the officer’s comments were “hurtful,” and were “inappropriate in any context and not indicative of the values we’re trying to instill in the Cobb Police Department.”

At one point during his ECCA appearance, Register was summoned out of the room for a few minutes by County Manager Rob Hosack.

UPDATED, 4 p.m. Thursday: At a news conference on Thursday, Register and other county officials said Abbott would be terminated, adding that “it’s not the kind of decision we make lightly.”

On Tuesday, Cobb Police had to respond a WSB-TV report, based on a body-cam video, of an officer shooting at an unarmed teen eight times last November. That officer had already announced his resignation, and the Cobb District Attorney’s office recommended no charges.

Register said the video of that incident prompted him to call for changes in the Cobb PD regarding use of force and firearms training (The suspect’s lawyer is planning a lawsuit, according to the WSB-TV report).

After the second incident, Register admitted in his ECCA remarks that “we’re having some challenges.”

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East Cobb Civic Association gives nod to Taqueria Tsunami site plan proposal

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Taqueria Tsunami East Cobb

A follow-up to the story we reported here Monday about a proposed Taqueria Tsunami in East Cobb going up in the old Caribou Coffee/Einstein Bagel space on Johnson Ferry Road: It’s gotten a recommendation of conditional approval by the East Cobb Civic Association.

During its monthly business meeting Wednesday, the group voted to recommend approval of a site plan amendment being proposed on behalf of Fork U Concepts, the Marietta company that runs the six-restaurant Latin-Asian fusion concept chain, but with some stipulations.

Those recommendations include the district commissioner (Bob Ott) signing off on building renderings for the new restaurant, a landscaping plan for the property and front signage, none of which have been submitted to the Cobb Zoning Department.

The 0.70-acre tract at 1275 Johnson Ferry Road has been vacant since Einstein Bagels left in 2015. The land was first zoned for commercial use in 1978 as a Krystal fast-food restaurant (Caribou replaced it in 1995 and closed in 2013).

Amor Design Group, an architectural design firm submitting the application, wants to revise the site plan to remove the drivethru window used at the former Caribou location, in order to increase parking. The proposal calls for a parking expansion to 42 spaces that would include restriping.

The ECCA, which represents more than 90 homeowners associations and other individuals, is a citizens group that provides advisory opinions to the Cobb Planning Commission and Cobb Board of Commissioners on zoning and land use cases. While it wields no official power, its influence is frequently considered (Ott is a former ECCA president), especially when community opposition arises.

One other thing to note about the Taqueria Tsunami case: It’s considered “other business” in Cobb zoning parlance since it’s a site plan amendment proposal, instead of a pure rezoning matter.

Therefore, this case doesn’t need to go before the Cobb Planning Commission and instead will be heard by the Cobb Board of Commissioners on Sept. 19.

A zoning case that was on next Thursday’s Cobb Planning Commission agenda but that has been continued until October is the proposed redevelopment of the former Mountain View Elementary School (Z-053-2017). The nearly 14-acre tract would be converted into a mixed-use complex of restaurants, grocery, retail, banking and other commercial uses.

According to Jill Flamm of the ECCA, the applicant, Brooks Chadwick Capital LLC, is asking for more time to work with the community.

She also briefed ECCA members on other zoning and land use cases that have no new information to report. They include another high-profile September case, proposed by Lidl Grocery (OB-016-2017) to redevelop the Park 12 Cinema on Gordy Parkway, and a proposal by S & B Investments to add a drivethru window at the Starbucks Coffee location near Paper Mill Village, at 31 Johnson Ferry Road (OB-028-2017).

The ECCA has recommended denial of the Lidl Grocery application and supports the Starbucks addition.

Also on Wednesday, the ECCA voted to hold an application by Blair Waldron to amend a site plan for 1.28 acres on the north side of Roswell Road, just west of East Piedmont Road, to allow for a 16,000-square-foot medical and dental office building.

The land is located between a Bank of America branch and the East Cobb United Methodist Church. The proposed building would house Waldron Dentistry, which is currently located at 3020 Roswell Road, near Old Canton Road.

Flamm said no renderings have been submitted, and there are 34 pages of stipulations to consider. Much of that stems from a litigation settlement in 1999. Here’s the file information on OB-041-2017 from the Cobb Zoning Department, which hasn’t done a staff analysis for the application since it came in after the Aug. 4 commenting deadline.