Eastside Church is asking for another delay for a proposed senior-living complex on its campus on Lower Roswell Road.
Church leaders told East Cobb News Thursday that they want to have a traffic study conducted, although it’s not required, to compare to Cobb Department of Transportation traffic estimates for the project.
“We want to do one, but it makes more sense to do it when school is in session,” church elder Ray Farmer said.
Eastside’s attorney, Kevin Moore, has notified the Cobb Zoning Division of the request to have the proposal rescheduled for September.
Eastside is seeking to rezone a portion of its property to RSL, or residential senior living.
The case was to have been heard on Tuesday by the Cobb Planning Commission, which voted to hold it in June. On July 2, Eastside asked for a continuance to do a traffic study and to consider concerns from citizens at a community meeting in late June.
The school year in Cobb County begins on Monday, and Eastside executive pastor Darrell Whipple said that the traffic study is expected to start next week and would take a week or two to complete.
In its traffic analysis, Cobb DOT estimated that the area around Eastside along Lower Roswell and its intersection at Little Road generates 13,000 vehicle trips per day.
Eastside is proposing a 95-unit assisted living/memory care building and eight independent living cottages for seniors as part of its expanded church mission.
The Haven, as the facility is being called, would accommodate elderly people who can live somewhat independently but don’t need nursing home-type care.
The complex also would have 133 parking spaces, and Cobb DOT estimates that the facility would generate 426 vehicle trips per day.
Traffic, density and stormwater concerns were raised by citizens at the June Planning Commission meeting and at a June 23 meeting at the church with nearby residents.
One of them, Lyndsay Webb, told East Cobb News that she was frustrated that the church didn’t adequately inform nearby residents of the Red Oak Park community and other neighborhoods about the plans.
“People were upset and they were emotional,” Webb said of the gathering, which included Cobb Planning Commissioner Deborah Dance.
On Thursday, Eastside leaders told East Cobb News that there are no revisions for the site plan or what would provided at The Haven.
“We have heard the community concerns and think that we have addressed them,” Farmer said.
The church would oversee the facility through a a 501 (c)(3) non-profit. The operator of The Haven would have expertise in providing senior care and would directly answer to the church’s board of elders.
The Haven is being opposed by the East Cobb Civic Association, mostly over density issues (13 units an acre), but also because of what it said would set a precedent in an otherwise residential area.
Moore told the Planning Commission in June that the RSL category is included in the Cobb County code as being among the uses “that shall not be established as a precedent for any other residential or non-residential district.”
On Thursday, Whipple said that “we would concur with the statement that Kevin Moore made that day.”
The Haven proposal also includes maintaining a 40-foot buffer with mature trees between the church property and nearby homes to stem any sight issues from a three-story building.
Related stories:
- Marietta OKs fitness center for ex-Kroger site on Powers Ferry
- Marietta tables data center request; issues moratorium
- Fitness center proposed for Powers Ferry ex-Kroger site
- Subdivision request off Old Canton Road continued again
- Eastside Church senior-living plans delayed to August
- Marietta Planning Commission forwards data center proposal
- Bells Ferry Road townhome plans held by Cobb commissioners
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