A proposed single-family subdivision for seniors near the Holly Springs-Davis roundabout got a recommendation of denial Tuesday by the Cobb Planning Commission.
The board voted 4-0 against a proposal by Loyd Development to get a residential senior living (RSL) designation to build 16 free-standing homes on 4.3 acres near the southeast intersection of the roundabout.
The land, currently zoned R-20 (single-family residential) is part of the Margaret A. Keheley Living Trust, and two homes are currently located there.
The developer wants to build homes between 2,000 and 2,500 square feet with a cost range between $550,000 and $600,000, according to Garvis Sams, a zoning attorney representing the applicant. The buyers would be age-restricted, from 55 years old and up.
The density would be 3.7 homes an acre, but Cobb zoning staff recommended a reduction to 10 homes, or 2.5 an acre, closer to nearby neighborhoods that have a density of 2.3 homes an acre.
The county’s future land-use map calls for the property to remain low-density residential. All other neighborhoods in the vicinity are zoned R-20 or R-15.
Loyd also is seeking a reduction of the minimum 15 feet between homes to 10 feet, and reducing the side setback distance to five feet.
Some residents of the Ashmore subdivision supported the application, but others spoke out against it.
Randy Shaw of the Hudson Pond subdivision said Holly Springs traffic in that area during the day “is a nightmare” and that placing a new neighborhood so close to the roundabout “is going to add to the problem.”
“This is just not a good access point,” he said.
Amy Diaz of Cobb DOT said her agency believes the proposed subdivision entry on Holly Springs is far enough away from the roundabout to minimize those concerns.
Patrick Burns, a resident of Chestnut Oaks, said such a high-density development is incompatible with the community and will have a major impact on traffic.
“This will not be neighborhood we know and love” if it is built, he added.
Charles Sprayberry of the Cobb County School District also expressed the district’s concerns about the RSL category because of the county’s senior property tax exemption.
Cobb DOT estimates that nearly 12,000 cars use Holly Springs Road in the roundabout area daily, and nearly 4,000 travel along Davis Road in that vicinity, for D and C levels of service, respectively.
However, those are estimates from 2011, before the roundabout was built.
Planning Commission chairwoman Judy Williams, whose District 3 includes the Keheley land, said while she generally likes RSL zoning, “this RSL almost looks like a density grab to me.”
She said she preferred R-12 (another low-density single-family use), but “there is no plan before me.”
Williams said she’d like to see the developer to continue to work with the community to revise the proposal.
The planning board’s vote is advisory; the Cobb Board of Commissioners is scheduled to take action Dec. 18.
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