Hunters Lodge subdivision

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zoning hearing, an application to rezone 2.172 acres at Lower Roswell Road and Bermuda Drive from R-20 to R-15 was withdrawn without prejudice.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.