Johnson Ferry-Shallowford master plan

Cobb sex shop ordinance, JOSH adoption on commission agenda

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Cobb sex shop changes

The Cobb Board of Commissioners will hold a final public hearing and is scheduled to vote Tuesday morning on proposed sweeping changes to the county’s ordinance pertaining to sexually oriented businesses.

Commissioners also will are slated to adopt the Johnson Ferry-Shallowford master plan that’s been two years in the making.

The meeting begins at 9 a.m. Tuesday in the second floor board room of the Cobb government building, 100 Cherokee St., in downtown Marietta.

Socially-distanced seating will be followed for those attending in person. The meeting also will be streamed on the county’s Facebook page, YouTube Channel and public access channel CobbTV, which also can be seen on Comcast Cable 23.

The full meeting agenda can be found here.

Two of the mandated three public hearings for the proposed sex shop changes have been conducted, but no verbal comments have been submitted.

The code amendments were proposed by East Cobb commissioner Bob Ott after a Tokyo Valentino store opened on Johnson Ferry Road in June in a former Mattress Firm location, without needing rezoning or any special permitting.

(You can read through the proposed code amendments here. Reader discretion is advised, since there are some explicit descriptions of sexual acts, body parts and devices.)

The new ordinance would restrict where sex shops could be located, both in terms of zoning categories and locations, limiting them to industrial areas.

The changes also would require sexually oriented businesses to get a special business license and employees would also have to get individual permits to work in them.

The aim is to combat what a lawyer consulting with the Cobb County Attorney’s office calls the “adverse secondary effects” of sexually oriented businesses, including crime and loitering, to nearby areas.

After multiple public meetings and written feedback, Cobb government staff released a draft of the Johnson Ferry-Shallowford master plan proposal last summer.

The process has been similar to the Johnson Ferry Design Guidelines and the Powers Ferry Master Plan in East Cobb in recent years.

The recommended JOSH master plan, proposed after more than two years of public meetings and input, would keep the highly residential area as it is, in terms of the balance of development.

Other parts of the plan pertain to traffic improvements, community facilities, recreation and stormwater management in an area with many streams and lakes.

The proposal also includes options for the redevelopment of the southwest corner of Johnson Ferry and Shallowford and around Maddox Lake.

That’s a 30-acre assemblage for rezoning that went before the Cobb Board of Commissioners as a proposed townhome and single-family residential development before the request was withdrawn in early 2017.

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Top East Cobb stories for 2018: Comings and goings in restaurants, businesses and development

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top East Cobb stories for 2018, Sprayberry Crossing
Citizens living near the Sprayberry Crossing Shopping Center demanded county officials do something about the property that has been blighted for years. (ECN file)

We’re starting off our compilation of top East Cobb stories for 2018 with a rundown of what opened and closed in the community this year, especially restaurants, other notable businesses and zoning and development matters.

These are based on reader trends as well as newsworthiness. As you can see, this was quite the year in East Cobb for these subjects, especially restaurants and some major zoning cases that could establish changing development trends.

Two major redevelopment projects in the Powers Ferry Road corridor were approved this year, and they’re slated to transform an area that’s being revived due in part to its proximity to SunTrust Park and The Battery Atlanta.

Those projects weren’t without their critics, concerned about high density and traffic that’s a growing issue elsewhere in East Cobb and beyond.

Citizens fed up with years of inaction over the run-down Sprayberry Crossing Shopping Center organized a community meeting that drew many county officials, but nothing has happened despite a court order.

Zoning and development

Ming's Asian Kitchen Opens, East Cobb restaurants
Ming’s Asian Kitchen, at Lower Roswell and Woodlawn, was among the newcomers to the East Cobb dining scene in 2018. (ECN file)

Restaurant news

Burger's Market closing
Vine-ripe tomatoes are among the popular produce items that have drawn customers to Burger’s Market since the 1970s. (ECN file)

Other business news

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Johnson Ferry-Shallowford master plan surveys accepted through July 6

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Johnson Ferry-Shallowford master plan, JOSH image survey

Udpating our previous posts (here and here) about the Johnson Ferry-Shallowford master plan survey, which has been revised following an outcry from citizens about the options in the original version: You’re running out of time to have your say about what you think future development in the community should be like.

The deadline to fill out the image preference survey is July 6, and you’ll need some time to do so. It’s 89 questions long and asks citizens and business owners to state their preferences about the look, density and feel of residential and commercial development, as well as landscaping, streetscapes, greenspaces, stormwater management and more.

A community meeting in August will summarize the findings. More on the JOSH project can be found here. Like other small-area plans, the JOSH master plan will be added to the Cobb 2040 Comprehensive Plan

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JOSH community meeting Tuesday to detail ‘suburban-style’ image survey

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JOSH community meeting

On Tuesday another JOSH community meeting will solicit public input on continuing efforts to develop a Johnson Ferry-Shallowford master plan. A new image preference survey for possible future development in the area is the main subject, following protests from some that what they had to choose from was too dense.

The meeting takes place from 7-9 p.m. Tuesday at Chestnut Ridge Christian Church (2663 Johnson Ferry Road) and here’s what District 2 Cobb commissioner sent out on Friday about what’s on the agenda:

Previously, staff was scheduled to present a conceptual plan on Tuesday, May 8. Instead, staff will utilize the May 8 community meeting to facilitate the additional IPS.

The focus of the session will be a second Image Preference Survey that is concentrated on suburban-style development concepts. The survey will include more-specific residential, commercial and office development types that would be more typical of a neighborhood activity center and transitional areas within a suburban community. In addition, there will also be images reflecting greenspace and park options, stormwater management options, and streetscape elements.

Staff will still conduct an “Open House” format meeting to present the conceptual plan in upcoming months.

Jason Gaines of Cobb Community Development told us that final meeting has tentatively been scheduled for May 23 but that has not been announced as of now.

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Revised Johnson Ferry-Shallowford master plan questionnaire to go out next week

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Johnson Ferry-Shallowford master plan

After an outcry by some respondents to high-density choices in a questionnaire that’s part of a new Johnson Ferry-Shallowford master plan, county officials overseeing the project will send out a revised survey next week.

(Here’s our post from earlier this week about the pushback).

An “image preference survey” designed to get public feedback about possible residential and commercial buildings will be reworked to include more “suburban-style” options (as seen above), especially for housing, according to Jason Gaines.

Gaines, the planning director for the Cobb Community Development Agency, told members of the East Cobb Civic Association on Wednesday that he’s prepared a new survey that’s in draft form.

Many of the buildings shown in the survey were several stories high, alarming some residents who felt that their choices may be limited to structures that are better suited for urban areas.

“The goal was to learn whether people like or don’t like” the styles of buildings, Gaines said. “We’ve got to a little bit more to do but that’s okay.”

Gaines, who is spearheading a series of public meetings about the master plan (called “JOSH” to indicate the main street name in the Johnson Ferry-Shallowford corridor), said around 200 people have responded to the survey online, and the feedback has been wide-ranging.

The image preference survey has been a similar component of other master plan updates. Cobb commissioner Bob Ott, whose District 2 now includes the Johnson Ferry-Shallowford area, asked for a new survey to be drawn.

He told East Cobb News that the original survey was approved by a 20-person stakeholders committee that includes citizens and business owners in the JOSH area.

Ott said there are no outside consultants influencing the survey options, and that the work preparing the materials is all being done by county staff.

This is the fourth master plan project he has requested for his district, including Vinings, Powers Ferry and Johnson Ferry (whose design guidelines were adopted this week).

“We’ve done this three other times, and every time the community has been supportive,” Ott said. “It’s not about what we or the staff thinks. It’s what the community thinks.”

He admitted that sometimes the staff selections for a survey are “a shot in the dark,” but they’re done as much to learn what a community doesn’t want as much as what it prefers.

The final JOSH public input meeting was supposed to have been May 9 but Gaines said there will be another meeting, on May 23, to give citizens time to respond to the new survey.

In addition, Gaines said two stakeholders meetings will take place in June to analyze all of the public response before any formal action is taken to update the master plan.

 

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