Right before the Coronavirus crisis prompted government, school and business closures, the Cobb Community Development Agency issued its Johnson Ferry-Shallowford master plan recommendations and made them available for public comment for a month.
That month, of course, was dominated by the Coronavirus response, and county government has been in limited operations mode.
Last week the agency sent out another notice that the master plan proposal, and related documents, would be available for public review until May 27.
There’s also a storymap that’s been put together that runs through all the components of the two-year study, which includes land use, transportation, housing, demographics, stormwater and sense of place.
That information was compiled from feedback at town hall meetings and surveys. The agency uses the phrase “small area plan” in reference to this particular project, but the process has been similar to the Johnson Ferry Design Guidelines and the Powers Ferry Master Plan in East Cobb in recent years.
There’s a lot of material to cover in the “JOSH” report (the draft was released last summer), and we’ll highlight below a couple of areas that generated the most interest.
Here’s staff commentary from the land use section:
“Throughout the community engagement process, it was apparent that preservation of the low-density nature of the area was a reoccurring theme. Most of the JOSH study area is built-out, however, there are pockets of large tracts that could potentially be developed in the future. Whether they are CUVA tracts or underdeveloped properties, the community desires that the character of the existing neighborhoods does not change by virtue of what is developed around them.”
As a result, most of the related documents lay out potential future development that’s not much different from what exists now.
The staff also put together several scenarios for public feedback regarding the redevelopment of the area around Maddox Lake, at the southwestern corner of the Johnson Ferry-Shallowford intersection.
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the Cobb Board of Commissioners as a proposed townhome and single-family residential development before the request was withdrawn in early 2017.
The options presented in the JOSH storymap include redevelopment as a community park and stormwater management facility, with multi-family residential and some retail and restaurant space (see the map below).
The transportation recommendations call for improving intersections in a number of places, including Johnson Ferry-Shallowford, Shallowford-Wesley Chapel, Shallowford-Mabry and creating a roundabout at Hembree Road and Lassiter Road.
The “sense of place” suggestions include design guidelines along Johnson Ferry and Shallowford that would include streetscape amenities including decorative street lights and pedestrian lights, unified landscaped medians, wider sidewalks and street furniture.
The study also suggests the creation of a “community based stakeholder association” that would consider citizen ideas and collaboration on new development and design.
Comments on the JOSH recommendations and storymap can be sent to: comdevplanning@cobbcounty.org
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