Some high-density zoning cases we’ve written about here in the last week got their first formal hearing on Tuesday, as Northeast Cobb residents gave an earful to the Cobb Planning Commission.
The commission engaged in virtually no discussion before voting 5-0 to recommend denying a proposal that would rezone 26 acres on Keheley Drive for 51 single-family homes, or nearly 3 units an acre. David Pearson Communities Inc. is seeking zoning from R-20 to R-12, but there’s nothing nearby that’s zoned for that density.
A similar plan was rejected a decade ago, on the same land that’s in the possession of the Ruggles family. But it’s not just density that prompted around 50 nearby residents to show up in opposition.
It’s also about flooding.
Eric Bergin, a resident of the Lakewood Colony neighborhood who spoke on behalf of several homeowners associations (totaling around 800 residents), showed dramatic slides from floods in 2009 that ravaged the nearby Country Meadows community, after which six low-lying homes had to be condemned.
The Ruggles property, which sits partially in a flood plain, is largely undeveloped, and includes Rubes Creek, a tributary of Noonday Creek.
Part of the Cobb zoning staff’s recommendation of denial also included flood plain and water retention issues that residents said would grow worse.
“We get the runoff from everywhere,” Bergin said, referencing Lakewood Colony. “This is going to cause even more water to come down.”
In June, he said, the nearby Enchanted Woods community sustained some flooding damage, as did Country Meadows again during October rains.
“The flooding and the traffic impact are too hard to ignore,” he said.
Judy Williams, who represents District 3 on the planning commission, offered the board’s only comment on the matter: “There are so many problems. Flooding has been a problem here forever.”
The planning commission’s vote is only advisory; the Cobb Board of Commissioners will make the final decision on Nov. 21.
In another Northeast Cobb zoning case, however, the planning commission voted to recommend approval of a higher-density proposal on a smaller scale that still drew community opposition.
By a 4-1 vote, the planning commission endorsed a proposal by EAH Acquisitions to rezone 12 acres on Wigley Road at Jamerson Road for 19 single-family homes.
Residents from the Falconcrest and other neighborhoods spoke in opposition, mainly for traffic reasons, and pointed to other nearby zoning and development plans that are still in the works.
“It’s not a bad plan but it just not the right timing,” said resident Patrick Cahill. “There are a lot of issues in this area already.”
However, the strongest objection came from Thea Powell, the only planning commissioner who voted no. A former District 3 member on the Cobb commission, she also cited the Country Meadows flooding issue in regards to the EAH Acquisitions application.
The land sits in a 100-year floodplain and includes a stream that flows into Rubes Creek. While other planning commissioners liked the proposal, including the architectural features, Powell was adamant.
“It doesn’t matter what the house looks like,” she said. “It’s the impact on the area.”
