Northeast Cobb residents sound off on zoning cases

Lakewood Colony sign, Northeast Cobb residents

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.”

 

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Northeast Cobb residential proposals highlight Planning Commission agenda

Wigley Road rezoning, Northeast Cobb residential proposals
An old farm-style house on Wigley Road. (East Cobb News file photo)

Last week we wrote about two rezoning applications for Northeast Cobb residential proposals that go to the heart of density disputes.

Those two items are part of a larger agenda to be heard by the Cobb Planning Commission Tuesday that includes other similar applications in the area.

The meeting begins at 9 a.m. in the 2nd floor boardroom of the Cobb BOC Building, 100 Cherokee St., downtown Marietta.

The Cobb zoning staff is recommending denial of a proposal to squeeze nearly three single-family units an acre, or 51 homes in all, on 26 acres on Keheley Drive, near Keheley Road and Keheley Elementary School.

That case, Z-74 (agenda item packet), is being opposed by nearby residents, who live in lower-density homes.

The zoning staff initially recommended denial of Z-71 (agenda item packet), which would rezone 13 office and low-density residential acres for higher-density residential for a 45-unit subdivision on Hilltop Drive and Hilltop Circle, off Canton Road.

The rezoning would allow for nearly three and a half units an acre, a density staff said would not be suitable, since lower-density housing surrounds the land. Homes in the adjoining Addison Heights neighborhood are zoned for only 1.5 units an acre.

A number of variances would also be required, as would improvements to Hilltop Drive and Hilltop Circle, which are both described in the staff analysis as “substandard” streets.

However, that case has been continued to December.

Two parcels of land once belonging to the Wigley family in and around Sweat Mountain were scheduled to be heard Tuesday, but one of them, Z-56 (agenda item packet), also is being delayed to December.

That application would rezone 55 acres of undeveloped land plus an old Wigley family home on either side of Wigley Road, north of Summitop Drive, for a single-family subdivision with more than 80 homes. This is the third time the application is being continued.

A nearby application, Z-69 (agenda item packet), would rezone 12 acres at Wigley Road and Jims Drive for 19 homes, and zoning staff is recommending approval with numerous conditions.

The following East Cobb items are included in the Other Business category and will be heard by the Cobb Board of Commissioners Nov. 21:

  • OB-55, by Feroz Ali, a revised site plan for vacant property at 1445 Powers Ferry Road to redevelop a gas station and convenience store adjacent to the Valencia Hills condominium community;
  • OB-57, by St. Clair Holdings, a site plan amendment for 12 high-density residential lots at 1149 Woodlawn Drive, in the Woodlawn Commons neighborhood.

Another major East Cobb zoning case that had been scheduled for November will be heard next month. That’s for the proposed Terrell Mill Towne Center at Terrell Mill and Powers Ferry that will include a Kroger supermarket anchoring shops, restaurants and residential units.

That application goes before the planning commission Dec. 5.

 

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Keheley rezoning case reflects density issues brewing in Northeast Cobb

Keheley rezoning
A home on Keheley Drive, right across the street from a proposed high-density residential development. (East Cobb News photos by Wendy Parker)

The community around Keheley Elementary School maintains something of a tucked-away feel, with winding country-style roads, lushly wooded areas and a mix of single-family home styles on generous lots.

This part of Northeast Cobb still feels like it has some elbow room. If you travel westbound on Keheley Drive, close to where it intersects with Keheley Road, and look off to the right, you’ll see a thick scrub of land that drops down behind trees. A dirt path provides an opening into nearly 26 acres of land.

There are two homes, one built in 1910 and another in 1957, at 4351 and 4371 Keheley Drive, on land that’s otherwise designated for conservation use. The acreage is located within the floodplain and stream buffer associated with Rubes Creek.

Keheley rezoning site planThat’s where an East Cobb luxury home developer wants to build 51 single-family homes (site plan at left). A request to be heard next week by the Cobb Planning Commission (agenda item packet) is seeking a higher density use than the surrounding neighborhoods.

David Pearson Communities, Inc. has applied for rezoning from R-20 to R-12, which would allow up to three units per acre. Nearby homes are zoned either R-20 or R-15, and there’s plenty of visible community opposition.

Small yellow signs with red lettering pop up intermittently along Keheley Drive and Keheley Road, in front of homes and neighborhood entrances:

Keheley rezoning
The Keheley Lake Drive entrance to the Lakewood Colony neighborhood.

“Save Keheley! No Rezoning.”

The parcel in question is in the hands of the estate of Collene Ruggles, who died in 2016.

The Ruggles land previously came up for zoning in 2007, from R-20 to R-15, but it sits undisturbed today, in an area that’s encountering some of the same density issues that have been increasing in East Cobb.

Not far away in Northeast Cobb, land belonging to the estate of another longtime family property owner is also going before the Planning Commission for higher-density zoning.

EAH Acquisitions, Inc., is seeking rezoning from R-30 to R-15 to build 19 homes on 12. 29 acres at the northwest corner of Wigley Road and Jims Road. The titleholder is the estate of Dorothy Henrietta Wigley, who also died in 2016. She was a member of the Wigley family that was a major property owner, including Sweat Mountain and much of the present-day Mountain View area.

The only remaining structure on the Wigley property, which is proposed to be developed into a single-family subdivision.

While the Wigley application got a recommendation of approval with conditions from the Cobb zoning staff—since R-15 zoning is in effect in nearby and adjacent communities—the Keheley case did not.

In fact, the zoning staff analysis strongly recommends denial of the request. David Pearson Communities wants to build homes with at least 2,500 square feet of space on small lots. Among the variances would be to reduce the distance between residences to 10 feet from the minimum 15 feet.

Not only are other homes in the area not as densely packed, but according to Cobb zoning staff, 12 of the 51 lots in the proposed site plan don’t meet the minimum code required area above the floodplain.

Keheley rezoning
The Ruggles property on the west side of Keheley Drive.

The Cobb zoning staff also pointed out that the rezoning request doesn’t conform with the Cobb County Comprehensive Plan, since the Ruggles property is designated as being in a Low-Density Residential area (LDR), or no more than 2.5 units an acre.

The Cobb Planning Commission meets Wednesday, Nov. 7, at 9 a.m. in the 2nd floor boardroom of the Cobb BOC Building, 100 Cherokee St., in downtown Marietta.

 

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