Loyd Development Services

Holly Springs Road senior homes approved; Mt. Bethel Christian stadium case delayed again

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Holly Springs Road senior homes

The Cobb Board of Commissioners on Tuesday unanimously approved a revised zoning request for a single-family senior residential subdivision on Holly Springs Road.

The 5-0 vote came after Commissioner JoAnn Birrell last month asked the developer, Loyd Development Services, to revise the application after some nearby residents objected on density grounds.

Loyd’s attorney, Garvis Sams, submitted a revised application on Jan. 22 and outlined it at Tuesday’s zoning hearing. Instead of 16 homes zoned RSL (Residential Senior Living), the 4.3 acres on Holly Springs, southeast of the Davis Road roundabout, will have 10 homes, making it 2.32 units an acre.

That’s the same density as the adjacent Ashmore subdivision.

The land is zoned R-20 (residential) with two existing homes, and is part of the Margaret A. Keheley Living Trust.

Sams also said the unit size per home of the new division will increase, from around 2,300 square feet to 3,300 square feet. The original homes had been slated for prices ranging from $550,000 to $600,000, and he said those “price points” likely will go up as well.

Earlier this month the Cobb Planning Commission recommended the Keheley land stay at R-20, but the county commissioners deleted that and approved R-15 zoning.

“I think we have a good plan for R-15,” Birrell said. “It’s very appropriate here.”

The only objection on Tuesday came from Charles Sprayberry of the Cobb County School District, which occasionally speaks in opposition to senior-specific zoning since the schools have a senior property tax exemption.

The Cobb Zoning Department staff is continuing another land use issue in that area of East Cobb for the second time.

A proposal by Mt. Bethel Christian Academy to amend an existing land use permit to allow a sports stadium on its high school campus on Post Oak Tritt Road, near Holly Springs, has been slated for the March 19 commissioners’ zoning hearing.

That request has drawn neighborhood opposition.

The commissioners on Tuesday did not hear a residential rezoning case on Paper Mill Road that has been held by the planning commission.

That request, for six homes on Paper Mill at Gateside Place, will be taken up again by the planning board on March 5.

 

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Revised Holly Springs Road senior living proposal reduces number of units

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Holly Springs Road senior living proposal

An initial look at the Cobb zoning calendar for February shows a significant revision to a proposed senior living development on Holly Springs Road that was held by county commissioners in December.

Loyd Development Services had sought zoning for a 16-unit single family subdivision for seniors 55 and older on 4.3 acres near the Davis Road roundabout, but nearby residents complained about traffic and density concerns.

Commissioner JoAnn Birrell asked the applicant to consider an R-15 residential zoning instead of RSL (residential senior living) to get under the Cobb zoning staff’s recommendation of 2.5 units an acre.

A stipulation letter filed with Cobb zoning office on Jan. 22 does more than that in reducing the number of units from 16 to 10.

Those 10 units would come to 2.32 units an acre, and Loyd has revised the application to seek R-15 rezoning.

Garvis Sams, an attorney for Loyd, indicated in his letter the developer is continuing to meet with residents in adjoining neighborhoods.

Part of the new site plan is a 20-foot buffer between the Loyd development and homes on Intrepid Close, an adjacent street.

Here’s the full letter, with additional stipulations and the revised site plan.

The Cobb Planning Commission meets next Tuesday, but this case doesn’t have to go back before that board and will be heard by Cobb commissioners on Feb. 19.

Here’s Tuesday’s full agenda. Individual case files can be retrieved at the Cobb zoning office website. (The county website is being overhauled and for now this is how zoning cases are being organized.)

A couple of East Cobb cases to note: The zoning staff is recommending denial of an application by Mohammed Vasigh to rezone 3.4 acres on Paper Mill Road at Gateside Place from low-density residential to R-15. Currently, one home is located there, and the applicant wants to build a 7-home subdivision.

There is R-15 zoning in the Gateside neighborhood, but the land up for consideration is in the low-density category on the Cobb future land use map. Vasigh also has hired Sams in a case that has been continued.

Something from the December zoning hearing that also was delayed is a proposed sports stadium at the Post Oak Tritt Road campus of Mt. Bethel Christian Academy that has drawn community opposition.

There’s nothing new in the case files on that and we’ll update that story when we get more. The Mt. Bethel proposal also will be heard on Feb. 19 since it’s in the “Other Business” category that doesn’t go before the planning board.

The Planning Commission meeting starts at 9 a.m. Tuesday in the 2nd floor meeting room of the Cobb government building at 100 Cherokee St. near the Marietta Square.

 

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Holly Spring Road senior living proposal, Mt. Bethel Christian stadium case delayed to February

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Holly Springs Road senior living proposal

The Cobb Board of Commissioners Tuesday voted to hold a proposal for a senior living community on Holly Springs Road until February.

The applicant, Loyd Development Services, wants to build 16 single-family homes on 4.3  acres on the east side of Holly Springs, just below the roundabout at Davis Road.

The Cobb Planning Commission voted earlier this month to deny the request for RSL (residential senior living) zoning, saying it was too dense and a category not compatible with nearby residences.

Commissioner JoAnn Birrell concurred, and made a motion to hold the case until February, suggesting an R-15 (single-family) category that would meet the 2.5-home-per-acre recommendation by the county zoning staff.

“You can still have the buffers that they’re asking for and address the drainage a little better,” she said.

The land is zoned R-20 with two existing homes, and is part of the Margaret A. Keheley Living Trust.

A resident in the nearby Ashmore community supported the plan, but others were opposed, pointing to density concerns and the fact that the nearest RSL developments are in busier commercial areas.

The proposal would call for 3.7 homes per acre, while a nearby subdivision has homes on around three-quarters of an acre.

Another major East Cobb case on the commissioners’ agenda Tuesday also was delayed.

Mt. Bethel Christian Academy is proposing to build an athletic stadium on its upper school campus on Post Oak Tritt Road, and at the meeting asked for a continuance until February.

Residents in the adjacent Holly Springs subdivision have objected to the proposal, which would include lighting and permanent seating that were restricted when Mt. Bethel obtained the initial land use permit for the 33-arce property in 2013.

Jim Ney, the Mt. Bethel attorney, told commissioners the school has had “a wonderful opportunity to meet with the neighbors” and said discussions will be continuing.

Commissioners denied another residential zoning case in the Northeast Cobb area in a request that was previously withdrawn.

Richard Duncan was seeking an R-12 category for 3.1 acres on Cajun Drive and Piedmont Road to build six homes, refiling his application after initially wanting eight homes.

But Birrell said the revised plan was still incompatible for the area. There was some discussion about holding the case, but Duncan didn’t want to wait until February.

His property changes from the current medium-density residential category under the county’s comprehensive land use plan to low-density status in January.

Before presenting his case, Duncan indicated he was reserving his right to issue a constitutional challenge regarding the use of his property.

The vote against his application was 4-1, with outgoing commissioner Bob Weatherford voting against.

Cobb doesn’t hear zoning cases in January.

 

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Senior living proposal near Holly Springs-Davis roundabout rejected by Cobb Planning Commission

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A proposed single-family subdivision for seniors near the Holly Springs-Davis roundabout got a recommendation of denial Tuesday by the Cobb Planning Commission.

The board voted 4-0 against a proposal by Loyd Development to get a residential senior living (RSL) designation to build 16 free-standing homes on 4.3 acres near the southeast intersection of the roundabout.

The land, currently zoned R-20 (single-family residential) is part of the Margaret A. Keheley Living Trust, and two homes are currently located there.

The developer wants to build homes between 2,000 and 2,500 square feet with a cost range between $550,000 and $600,000, according to Garvis Sams, a zoning attorney representing the applicant. The buyers would be age-restricted, from 55 years old and up.

(Read the case file here.)

The density would be 3.7 homes an acre, but Cobb zoning staff recommended a reduction to 10 homes, or 2.5 an acre, closer to nearby neighborhoods that have a density of 2.3 homes an acre.

The county’s future land-use map calls for the property to remain low-density residential. All other neighborhoods in the vicinity are zoned R-20 or R-15.

Loyd also is seeking a reduction of the minimum 15 feet between homes to 10 feet, and reducing the side setback distance to five feet.

Some residents of the Ashmore subdivision supported the application, but others spoke out against it.

Randy Shaw of the Hudson Pond subdivision said Holly Springs traffic in that area during the day “is a nightmare” and that placing a new neighborhood so close to the roundabout “is going to add to the problem.”

“This is just not a good access point,” he said.

Amy Diaz of Cobb DOT said her agency believes the proposed subdivision entry on Holly Springs is far enough away from the roundabout to minimize those concerns.

Patrick Burns, a resident of Chestnut Oaks, said such a high-density development is incompatible with the community and will have a major impact on traffic.

“This will not be neighborhood we know and love” if it is built, he added.

Charles Sprayberry of the Cobb County School District also expressed the district’s concerns about the RSL category because of the county’s senior property tax exemption.

Cobb DOT estimates that nearly 12,000 cars use Holly Springs Road in the roundabout area daily, and nearly 4,000 travel along Davis Road in that vicinity, for D and C levels of service, respectively.

However, those are estimates from 2011, before the roundabout was built.

Planning Commission chairwoman Judy Williams, whose District 3 includes the Keheley land, said while she generally likes RSL zoning, “this RSL almost looks like a density grab to me.”

She said she preferred R-12 (another low-density single-family use), but “there is no plan before me.”

Williams said she’d like to see the developer to continue to work with the community to revise the proposal.

The planning board’s vote is advisory; the Cobb Board of Commissioners is scheduled to take action Dec. 18.

 

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