Despite pleas from the developer and nearby community members Wednesday night, Marietta Mayor Steve “Thunder” Tumlin vetoed a proposed apartment complex at Powers Ferry Road and Delk Road.
The Marietta City Council voted 5-2 to approve the 322-unit on the site of a Kroger store that will be moving later this year.
There was no opposition from the public, and the Marietta Planning Commission had voted 7-0 to recommend approval in March.
But Tumlin, who has been vocal recently about too many apartments being proposed in the city, as well as their density, immediately vetoed the approval.
City council member Joseph Goldstein, whose Ward 7 includes the site, then made a motion to override the veto, which needed five votes.
But his colleague Grif Chalfant, who voted for the rezoning, then joined council members Johnny Walker and Andy Walker, who had voted against the application, in voting against overriding the veto.
Developer WC Acquisitions LLC of Atlanta had proposed the five-story luxury apartment building, a six-story parking deck and 6,000 square feet of retail space on 4.7 acres.
Kroger is vacating a 42-year-old building later this year to occupy a new superstore up the street at the MarketPlace Terrell Mill.
William Casaday, the applicant, told council members Wednesday that the site has no future for commercial and retail use. He sought a change from a commercial zoning category to mixed use, and noted a glut of supermarkets and low demand for retail.
He said the mixed-use development would generate a third of the traffic of the Kroger, and that it would luxury units with numerous amenities, with rents starting at $1,800 a month.
Patti Rice, of the Powers Ferry Corridor Alliance, urged approval, saying the development “has the potential to set a very high bar and to positively influence the quality of future development” in the area.
She said she feared that if the development wasn’t approved, the site “could be a blight and detrimental to the surrounding community.”
Don Barth of the nearby Cloverdale Heights neighborhood in the city of Marietta, said he shops often in the Powers Ferry corridor and the apartment building would be an asset.
“A lot of professionals are living in apartments for a reason,” he said. “It’s not something bad. What would be bad would be to let this property go to blight.
“We want to attract professionals to this area. This is the gateway going into East Cobb.”
But the council didn’t discuss the case before the vote.
Later in the meeting, the council approved a six-month moratorium on apartment building, with only Goldstein opposed.
The freeze does not apply to the Powers Ferry application and others that have been filed.
That includes a proposed mixed-use development including apartments at the former site of Harry’s Farmers Market at Roswell Road and Powers Ferry Road.
Apartments also have been proposed near the Marietta Square on land that doesn’t need rezoning and that is opposed by Tumlin, but must be approved by a city historic review board.
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