new East Cobb businesses

The congested layout for the Chick-Fil-A Woodlawn Square location on Johnson Ferry Road will be getting a makeover.

According to documents filed with the Cobb Zoning Division, Interplan LLC, which operates the Chick-Fil-A store at 1201 Johnson Ferry Road, wants to redo the parking lot and drive-through layout as part of an overall restaurant expansion.

In order to do that, it wants to add an adjacent .15 acres of vacant land that’s zoned community retail (CRC). A proposal to rezone from CRC and neighborhood shopping, the freestanding restaurant’s current category, to all neighborhood shopping (NS) will be heard Tuesday by the Cobb Planning Commission.

The applicant’s information packet and zoning staff analysis can be found here, and includes the above rendering and site plan modifications shown below.

What Chick-Fil-A wants to do is construct two lanes winding around the back of the restaurant, along the current route of the current single-lane drive-through, with a canopy at the order station.

If you’ve been in that drive-through lane, you’ve noticed that cars parked next to the building are essentially blocked in because of the long lines. Employees are often manually taking orders standing next to the line to speed up the process.

In the new configuration, customers would give their order, then proceed into a single line to the window. It’s a set-up similar to other Chick-Fil-A stores with this feature.

In the Cobb zoning staff analysis, it was noted that a variance is being sought for the front setback from 50 feet to 15 feet in order to accommodate the new canopy. Staff is recommending approval with several conditions, including approval of the architecture of the building and canopy plans by the district commissioner (Bob Ott).

The NS zoning classification is consistent with the rest of Woodlawn Square, which includes Muss & Turner’s, Fresh Market, J. Christopher’s and other retail stores at the shopping center. The adjacent Starbuck’s, also freestanding, is zoned CRC.

In other East Cobb business news, Drift Fish House & Oyster Bar (The Avenue East Cobb, 4475 Roswell Road) has appointed Thomas Hill as its new executive chef.

According to Eater Atlanta, Hill moves over from Seed and Stem Wine Bar, where he worked under Drift owner Doug Turbush. Hill also has also worked at restaurants in Alaska and Oregon.

The following new businesses in East Cobb were granted licenses last week by the Cobb Community Development Department:

• Atlanta Eco Tree, 1651 Smithwood Drive (tree trimming service);
• Braemar Partners LLC, 1642 Powers Ferry Road, Suite 250 (land development);
• East Cobb Embroidery, 895 Fairfield Drive (printing and embroidery services);
• M V Auto Body Repair, 1991 Powers Ferry Road (auto repair);
• Nest Interiors, 3411 Ebenezer Road (interior design);
• Southland Partners, 2100 Powers Ferry Road, Suite 300 (building contractor);
• Studio Glamoureux, 2550 Sandy Plains Road (cosmetics);
• Treestone Touring, 1000 Johnson Ferry Road (entertainment services).

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