The Cobb Board of Commissioners on Tuesday approved a request for a liquor license for a proposed Northeast Cobb restaurant that has been fought by nearby residents for the last two years.
By a 4-1 vote, the commissioners granted the alcohol permit to Naseeb Rana of Kasbah Corp., who wants to open the Paprik’a Restaurant at 4674 Sandy Plains Road. The space has been empty since 2015, and is adjacent to the Sandy Plains Village Shopping Center, at Sandy Plains and Woodstock Road (Highway 92).
Only commissioner JoAnn Birrell, whose district included the area until last year, voted against Rana’s application. The commissioners took up the matter after Rana appealed a denial for a pouring license by the Cobb License Review Board.
Residents from the Chatsworth, Jefferson Park and Jefferson Township neighborhoods, located just south of the commercial area off Sandy Plains, have said Rana has not been forthcoming with her plans since trying to get the alcohol license.
They said she hasn’t always communicated with the neighborhood about her plans and expressed concern about traffic and parking issues.
“This application has been denied twice, and there have been so many red flags,” said Lisa Hanson, representing the Chatsworth Homeowners Association. “We are all for a renovated building.”
Hanson said Rana initially had proposed opening a nightclub at the location that would be open very late, and a stop-work order was issued. Those events, Hanson said, “made us question whether this application was following law.”
Both Rana, a graduate of Lassiter High School, and her attorney, Lisa Morchower, denied there were ever plans for a nightclub. Rana said she wants to have valet parking for Paprik’a since there’s limited space around the building, and explained that she has revised her menu to reflect her business’ primary function as a restaurant.
Morchower said the proposed hours for Paprik’a would be 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday-Thursday and 11 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. Friday-Saturday.
Rana said she was being unfairly “targeted” by the community, and insisted that her restaurant is similar to others in the area. “I don’t see why my small restaurant will make such a big impact,” she said.
Sandra Richardson, the Cobb business license manager, said the Paprik’a site was originally a Pizza Hut that opened in 1998 and served alcohol. After that, a restaurant called Donny’s Home Cooking operated at the location until 2015 but did not serve liquor.
Hanson said nearby residents have also dealt with noise issues from the Movie Tavern, which opened in 2013, with garbage trucks making pickups late at night. She said there have been numerous violations of other stipulations by DDR Sandy Plains, the shopping center property owner.
But commissioner Bob Ott, who represents the area, said he was satisfied with the application and said that if traffic and parking ever become an issue, the community can raise them at that time.
“We have to let the restaurant open before we know,” he said, adding that Rana’s appeal hearing often felt like a zoning hearing. “Alcohol doesn’t increase traffic. Ms. Rana has her work cut out for her, but she’s made a tremendous effort to change her menu.”
Ott said that unlike a zoning, a liquor license holder has to satisfy all stipulations and be approved for renewals yearly.
Birrell said: “I’ve heard the concerns of the community, and I cannot support this.”
The Sandy Plains Village area has been in transition recent years. It was the location of a Kroger and Stein Mart before the Movie Tavern opened. A Walmart Neighborhood Grocery also opened there in 2013 but closed earlier this year.
