Oak Hall Companies

Wigley Road rezoning approved for 91 homes on former family farm

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Wigley Road rezoning approved
A rendering of single-family homes that will be built on former Wigley Farm land.

After more than a year of delays, revised site plans and other changes, a Wigley Road rezoning case was approved Tuesday by the Cobb Board of Commissioners.

The case file was numbered Z-56 of 2017, and it was Oak Hall Companies’ project to build single-family homes on a sloping tract of land that once was part of the Wigley Farm in Northeast Cobb, just below the Cherokee County line.

Commissioners approved most of what the Cobb Planning Commission recommended earlier this month: A total of 91 homes on 96 acres. Because of the hilly topography, however, only about half of that acreage will be developed.

The rezoning request was for R-30 OSC, or low-density residential in an Open Space Community. The land has been in the estate of Audra Wigley.

There will be conservation easements and other buffers and measures to limit stormwater runoff that was a major concern, and responsible for some of the delays.

“This is the best we’re going to get,” said District 3 Cobb Commissioner JoAnn Birrell, who represents the area.

Had the developer wanted to stick with the R-30 category already in place, not only would rezoning not be required, but around 105 homes would have been allowed without any mandate for buffers or protective space.

The initial rezoning request called for 96 homes, but that was reduced to 91 by the planning commission.

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The request approved Tuesday calls for a 40-foot undisturbed buffer surrounding the entire development, which Oak Hall Companies is calling Provence Estates.

The original application came in two pieces, but was combined earlier this year. The acreage is on Wigley Road and north of Summitop Road, where opposition to the rezoning emerged.

Traffic concerns also were referenced by nearby residents (a traffic impact study was done in March, and can be found here), as were stormwater issues.

Some of those citizens who had been opposed urged commissioners on Tuesday to keep their concerns in mind. Among them include erosion and runoff from areas under development, and resident Tony Garcia, a Summitop Road resident, presented photos he took of that activity.

Here are more documents, stipulation letters, site plans and other correspondence related to the case. It doesn’t contain a stipulation letter from the developer dated Monday, Aug. 20, that’s part of the final approval.

 

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Long-delayed Wigley Road rezoning case clears initial hurdle

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Wigley Road rezoning case
A rendering of a home in the proposed Provence Estates subdivision on Wigley Road.

After more than a year of delays, the Cobb Planning Commission Tuesday recommended approval of a Wigley Road rezoning case that would convert hilly, rocky former farm terrain into a single-family subdivision.

The commission vote was 4-1 in favor of an application by Oak Hall Companies for single-family homes on 96 acres on what once was the Wigley family farm. The land abuts the Cherokee County line to the north, and is north of Sweat Mountain, Jamerson Road and Summitop Road.

The planning board initially heard the case in May but placed a 60-day hold on the application, which was once again delayed in July.

The developer wanted to build 95 homes for a community to be called Provence Estates, but the commissioners recommended 91 instead. Parks Huff, an attorney for Oak Hall, noted the rarity of a proposal for single-family homes that is around one to an acre.

Since the planning board recommended the R-30 OSC category, roughly half the tract would be placed in a conservation easement.

The land is from the estate of Audra Mae Wigley and was part of the Wigley Farm in Northeast Cobb. Initially, the Oak Hall application was for 55 acres, but both pieces of the former farm property were put together in a single request earlier this year.

Some neighbors were opposed for traffic as well as for stormwater runoff issues, and it was a factor outgoing planning commissioner Thea Powell cited for her vote against the request.

The Cobb Board of Commissioners will have the final say on the rezoning request on Aug. 21.

 

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Long-delayed Wigley Road rezoning case held again until July

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Wigley Road rezoning case, Provence Estates, Oak Hall Companies
A rendering of homes in the proposed Provence Estates development.

A Wigley Road rezoning case that has been delayed for months is being held up again after major revisions to the application that have prompted traffic and stormwater concerns.

The Cobb Planning Commission on Tuesday voted for a 60-day hold on a rezoning application by Atlanta-based Oak Hall Companies, LLC, which wants to build 92 single-family homes on 96 acres currently zoned R-30, low-density residential.

Here’s the agenda item packet for what would be called Provence Estates, with homes ranging from 3,000 to 4,000 square feet. Oak Hall had requested zoning to R-20 OSC, a low-density residential designation with open-space provisions.

Cobb zoning staff is recommending that the land be rezoned R-30 OSC to include more conservation easements because of the hilly terrain of the property.

The land is from the estate of Audra Mae Wigley and was part of the Wigley Farm in Northeast Cobb. Initially, the Oak Hall application was for 55 acres. Parks Huff, an attorney for Oak Hall, said Tuesday that his client “wanted to bring in both pieces of property at the same time.”

The land is north of Sweat Mountain and has a steep topography that has prompted concerns about stormwater runoff. Plans call for nearly half of the tract to be open space, and there would be 50-foot undisturbed buffers on the eastern and southern edges of the property.

Dave Evans, who lives on Wigley Road, said 40 percent of runoff from the property flows into a lake near his home, and worries that additional stormwater would overwhelm capacity.

The other stormwater routes are into neighboring Cherokee County and the nearby Falcon Crest subdivision.

Dave Breaden of the Cobb Stormwater Management Department admitted that “we’ve got a challenge to control runoff on this site.” Several retention ponds are included in the Oak Hall site plan.

Included in the staff comments is a request for the developer to provide a preliminary rough grading plan.

Others noted traffic issues. Cobb DOT currently estimates around 40 daily traffic trips in that area, a figure some residents said would jump to around 1,000.

The Oak Hall site plan (see illustration) also would cut off an adjacent cluster of homes that abut the Cherokee County line from Cobb-provided public services, including traffic access to Wigley Road.

In order to sort through all those issues, Planning Commission chairwoman Judy Williams, who represents the area in District 3, asked for the vote to hold the application until July. The vote was 4-0, with Thea Powell, also of Northeast Cobb, absent due to what Williams said was a family emergency.

Tony Garcia, who lives on Summitop Road, said given the housing that’s already in the area, the homes that would be built in Provence Estates don’t “fit into the character of Wigley Road.”

But planning board member Skip Gunther said that the land “is going to get developed one way or another,” and that the R-30 OSC designation is a “no-brainer.

“It’s going to generate traffic, but it’s going to be less than it otherwise would be.”

 

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