Shortly after withdrawing a request for a 24/7 gas station on an historic site on Bells Ferry Road in November, the attorney for the property owner refiled rezoning plans with Cobb County.
A request to convert the former site of the McAfee House on Bells Ferry at Barrett Parkway is on the agenda of the Cobb Planning Commission on April 7.
RaceTrac Inc. wants to change the two-acre tract from residential to NRC zoning (neighborhood retail commercial), the same category it sought last year.
But the Planning Commission, responding to substantial community opposition, scuttled that request by excluding fuel sales as a permitted use for the property. The recommendation for approval also prohibited alcohol, vaping and tobacco sales, car washes, automotive uses or any type of drive-through business.
Nearby residents complained about traffic, RaceTrac’s proximity to a child-care center and a glut of gas stations already in the area.
In moving for the restrictions, Planning Board member Fred Beloin said that RaceTrac’s proposal “would take a bad road and make it far, far worse.”
RaceTrac withdrew the request before the Cobb Board of Commissioners could hear it in November.
But on Jan. 21, RaceTrac attorney Kevin Moore filed a new request (you can read it here) with a new site plan that hasn’t changed much from the initial application.
The property is located in Commission District 2, represented by Smyrna Democrat Erick Allen. Since the original case, he has appointed a new Planning Commission member, Sara Michieletto, a former member of the Cobb Board of Zoning Appeals.
In the refiled request, the RaceTrac facility would have 16 gas pumps and a convenience store.
The Cobb Zoning Office has recommended approval of the application, concluding that a traffic study completed for the initial request “will be considered satisfied” for the renewed application. The staff analysis recommends that RaceTrac make access on Barrett Parkway right-in, right-out only.
The land, owned by Medford Family LP, was where the McAfee House once stood. It was built in the 1840s and was used by a Union general during the Civil War. The home was relocated to Cherokee County in 2025 by Cobb Landmarks, an historic preservation non-profit.
In 2023, a car wash was proposed for the land and the Cobb Planning Commission recommended approval. But the request was withdrawn by the applicant due to what it said were other business obligations.
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