‘Spot-zoning’ request in Fox Hills gets initial thumbs-up

The Cobb Planning Commission on Tuesday voted to recommend modifying a rezoning request that would split a residential property in the Fox Hills subdivision for the construction of an additional home.

The vote was 3-0, with two members absent.

CO2 Creative Group, LLC, a Marietta developer, wants to renovate a home it owns on Huntsman Way and divide the back portion of a one-acre lot and build a home fronting Spring House Court, at a cul-de-sac.

In order to do that, it sought a change from R-30 zoning, which is the category of most homes in that part of Fox Hills, to R-20 (you can read the case file here).

To “spot zone” the land “is a bad precedent to set,” said Jackie Bettadapur of the East Cobb Civic Association.

Simon Holt of CO2 Creative said the Hunstman Way land was originally two lots, then combined by a previous owner in 1974. His firm bought the land in November for $412,000, and would build a similar-type house on the Spring House Court parcel.

He said it would be around 3,000 square feet with two stories and architecture similar to surrounding homes.

“The idea is to build a house that works well with the surrounding houses,” he said.

Holt said the impervious surface of the Spring House Court land would be 45 percent.

But two neighbors who tried unsuccessfully to buy that 22,813-square-foot parcel expressed concerns about stormwater runoff.

Jim Nee of Spring House Court said his back property has a 25-foot dropoff, and worried that there wouldn’t be proper monitoring of construction.

“I offered to buy the lot to keep it the way it is,” he said.

The Cobb Zoning Office recommended deleting the request to R-30 with conditions.

After questioning stormwater staff, the applicants and an opponent, District 2 Planning Commissioner David Anderson followed that recommendation and added several conditions.

They included a lot-size variance to build the new home, but require the developer to follow setback distances for R-30 construction and construct a 10-foot buffer.

Anderson also asked that an April 29 stipulation letter from the builder (you can read it here) be part of the recommendation, which also includes final elevations to be approved by the district commissioner.

Cobb commissioners will hear the case on May 21.

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