Sprayberry Crossing rezoning case

More delays likely for East Cobb mixed-use rezoning cases

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East Cobb Church rezoning case delauyed
A rendering of East Cobb Church, including a parking deck, fronting Shallowford Road.

The Cobb Zoning Office on Friday said the East Cobb Church mixed-use zoning request won’t be heard on Tuesday.

It’s been pulled from the Cobb Planning Commission agenda and is being continued (you can view the agenda here).

There wasn’t any further explanation in the case filings for the continuance.

The proposal for a church, retail and townhomes at the southwest corner of Johnson Ferry and Shallowford roads has drawn community opposition as well as support.

East Cobb Church, which is run by Northpoint Ministries, is planning to sell a portion of the 33-acre assemblage to Ashwood Development for 125 townhomes.

That’s the part of the mixed-use proposal that’s drawn most of the opposition, as well as for traffic concerns.

The zoning staff recommended denial of original application in October, but site plan revisions have been underway.

As we noted on Monday, another major East Cobb redevelopment project was also to finally be heard, several months after being proposed.

The Sprayberry Crossing case is still scheduled for Tuesday, according to the meeting agenda, but the developer has asked for another continuance until April.

That’s according to the Sprayberry Crossing Action, a citizens group on Facebook that has been pushing for the blighted shopping center to be redeveloped for years, as well as a group opposed to the project.

Atlantic Realty, an apartment developer, made the request for a continuance on Thursday, a day after the deadline for getting an automatic delay.

When that happens, the planning commission must vote whether to grant a continuance or not.

If the planning commission denies a continuance, the Sprayberry Crossing case would be the first item to be heard following the consent agenda.

Those against the project are strongly opposed to apartments coming to an area dominated by single-family subdivisions.

Atlantic Residential has reduced the number of apartments and townhomes in the project, which includes a grocery store, other small retail and event space.

The meeting begins at 9 a.m. Tuesday and can be seen on the county’s Facebook Live and YouTube channels, as well as Channel 23 on Comcast Cable. 

Limited in-person attendance is available in the meeting room, the 2nd floor board room of the Cobb government building, 100 Cherokee St., in downtown Marietta.

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Sprayberry Crossing rezoning case scheduled for September

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Sprayberry Crossing revisions

The Sprayberry Crossing plans for a mixed-use development have been filed with the Cobb Zoning Office, and they’re scheduled to be heard in September.

A rezoning application filed earlier this month (you can read it here) indicates that the Sprayberry Crossing Partnership wants to keep the neighborhood shopping (NS) and planned shopping center (PSC) categories and also is applying for what’s called a redevelopment overlay district (ROD) designation.

That means means that the kind of development contained within that district shall not establish a precedent for future land use or rezoning matters in the nearby area.

The nearly 18 acres at East Piedmont Road and Sandy Plains Road has been blighted for years, and is listed on the county’s redevelopment list, as residents have pushed for cleanup and redevelopment.

Atlantic Residential, an Atlanta-based apartment builder, is planning 178 apartment units, 122 senior apartments and 50 for-sale townhomes to go with a 30,000-square foot national grocery store (still unnamed by the developer, which is in negotiations), other retail and co-working space, an entertainment and food hall and community greenspace.

Earlier this month Atlantic Residential president Richard Aaronson held a virtual town hall meeting to explain the plans (more details here), which have been revised to include five-story buildings for the rental units, up from 3-4 stories earlier.

The meeting and discussions within the community have been facilitated by the creators of the Sprayberry Crossing Acition Group on Facebook and that has around 5,700 members.

The community is largely single-family residential, and that’s brought out some opposition from those opposed to apartments, even with the possible ROD designation.

(Here’s the ROD application, and while it’s a whopping 86 pages, much of that is detailed descriptions of property. The developer has hired prominent Cobb zoning attorney Kevin Moore.)

Tim Carini of Residents Against Apartments at Sprayberry Crossing told East Cobb News he still thinks the density of the project is too much, as are five-story buildings. “I want the suburbs and not an urban feel,” he said.

He’s also concerned that Atlantic Residential could eventually sell the development, as it has with a previous property it built in Johns Creek, and that the proposed townhomes at Sprayberry Crossing might also end up being rentals.

Joe Glancy of the Sprayberry Crossing Action Group said he’s still learning about the ROD aspect to the zoning and expects that “the site plan will continue to evolve through the [rezoning] process.”

Cobb Commissioner JoAnn Birrell said she’s planning on holding a town hall meeting in virtual form before the rezoning cases are heard, likely in August, but hasn’t scheduled a date.

The Cobb Planning Commission will hear the case on Sept. 1 and make a recommendation to the Cobb Board of Commissioners, which meets on Sept. 15.

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