After two months of delays, a proposal to rezone a portion of the Eastside Church property on Lower Roswell Road will go back before the Cobb Planning Commission next week.

An attorney for the church has filed an updated stipulation letter and a new site plan, as well as a rendering for what appears to be a reduced height for a 95-unit senior assisted living building (see both below).

But the reason for the most recent delay, the completion of a traffic study, has not yet been submitted, Cobb Commissioner JoAnn Birrell told around 70 residents Thursday at a community meeting she held at the East Cobb Library.

Many of them showed up to express their continuing opposition to a 103-unit project called The Haven that they said is too dense for the area and will cause traffic and stormwater issues in their neighborhood. The complex would also include eight independent cottages, as well as amenities and supportive care services in the main building.

Birrell said that she and her Planning Commission appointee, Deborah Dance, who also attended Thursday’s meeting, can’t offer an opinion on a rezoning case before it’s heard. But they urged those in the audience to show up Tuesday.

“This is a proposal that’s not been decided,” Birrell said, adding that they should also send written comments that are received by decision-makers, as well as zoning staff members.

The Planning Commission first heard the case in June, then voted to hold it until July for a community meeting at the church. Eastside asked for a continuance in August to conduct a traffic study as the school year began.

Even if the traffic study had been presented Thursday, some citizens weren’t enamored with what’s being presented overall.

“I feel like I’ve seen this movie before,” said one resident near the end of an almost two-hour-long meeting. “They play the long game. They’re counting on our energy not being sustained.”

There was plenty of energy in the East Cobb Library community meeting room Thursday—much of it animated against a faith community some say has kept them in the dark about the senior-living plans.

The church property is rezoned for residential use, as religious facilities are; Eastside is asking for a residential senior-living category (RSL) and would manage operations of The Haven through a non-profit and operated by a vendor with expertise in providing senior care.

Before the meeting Thursday, a flyer was handed out by an independent citizen called “Stop the Eastside Church Conversion” that made reference to other church-related rezonings in recent years, including the East Cobb Church case at Shallowford and Johnson Ferry roads.

Suggesting a pattern of “religious use as a density Trojan horse,” the flyer also stated the political implications at hand.

Birrell, a Republican who represents District 3 in East Cobb, is seeking a fifth-term in November.

Kevin Redmon, her Democratic opponent, did some canvassing over the weekend in the Red Oak Park, the neighborhood adjacent to Eastside. (Mindy Seger, his campaign manager, attended the meeting at the East Cobb Library.)

‘How can we protect ourselves?’

Eastside Church—formerly known as Eastside Baptist Church—dates back to the early 1960s, about as old as Red Oak Park.

The neighborhood now features modest homes with a mix of age ranges. Some have been living there for decades, and others are younger families with school-age children who can afford the home prices there.

Many say there’s already a lot of traffic coming through their neighborhood that straddles Little Road, using it as a cut-through between Lower Roswell and Powers Ferry Road.

What Eastside is proposing would be 13 units an acre, much more dense than the East Cobb Church plans. The revised site plan would reduce the total acreage for The Haven from 10.10 acres to 8.65 acres.

The church properties removed in the new site plan are homes the church owns that are part of Red Oak Park.

Yet the main building still calls for 95 units with the amenities, including an open garden area, and would be served by a 150-vehicle parking lot.

Richard Grome, president of the East Cobb Civic Association, which is opposed to The Haven, primarily for density reasons, was skeptical of the new rendering.

“Nothing has really changed,” he said. “The technicality is how high is this building and where is this being measured from?”

(East Cobb News has left messages with Eastside Church officials seeking comment and further information.)

One woman was worried about a recent zoning case in West Cobb in which commissioners approved a daycare facility opposed by Keli Gambrill, the district commissioner.

“If this is true, what can we do?” the Red Oak Park resident asked. “How can we protect ourselves? How can we protect our county?”

Birrell noted that in her nearly 16 years in office, she’s been “railroaded” in a similar fashion.

“You’ve got to go up and speak out, flood us with e-mails,” she told the audience. “We need to hear from you.

“If 50 people are there—that means a lot. This is a big group, and you’ve made some valid points tonight.”

When another resident made an impassioned comment that “I want to be able to age in place” in Red Oak Park “because I love that neighborhood,” she drew wild applause.

Birrell asked her if she planned to attend the Planning Commission hearing Tuesday, but the woman said “no, ma’am.”

“Why not?” Birrell asked.

Generating community distrust

In discussing plans for The Haven in May, Eastside leaders told East Cobb News that the project is part of an expanded church mission to address a shortage of senior housing in the community.

The residential charges at The Haven would start from $6,000 a month, which some Red Oak Park residents wondered would truly solve the problem.

“When all they’re building is luxury, that’s not really serving the need,” said one.

Senior pastor Darrell Whipple said in that earlier interview that “we want to be good neighbors” and Eastside sent out nearly 200 invitations to an initial community meeting.

But some residents said they never got them, and didn’t know about the rezoning proposal except through their neighbors.

Among them is Denise Merritt, who’s lived in the neighborhood for 23 years, very close to the church. She used to be a part of the Eastside congregation, but left when current leadership arrived.

She said Thursday that Eastside installed security lights in the parking lot that are extremely bright at night, and without tree cover in the winter, “I can go out in my front yard and read a book.”

Merritt said that The Haven “is all about revenue” for a church she said is proposing this for financial reasons, “and they’re able to do it under the guise that they don’t have to pay taxes. I’d like to be able to afford that place.”

Other citizens wondered if they’d see a traffic study—which wasn’t required—by Tuesday.

Both Birrell and Dance told them to let their traffic concerns be known in detailed terms anyway.

“Even if there’s not a study, provide your observations of the traffic,” Dance said.

Eastside is being represented by Kevin Moore, a noted zoning attorney, who handles many controversial cases in Cobb County. They included a rejected plan earlier this year by RaceTrac on Bells Ferry at Piedmont Road that went up against intense community opposition.

One of those citizens told Red Oak Park residents to “stand up” at the Planning Commission hearing Tuesday and put the “same grimace on Kevin Moore’s face” that she and her neighbors did in that case.

“Please be there.”

Unless the case is held again, the Planning Commission will make a recommendation to the Cobb Board of Commissioners, which has a zoning hearing on Sept. 15.

The Cobb Planning Commission zoning hearing Tuesday begins at 9 a.m. in the second floor board room of the county office building at 100 Cherokee Street, Marietta.

You can view the full agenda by clicking here.

You also can watch the meeting on the county’s website and YouTube channels and on Cobb TV 23 on Comcast Cable.

Related stories:

• The last Sprayberry Crossing eyesore to be demolished
• Marietta City Council approves data center off Delk Road
• Eastside Church senior-living request held again
• Marietta OKs fitness center for ex-Kroger site on Powers Ferry

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