The Planning Commission recommended the request for approval on its consent agenda.
ORIGINAL POST:
A residential developer who wants to convert 13 largely undeveloped acres near Pope High School for a subdivision is seeking a rezoning request to increase the number of homes to be built.
Red Ridge Properties LLC, of Athens, will go before the Cobb Planning Commission Tuesday seeking rezoning from R-30 to R-20 to build 20 homes, or 1.95 units an acre. The current zoning category allows for 14 homes.
The land at 2760 and 2830 Hembree Road contains a single home, built in 1976, and it surrounded by newer subdivisions. According to an agenda item (you can read it here), Red Ridge Properties is planning to build homes with an average of 2,500 square feet and a traditional or craftsman architecture.
The property is being sold by the Estate of James Lamar Rucker.
The Cobb Zoning Division is recommending approval of the request, which is on the consent agenda, meaning there’s no known opposition to the application. Red Ridge is represented by noted Cobb zoning attorney Kevin Moore.
In its analysis, the staff noted that the adjacent Liberty Ridge subdivision also has a similar density of 1.9 units an acre, and that it conforms with the low-density residential category called for in the Cobb Future Land Use Map.
The subdivision would be zoned in the Cobb County School District to Pope High School, Hightower Trail Middle School and Murdock Elementary School, all of which are under capacity, according to the agenda item.
The agenda item also states that Cobb DOT is recommending a deceleration lane be built as part of the subdivision’s access point because Hembree Road is an minor collector road.
The Cobb Planning Commission meeting begins at 9 a.m. Tuesday 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 hearing on the county’s website and YouTube channels and on Cobb TV 23 on Comcast Cable.
The Planning Commission’s recommendations will be considered by the Cobb Board of Commissioners on Feb. 17.
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Mt. Bethel Christian Academy is adding a second access point on Holly Springs Road (at right of map).
The Cobb Board of Commissioners has approved a site plan change for Mt. Bethel Christian Academy to add an access point at its campus on Post Oak Tritt Road.
Commissioners also approved in a 5-0 vote to raise the enrollment cap to 850 students over the next five years as the private school makes plans to move all of its operations there in the next few years.
The school wants to purchase 9.7 acres of land at the northwest corner of Post Oak Tritt and Holly Springs Road, and add a right-in, right-out access point on Holly Springs, to add to nearly 34 acres it owns there.
Currently there are two access points on Post Oak Tritt, near an already-bottlenecked intersection. Local residents opposed to the request said existing traffic issues would grow worse.
Mt. Bethel Christian has an overall enrollment of around 700 students at all grade levels, but is anticipating long-term growth as it consolidates is operations from its original location on Lower Roswell Road.
When commissioners approved a master plan for the school last year, it capped enrollment at 625 students. At Tuesday’s zoning hearing, the school was seeking a cap of 1,100 (you can read the final zoning analysis here).
Dr. Jim Cianca, MBCA Head of School
Mt. Bethel Christian has operated a high school campus there since 2014, with an enrollment of around 200 students, and will be adding middle school grades next year with another estimated 200 students.
The school was started by the former Mt. Bethel United Methodist Church in 1998 but became a separate entity in 2021, right before before the church’s departure from the United Methodist Church. Since then, the academy has leased space from the church for Grades K-8 on its grounds on Lower Roswell Road.
In 2023, Mt. Bethel Church decided to terminate the school’s lease by 2028, prompting the academy to find new facilities. The K-5 enrollment currently is around 300 students.
Neil Dougherty, who lives in the Mabry Manor neighborhood off Holly Springs, said Tuesday traffic is already bad enough with the current school enrollment, and that Cobb DOT has rated the intersection service level as an “F.”
He asked that school expansion be delayed until the improvements are made, and that the school provide bus transportation to alleviate traffic.
“The real issue here is scale, timing and responsibility,” he said, “specifically, whether it makes sense to expand further, before the existing and well-documented traffic problems are fixed.
“There is no funded or approved fix in place. In other words, this intersection is already broken, and there is no clear plan to fix it.
Cobb DOT has held open houses to collect public feedback on the intersection improvements, but hasn’t decided what that might look like. It concluded that a double roundabout, similar to what’s at the entrance of Pope High School, wouldn’t work there.
Robin Washington, a resident of the Hampton Park neighborhood, located off Post Oak Tritt, asked for a delay until February. She said “this is not about opposing the education of young people, this is about ensuring that the school’s long-term success is supported by infrastructure that can safety and sustainably handle the traffic it will generate.”
In her motion to approve the Mt. Bethel Christian request, Commissioner JoAnn Birrell asked that Cobb DOT conduct another signalized traffic study after the first of the year, when classes resume following the holidays.
She also wants the right-out lane on Holly Springs to extend to Post Oak Tritt.
Kevin Moore, Mt. Bethel Christian’s attorney, said the school currently has bus service for the Lower Roswell Road campus, and will continue to do so on Post Oak Tritt, with designated pickup and dropoff spots in the East Cobb area.
Dr. Jim Cianca, Mt. Bethel Christian’s head of school, said the academy needs to know its enrollment cap now so it can begin planning for the lower school relocation “that would allow us to make our 2028 deadline.”
He said next year’s projected enrollment across all grade levels is 750 students, and that the 850 figure is what’s expected in its immediate five-year plan.
Mt. Bethel Christian agreed to a several stipulations, including a right-of-way donation for the Post Oak Tritt-Holly Springs intersection improvements.
The school doesn’t have any plans to develop on the additional property now, but if it wanted to do in the future, it would have to come back to the county.
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Grace Resurrection proposed a site plan for a new church facility on Oak Lane.
Grace Resurrection Methodist Church has withdrawn a request for two variances for its plans to build a new campus in an East Cobb neighborhood.
According to an agenda for Wednesday’s Cobb Board of Zoning Appeals meeting, the request was withdrawn without prejudice, meaning it can be brought back at any time.
The agenda item and related documents didn’t include filings to indicate a reason for the withdrawal; East Cobb News has left a message with Grace Resurrection seeking more information.
The church had been seeking variances to build a 15,000-square-foot building and a 286-space parking lot on Oak Lane, near the intersections of Casteel Road and Bill Murdock Road.
They hired prominent zoning attorney Kevin Moore to represent them before the BZA, a five-member appointed body that hears requests for zoning variances and appeals for waivers to county zoning ordinances.
The church didn’t need to get rezoning for the 6.49-acre Oak Lane property, since it’s zoned for residential use, as are worship facilities.
Oak Lane is a minor or local road, and the Cobb County Code requires churches located in residential areas to have direct access to a major or collector road.
The church also was requesting a variance to reduce a required 50-foot setback to eight feet for an accessory structure, a 6,200-square-foot playground (case filing here).
But community opposition built as the plans were revealed, and church leaders have said the Oak Lane property is one of several options they’re considering.
Grace Resurrection, which formed in 2022 out of what is now Mt. Bethel Church in 2023, currently operates in a former Lutheran church building on Indian Hills Parkway at Roswell Road.
But church leaders said they’ve outgrown the space that’s leased from the adjacent Congregation Etz Chaim synagogue.
Residents said traffic in the Oak Lane area is already a problem with narrow, curvy roads, and they’re concerned about noise, light and environmental issues.
An online petition said that 22 proposed LED light poles for the potential church property “will cause excessive light pollution affecting the tranquility of our area. Coupled with the anticipated noise from regular playground activities and numerous events, the peace and quiet we currently enjoy will likely be shattered.”
Editor’s Note: Rev. James Williams, the Grace Resurrection senior pastor, responded on social media after this story was published that “Yes, Oak Lane Community, there is a Santa Claus! Seriously, we appreciate all of the good and kind feedback. Keep us in your prayers.”
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A proposal to expand Mt. Bethel Christian Academy to include all grade levels and greatly increase enrollment on its Post Oak Tritt Road campus got its first hearing Tuesday.
The Cobb Planning Commission voted 4-0 to recommend approval of the proposal, which will be considered by Cobb commissioners later this month.
Mt. Bethel Christian has operated a high school campus on Post Oak Tritt Road near Holly Springs Road since 2014 and is making plans to add middle school grades.
But the latest proposal before the county to alter an existing site plan and renew a special land-use permit would also would relocate the school’s K-5 classes there.
The school wants to purchase 9.7 acres of land at the northwest corner of Post Oak Tritt and Holly Springs Road, and add a right-in, right-out access point on Holly Springs.
The Cobb Zoning Division recommended approval of the application, which you can read by clicking here.
Cobb Planning Commission member Deborah Dance
But local residents opposed to the request said existing traffic issues would grow worse. Mt. Bethel Christian said its long-term enrollment projections would have 1,100 students, which concerned nearby residents.
The school was started by Mt. Bethel Church in 1998 but became a separate entity in 2021, right before before the church’s departure from the United Methodist Church. Since then, the academy has leased space from the church for Grades K-8 on its grounds on Lower Roswell Road.
In 2023, Mt. Bethel Church decided to terminate the school’s lease by 2028, prompting the academy to find new facilities.
Late last year, Cobb commissioners approved a master plan for the school. But since then, Mt. Bethel Christian has revised the site plan contingent on the special land-use permit renewal and after planning to acquire the 9.7-acre tract from Dodgen Farms, LLC.
That land was sold by John Dodgen in June for $1.393 million, according to Cobb property tax records, and would bring the school’s property to 42 acres, including sports facilities and parking.
On Tuesday, nearby residents said they haven’t been informed of traffic impacts and said a vote should be delayed until a full traffic study can be studied by Cobb DOT.
“Without it, the county cannot properly assess” what those impacts may be, said Mabry Manor resident Neil Dougherty, especially as Cobb DOT is conducting engineering design for Post Oak Tritt-Holly Springs intersectdions improvements.
He said he was speaking on behalf of nearly 75 residents in his community, which is located across Holly Springs Road from the Dodgen property.
A revised Mt. Bethel Christian Academy site plan includes an additional access point on Holly Springs Road (at right).
Another Mabry Manor resident, Heather Tolley-Bauer, said that “dropping a regional school in a neighborhood area” is “going to impact us for decades.”
Kevin Moore, Mt. Bethel Christian’s attorney, responded that “Pope High School was dropped into residential neighborhood with 1,800 students.
“Cobb County [schools] doesn’t have to go through this process. Only private schools have to do this.”
He said Mt. Bethel Christian’s enrollment projections of 1,100 total students is a long-range number, and it’s not arbitrary. The school currently has a total enrollment of around 700 students.
Moore added that the school “doesn’t have to go there,” meaning to get to 1,100 students, only that that figure would be an enrollment cap.
Richard Grome of the East Cobb Civic Association said a new master plan should be redone and approved again by the county, and said the enrollment projections are “premature” until more detailed traffic information can be evaluated.
But Moore said “the master plan stays as the master plan.”
In her motion recommend approval, Planning Commission member Deborah Dance of District 3 in East Cobb didn’t include a recommendation for a master plan update, saying that’s something that appointed body hasn’t delved into.
Cobb commissioners will hear the Mt. Bethel Christian application on Dec. 17.
The master plan for the Mt. Bethel Christian Academy campus.
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RaceTrac wanted to build on the former site of the McAfee House, but residents, the Cobb County School District and others fought the proposal.
A proposal for a RaceTrac gas station on an historic site on Bells Ferry Road was withdrawn without prejudice Tuesday morning.
The Cobb Board of Commissioners voted 5-0 to approve RaceTrac’s request to withdraw the request without prejudice, meaning it can reapply at any time.
The request was a last-minute action and thus required commissioners’ approval.
RaceTrac proposed a 24/7 gas station and convenience store (filing and analysis here) at the northwest intersection of Bells Ferry Road and Barrett Parkway (2595 Bells Ferry Road), on land where the McAfee House once stood.
It was a home built in the 1840s and was used by a Union general during the Civil War. The home was relocated to Cherokee County earlier this year by Cobb Landmarks, an historic preservation non-profit.
There wasn’t any discussion before the vote at a zoning hearing on Tuesday, and a reason for the withdrawal was not given.
But the withdrawal comes a month after the Cobb Planning Commission essentially scuttled any plans for what RaceTrac had in mind, recommending denial of any gas station use, along with uses that involve alcohol, vaping and tobacco sales, other automotive uses or any type of drive-through business.
That was due to vocal community opposition, and 25 people turned out Tuesday who were against the plans.
The Cobb Zoning Division continued the request to November for a traffic study update (revised Oct. 15).
Opposition came from nearby residents, the Bells Ferry Civic Association, the Cobb County School District (the land is across from Bells Ferry Elementary School) and others for traffic, educational and environmental reasons.
The property also is next to a child care center. The applicant conceded that traffic in a congested area would increase.
In an October Planning Commission meeting, RaceTrac attorney Kevin Moore was asked if his client was looking at other locations.
“I’m not aware of any other options that they have in particular,” Moore said. “I am aware of this option which they consider ideal.” He added that it was “not inherently evil” for a gas station and convenience store to be located there.
At the same meeting, Planning Commission member Fred Beloin said that “this would be the opposite of an old Beatles song where you take a sad song and make it better. This would be take a bad road and make it far, far worse.”
In 2023, a car wash was proposed for the land, owned by the Medford Family LP, 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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Nearly 600 people have signed a petition opposing plans by a church to build a new worship facility in an East Cobb neighborhood.
In December Grace Resurrection Methodist Church will be asking for a variance from the Cobb Board of Zoning Appeals to build a 15,000-square-foot building and a 286-space parking lot on Oak Lane, near the intersections of Casteel Road and Bill Murdock Road.
Oak Lane is a minor or local road, and the Cobb County Code requires churches located in residential areas to have direct access to a major or collector road.
The online petition (you can read it here) names Cobb commissioners as “decision makers.”
But the hearing will be before the BZA, a five-member appointed body that hears requests for zoning variances and appeals for waivers to county zoning ordinances.
The church also is requesting a variance to reduce a required 50-foot setback to eight feet for an accessory structure, a 6,200-square-foot playground (case filing here).
Grace Resurrection doesn’t need rezoning, since churches are zoned for residential use. The 6.49 acres at 3650 Oak Lane is owned by the Barkis Family Revocable Trust and contains a home. It is otherwise undeveloped and is zoned R-30, a mid- to low-density residential category.
But nearby residents have said that traffic is already a problem in an area with narrow, curvy roads, and they’re concerned about noise, light and environmental issues.
An online petition said that 22 proposed LED light poles for the potential church property “will cause excessive light pollution affecting the tranquility of our area. Coupled with the anticipated noise from regular playground activities and numerous events, the peace and quiet we currently enjoy will likely be shattered.”
Grace Resurrection was formed in 2022 by former members of Mt. Bethel Church, and currently leases a former Lutheran church building on Indian Hills Parkway at Roswell Road.
Church officials told East Cobb News in a statement last month that the congregation is growing and needs more space, and that the Oak Lane property is one of several options under consideration. The proposed building on Oak Lane would seat 750 people.
The church has hired Kevin Moore, a prominent Cobb zoning attorney to handle the request before the BZA.
After the Oct. 30 East Cobb News story was published, some readers expressed vocal opposition to the Oak Lane property for the church.
Rev. James Williams, the Grace Resurrection senior pastor, also commented on an East Cobb News Facebook page thread, expressing thanks for the feedback and said that “you need to know we’re exploring many avenues for the future. We also understand the concerns expressed here.
“Please pray with us about what’s next for our fast growing congregation. We have no solid plans at this point. The East Cobb story is about a first step that must taken in any property we’re considering. God bless you!”
Another reader replied that “I live there and I’ve been fighting to make that road safer for years. We will fight to the last breath to not let you have the release from the requirement to be on a major road. Oak Lane is dangerous. The two blind curves at that driveway are dangerous. That intersection is dangerous.
“You are attempting to further in danger our lives and the lives of our children. Look elsewhere and walk away from this idea.”
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Grace Resurrection is seeking to build a 15,000-square-foot building and a 286-space parking lot on 6.5 acres of undeveloped land surrounded by subdivisions.
The land, owned by the Barkis Family Revocable Trust, is located near the intersection of Oak Lane, Casteel Road and Bill Murdock Road. It contains a single-family home and like surrounding property is zoned R-30.
Grace Resurrection doesn’t need rezoning since houses of worship are zoned in residential categories.
But the Cobb County code requires that worship facilities in residential areas have “primary access” to and from major or arterial roads.
The point of access would be on Oak Lane, which is considered by the county to be a collector or neighborhood road.
The church will be requesting a waiver from that requirement at a Cobb Board of Zoning Appeals hearing on Dec. 10 (you can read the filing here).
The BZA is a five-member appointed body that hears such matters as zoning variances and appeals for waivers to county zoning ordinances.
The church also is requesting a variance to reduce a required 50-foot setback to eight feet for an accessory structure, a 6,200-square-foot playground.
In a statement, Grace Resurrection told East Cobb News that it is “exploring long-term options for a permanent church home to support its growing congregation. One of the properties under evaluation is a nearly seven-acre parcel on Oak Lane in East Cobb. This location is one of several being considered, and no decisions have been made regarding its future use.”
The statement didn’t identify any other properties, and indicated that its application before the BZA is a “request for clarification” as it does due diligence in the zoning process.
Grace Resurrection has hired noted Cobb zoning attorney Kevin Moore to handle the case. There’s been some concern expressed on social media channels, especially over traffic and environmental issues.
Applicants before the BZA are asked to “state what hardship would be created by following the normal terms of the ordinance.”
In its response, Grace Resurrection said that “to grant the requested variance and allow the development of the Church campus would in minimal impact upon adjacent properties and residences as the surrounding roads are arterials.”
The northwestern part of Barkis property is located at the curved intersection of the three roads, and is bordered on the south by the Blake Ford subdivision and on the east by the Greyfield neighborhood.
There is no other non-residential use of property in the area, and there are a number of other nearby larger parcels along Oak Lane that are also owned by family trusts.
Grace Resurrection initially was leasing the former Lutheran Church of the Incarnation site on Indian Hills Parkway from the Southeastern Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.
In April 2023, the synod sold that property to the adjacent Congregation Etz Chaim synagogue for $1.1 million.
In its statement to East Cobb News, Grace Resurrection said it “remains committed to transparency, responsible planning, and being a good neighbor in the East Cobb community. We will continue to provide updates as our evaluation process moves forward and as additional information becomes available.”
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Cobb Community Development Agency director Jessica Guinn
The Cobb Community Development Agency will be holding open house sessions in November about the long-proposed Unified Development Code.
The UDC was proposed in 2022 to update and unify existing zoning, land use and development regulations and to make “the code clearer, easier to use, and better aligned with Cobb’s vision for the future,” according to county officials.
The open houses are designed to provide information and solicit public feedback. They will take place at the following locations and dates around the county:
Wednesday, Nov. 12, 6:30–8 p.m.
Ron Anderson Community Center
3820 Macedonia Road, Powder Springs
Thursday, Nov. 13, 6:30–8 p.m.
North Cobb Regional Library
3535 Old 41 Highway, Kennesaw
Monday, Nov. 17, 6:30–8 p.m.
Windy Hill Community Center
1885 Roswell Street, Smyrna
Tuesday, Nov. 18, 6:30–8 p.m.
Mountain View Community Center
3400 Sandy Plains Road, Marietta
The last time there was an update on the UDC was in February, when Cobb commissioners were briefed about a proposed planned development category, for large-scale mixed-use projects.
That didn’t require any action, and the county has been silent on the subject of the UDC for the last few months.
There were to have been public meetings this spring on the UDC initial draft that was released in November 2024, but those were not scheduled.
The draft is a 97-page document that includes general provisions, transitional provisions, definitions, terms of construction and related topics. Related documents can be found by clicking here.
The primary updates for the first installment cover administrative articles that establish procedures for the review of all development applications, including applications for rezoning, special land-use permits, for subdivisions and for zoning variances.
Some citizens have objected to the UDC, calling it “a war on the suburbs.” But county officials say an overhaul is long overdue, more than a half-century after Cobb first adopted a zoning code.
At that February work session, Commissioner Keli Gambrill complained that she and her colleagues didn’t have much time to absorb a significant amount of information, and further said that “we have a lot of animosity out there about this whole process and how it’s being handled.”
Cobb Community Development Agency director Jessica Guinn said at that work session that “ultimately, the document is adopted as a whole, as one big code amendment. We want to be sure that before we do that we’ve got something that the board will be comfortable adopting.”
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What once was a pediatric clinic on Sandy Plains Road is being proposed for a drive-through coffee shop.
But a request to amend a site plan to accommodate the new business is being continued to November.
The Cobb Board of Commissioners was to have heard the proposal this week by BRKI, LLC, for a 7 Brew Drive Through Coffee.
But at the start of Tuesday’s zoning hearing, they voted to continue the matter for a month, to their Nov. 18 meeting.
The location is 3618 Sandy Plains Road at Gordy Parkway, where an Egleston Children’s Hospital Clinic once stood, and it’s part of the former Gordy property.
When those parcels are subject rezoning or site plan changes, they must be approved by a special architectural control review committee, and that process has not been completed.
So Cobb Zoning Division manager John Pederson asked for the continuance. The building was completed in 1995, and the clinic closed in 2020 it has remained vacant ever since.
The five-acre tract is zoned for general commercial, and the 7 Brew proposal wouldn’t change that.
The applicant is seeking to put the drive-through on the northern side of the building, keeping an existing 50-foot buffer intact.
“The proposal meets setbacks, parking and impervious zoning criteria,” according to the staff analysis. “If the amendment is approved, all previous stipulations would remain in effect, which includes the [Gordy] Architectural Control Committee review and approval for the property.”
7 Brew is a national chain of drive-through coffee locations that opened in 2017, and includes a location in Mableton. In addition to coffee, menu items include teas, lemonades, smoothies and shakes.
In the staff analysis, Cobb DOT recommended the applicant conduct a traffic study.
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On Friday the Cobb Zoning Division updated its agenda for Tuesday’s zoning hearing by the Cobb Board of Commissioners, with a major change to that schedule regarding a case in Northeast Cobb.
The revised agenda states that a rezoning request by RaceTrac Inc. for a 24/7 gas station and convenience store on the former site of the historic McAfee House has been continued by the staff to November.
But the delay comes a week after a Cobb Planning Commission vote that recommened denial of any gas station use, along with uses that involve alcohol, vaping and tobacco sales, other automotive uses or any type of drive-through business.
Opponents spoke out in force at the Planning Commission hearing for traffic, environmental and other reasons, even though zoning staff recommended approval (analysis here).
The two-acre tract at Bells Ferry Road and Ernest Barrett Parkway is owned by the Medford Family LP, and was proposed for a car wash in 2023 before applicant pulled out due to other business issues.
Although it’s surrounded by commercially-zoned land, it sits next to a child-care center, and is across the road from Bells Ferry Elementary School.
Planning Commission member Fred Beloin made the motion to restrict the kinds of commercial uses that could go on the site under the Neighborhood Retail Commercial (NRC) category.
“This would be the opposite of an old Beatles song where you take a sad song and make it better. This would be take a bad road and make it far, far worse,” Beloin said.
The land is where the McAfee House, used by a Union General during the Civil War, stood until it was relocated to Cherokee County earlier this year.
The RaceTrac request is scheduled to go before Cobb commissioners on Nov. 18.
Another case in the East Cobb area that has been delayed is set to be heard again on Tuesday. It’s a request by Annie Lou Crispell for a land-use permit to operate a dog- training and boarding business at her home off Terrell Mill Road that’s drawn opposition from neigbhors.
The Cobb commissioners zoning hearing begins at 9 a.m. Tuesday 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 hearing on the county’s website and YouTube channels and on Cobb TV 23 on Comcast Cable.
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The Cobb Planning Commission this week recommended approval of rezoning the former site of an historic home in Northeast Cobb for a variety of commercial uses.
But they didn’t include the use the applicant, RaceTrac Inc., had in mind.
After a very long discussion and by a 4-1 vote, the board recommended to allow Neighborhood Retail Commercial (NRC) zoning on Bells Ferry Road at Barrett Parkway where the McAfee House once stood.
That’s a home built in the 1840s that served as headquarters for a Union general during the Civil War, and was relocated earlier this year to Cherokee County after an effort to save it by Cobb Landmarks.
But the planning commission vote excludes fuel sales as one of the permitted businesses that could go on the two-acre site across from Bells Ferry Elementary School, along with no alcohol, vaping and tobacco sales, car washes, automotive uses or any type of drive-through business.
Nearby citizens turned out to oppose RaceTrac’s plans, citing safety, environmental and traffic congestion issues, among other things.
The decision rebuffed a recommendation for by Planning Commission member David Anderson, who represents the area in question, District 2.
His motion would have prohibited fuel sales and drive-through businesses, and would have required light automotive uses to come back to the county with a noise mitigation plan.
The board’s vote also went against a recommendation for approval by the Cobb Zoning Staff (analysis here).
After being satisfied with the results of a traffic analysis and an explanation from Cobb DOT, Anderson made a motion to recommend what RaceTrace was asking for—NRC designation for 24/7 gas sales and a convenience store.
But his motion died because it didn’t get a second, and another motion by Planning Commission member Fred Beloin of North Cobb added the stipulations that were approved. Under the motion that passed, small businesses and retail and some office uses would be allowed.
Anderson was the only vote against Beloin’s substitute motion. The Cobb Board of Commissioners will decide the matter at its Oct. 21 zoning hearing.
RaceTrac’s request was delayed a month after a previous Planning Commission hearing generated plenty of community opposition.
Beloin said the issue of methane gas emissions near the school—or at least the lack of definitive information about the threat it may cause—made it “impossible for me to support this request.”
He also said that school traffic issues that would arise both in the morning and afternoon “are profound. This would be the opposite of an old Beatles song where you take a sad song and make it better. This would be take a bad road and make it far, far worse.”
The land, owned by Medford Family LP, was proposed for a car wash in 2023 before applicant pulled out due to other business issues.
Some opponents wished the property, located next door to a day care center and near a retail center, would not become commercialized.
But Anderson’s issue was what he said was a lack of clarity in the county code about how close gas stations could be located next to day care centers.
“I see this site as having a lot of conflicts in terms of uses,” he said.
Anderson, an East Cobb resident initially appointed by former Commissioner Jerica Richardson, was reappointed earlier this year by Commissioner Erick Allen, whose District 2 includes the Medford property.
When the application was first filed, the land was in District 3, represented by Commissioner JoAnn Birrell.
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Neighbors said they’ve seen dogs fighting and being a nuisance while unattended in the backyard of Annie Lou Crispell, who wants to run a dog-training and boarding business from her home.
Earlier this month the Cobb Planning Commission voted to hold a proposal for a gas station/convenience store by RaceTrac at Bells Ferry Road and Barrett Parkway until October.
Two other cases in East Cobb that were to have been heard Tuesday by the Cobb Board of Commissioners also will be waiting for a month, continued by Cobb Zoning Staff.
That includes a proposal for a dog- training and boarding business by Annie Lou Crispell at a home off Terrell Mill Road that we wrote about in August.
But the five-member board voted on Sept. 2 to recommend denial, with Planning Commission member Deborah Dance saying the business was not appropriate for a residential neighborhood.
Since that vote, no new information has been added to that filing. Cobb Zoning Division manager John Pederson did not explain the reason for the continuance.
That case will go before county commissioners Oct. 21.
Little Sunshine’s Playhouse to rezone two acres at Sandy Plains Road and Trickum Road for a 12,330-square-foot day care center also is on hold until October (you can read the filings here).
The two land parcels fronting Sandy Plains Road are residentially zoned and have older homes on them, and are surrounded by other residential properties.
On Aug. 27, the applicant’s attorney, Parks Huff, submitted a list of stipulations to satisfy concerns from the East Cobb Civic Association.
Those cases will be heard by the Planning Commission on Oct. 7.
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A color rendering of RaceTrac’s proposed gas station and convenience store fronting Barrett Parkway.
The Cobb Planning Commission on Tuesday voted to continue a proposal by RaceTrac Inc. for a 24/7 gas station on the former site of an historic home.
Planning Commission member David Anderson moved for a 30-day delay with a 5-0 vote to further study traffic data and to gauge the impact to schools and nearby neighborhoods.
The vote came after concerted opposition to a request to rezone 2.009 acres at 2595 Bells Ferry Road where the McAfee House once stood.
The applicant wants to rezone the land from planned shopping center (PSC) to neighborhood retail center (NRC) for a 24/7 fueling facility with a convenience store.
The McAffee House was a home built in the 1840s and was a Union general’s command post during the Civil War, and has been relocated to Cherokee County.
But more contemporary concerns brought out citizens who spoke against RaceTrac’s proposal.
They included Max Ramsey, a fourth-grader at Bells Ferry Elementary School, who spoke about the pollution coming from a gas station open all hours.
“This will not be good for our health,” he said, adding fears of crime that could stem from the new facility as a result.
A Bells Ferry ES parent, Erin Quackenbush, raised some of the same issues, and added traffic and school capacity concerns.
The school is undergoing a replacement renovation to address overcrowding, and new development in the area that will add more traffic in a congested area.
She also alleged that Cobb Commissioner Erick Allen, whose district includes the area, may have a conflict of interest because he’s received an endorsement from RaceTrac in the past.
The Cobb County School District also objected to the RaceTrac proposal, and Cobb DOT officials said in response to questions from Anderson they weren’t aware of additional capacity produced by the Bells Ferry ES construction that might affect traffic flow.
Cobb DOT had estimated that 5,000 trips a day could pass by the RaceTrac business, mostly vehicles passing through a busy intersection.
Kevin Moore, the attorney for RaceTrac, reiterated several times that the land owned by Medford Family LP was strictly commercial, and wanting to use it for a gas station and convenience store “is not inherently evil.”
In 2023, a car wash was proposed for the land, and the Planning Commission recommended approval. But the request was withdrawn by the applicant due to what it said were other business obligations.
Planning Commission member Nadia Faucette asked Moore if RaceTrac was looking at “any other options” to service the area aside from the Bells Ferry Road property “if this does not go through.”
There was a smattering of applause, and then Moore replied by saying that “I’m not aware of any other options that they have in particular. I am aware of this option which they consider ideal.”
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The Bells Ferry Civic Association is opposing plans for a RaceTrac gas station on a busy intersection in Northeast Cobb where an 1840s-era historic home was recently relocated.
The BFCA sent a written letter to Cobb zoning staff last month, before an attorney for the applicant asked for a continuance and submitted a new site plan and additional stipulations.
A request by RaceTrac, Inc. to rezone 2.009 acres at 2595 Bells Ferry Road and across from Bells Ferry Elementary School is on the Cobb Planning Commission agenda for Tuesday.
The applicant wants to rezone the land from planned shopping center (PSC) to neighborhood retail center (NRC) for a 24/7 fueling facility with a convenience store.
What was called the McAfee House was the headquarters for Union Gen. Kenner Garrard, whose cavalry troops guarded the Noonday Creek valley after Northern troops seized Big Shanty in June 1864, in the run-up to the Battle of Kennesaw Mountain.
Earlier this year the house was relocated by preservationists to Cherokee County. In 2023, a car wash was proposed for the land, owned by the Medford Family LP, and the Cobb Planning Commission recommended approval. But the request was withdrawn by the applicant due to what it said were other business obligations.
In its letter (you can read it here) the BFCA referenced a glut of gas stations in the area—it counted 10 within two miles—as well as alcohol sales and gasoline fumes near the school and an adjacent KinderCare child care facility.
The civic group also referenced the historical nature of the property, asking that “prior to any development on this property, it is essential that a thorough search be conducted for Indian and Civil War artifacts, trenches, gravesites, and other items of historical significance. Furthermore, a memorial plaque needs to be erected at the corner of Bells Ferry and Barrett Pkwy to identify and commemorate an important part of our county’s history.”
In its analysis, the Cobb Zoning Staff offered brief historic preservation comments, saying that it recommending “an archaeological survey and report before any development occurs. Any artifacts discovered during the survey should be donated to an appropriate museum.”
The staff is approving recommendation (full analysis here) with none of the variances requested by RaceTrac.
Last week, RaceTrac attorney Kevin Moore submitted a stipulation letter (you can read it here) that includes an eight-foot landscape buffer around the property, and agrees with the historic preservation comments about doing an archaeological survey and report if rezoning is approved.
The Cobb Planning Commission meeting begins at 9 a.m. Tuesday 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 hearing on the county’s website and YouTube channels and on Cobb TV 23 on Comcast Cable.
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A real estate investor whose attempts to redevelop land in the South Marietta Parkway-Powers Ferry Road area were unsuccessful four years ago is proposing another high-density residential community there again.
RGM Properties Partnership, LLLP and McMullan Partners, LLC, based in East Cobb, are seeking rezoning of nearly 20 acres along Interstate 75, off of Powers Ferry Road and north of the Loop, for a residential development.
According to plans filed with the City of Marietta, the applicant wants to turn that property—most of it a wooded lot fronting the interstate—into a townhome-focused community of up to 119 units.
The homes would be built by Traton Homes Inc., a prominent homebuilder based in Marietta, and the applicant has hired high-profile zoning attorney Kevin Moore to represent it before the City of Marietta.
The application calls for 80 townhomes, with the rest single-family detached homes, for a density of 6.2 units per acre.
But the details present similar issues and concerns that foiled property owner Ruben McMullan’s attempts in 2021 to build a high-density residential development in the same community.
The Marietta City Council turned down plans for Laurel Park, which was proposed for 204 townhomes on much of the site that’s being proposed now.
That was part of a push by McMullan’s real estate interests to build in that vicinity. But Marietta also quickly rejected plans for what was proposed to be Nexus Gardens—featuring apartment buildings, a senior-living facility and restaurant and retail space—after heated community opposition.
That project also would have been accessed through neighborhood streets in the Meadowbrook subdivision off Powers Ferry Road, south of the Loop.
At the time, Moore said the Loop corridor between Roswell Road and Interstate 75 hasn’t seen new development in 50 years. The Nexus Gardens project, Moore said, is an opportunity that “would be fantastic for the city and fantastic for the nearby community.”
Before the 2021 vote, Moore whittled down the Laurel Park proposal—which stretched across 30 acres—to 134 units, but the council rejected both requests unanimously with little discussion.
There isn’t a name for the newly proposed community, nor are there any renderings. In its analysis, the Marietta zoning staff noted that a home would be demolished to create access to the new project from Crestridge Drive (see zoning map below). Three other residential lots, on Blanche Drive and Herbert Road, would be turned into another access point.
The analysis noted that projects like this usually require direct access to arterial and collector roads, but the RGM/McMullan proposal calls for access via local streets.
City zoning staff also noted that while the application says 80 townhomes would be built, the site plan (above) shows 113 units, with 52 of them three-story units, and the others two stories.
The analysis, which didn’t make a recommendation, also notes parking and stormwater runoff issues, and concerns expressed by the Marietta Fire Department regarding emergency access that may not meet city code. The city’s public works department also has asked for a traffic study to be done but the transportation department hasn’t offered any comments.
The zoning analysis concluded that the large wooded tract of land that’s zoned for large-scale retail along I-75 has never been developed for a reason.
“With access only available through existing single-family neighborhoods, developing a ‘regional retail center’ at this location does not appear feasible. Considering also current market conditions and the need for housing, rezoning the property for residential use is more suitable.”
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Anne Crispell said she keeps her 2-year-old child with dogs she’s training at her home in East Cobb: “Do they look dangerous? No. I’m a mother.” Screenshot photos.
The Cobb Planning Commission on Tuesday voted to hold a request for a dog- training and boarding business at an East Cobb home after lengthy discussion and disagreements among neighbors.
After mulling over stipulations to include in a recommendation for approval, the board voted 5-0 to continue to September a request by Anne Crispell for a 24-month land-use permit at her home on Leafwood Drive (you can read the case filing here).
Her residence is located on a cul-de-sac in the Stratford subdivision, located off Terrell Mill Road and across from Brumby Elementary School and East Cobb Middle School.
She said she’s been keeping the dogs of friends and others she knows at her home since the COVID-19 pandemic, and the most dogs she has had on her property at any one time is six.
Some are boarded there while their owners are on vacation, and others receive dog training. She lives in the home with her husband and two-year-old child and two dogs of their own.
Anne Crispell
Crispell is a professional and licensed dog trainer, and says she works with dogs who need to learn behavior modification. She says the dogs who board with her do not do well in a sheltered environment.
But neighbors have complained that the dogs at times have been a nuisance, making noise while unattended in the back yard, and have engaged in dog fighting.
Crispell said she received a citation from Cobb County Code Enforcement that was left on her front door in May, saying she was running an improper home business and didn’t have a business license.
During sometimes tearful testimony Tuesday, Crispell said she never intended on making this a business, but was trying to help friends who have had difficulty boarding and training their dogs.
“This is the perfect opportunity for me to make a difference in our community,” said Crispell, who according to Cobb property records has lived in the home since 2018. “I’m helping families who are struggling with their dogs.”
A neighbor who lives across the street, Ryan Simmons, vouched for Crispell, saying that some of the complaints are “alarmist and inaccurate.” He said the dogs he’s seen are well-behaved and that “there’s no nuisance or evidence of harm” and that there’s widespread support for her in the neighborhood.
But while he was the only resident who spoke in support of Crispell, there was vocal opposition for the dog-boarding part of her business from other neighbors.
Michelle Kubea, who lives next door to Crispell, claimed she’s the only person “who’s seen what absolutely goes on there,” including “countless acts of neglect” and violent dog fights from her back patio.
James Gilmore and Kristina Hopkins, who live behind Crispell on Countryside Place, said they’ve seen the same thing, and said neighbors on their street are solidly opposed to allowing a dog-training business.
“It’s just not appropriate for a residential area,” Hopkins said.
Neighbors said they’ve seen dogs fighting and being a nuisance while unattended in Crispell’s backyard.
Crispell denied that the dogs she’s taking in exhibit violent tendencies, and she showed a slide of two of the dogs she’s kept laying on a sofa, with her child nearby.
“Do they look dangerous?” she said, referring to the dogs. “No. I’m a mother. I’m not running a dog park. This is a controlled environment.”
When Planning Commission member Deborah Dance asked about the claims of dog fighting, Crispell said that it was “totally false.” She explained that dogs can be naturally aggressive in ways that might seem excessive, and “then I have to make a correction.”
Crispell’s home is located in a tight cul-de-sac in a neighborhood off Terrell Mill Road.
She said that she needs to get approval for the business because it’s the family’s only source of income, and that they wouldn’t living be there for another two years, as they would be looking to live “in a better school district.”
Dance, whose District 3 includes the East Cobb area, said of Crispell’s business that “I think the current use is too intense” for the neighborhood. Unlike some other cases on Tuesday’s agenda that involved home-based business, “this one is on a different footing.”
The board discussion included suggestions that only one dog be allowed to be boarded at any given time, and a maximum of four dogs in total.
Crispell told Dance she’d be open to restrictions, and said that “I’ve taken so many precautions to make sure the impact has been minimal.” She said she has never been contacted or cited for nuisance issues.
But neighbors disputed her claims that Cobb Animal Services has never received complaints about the dogs.
Gilmore said while he supports Crispell having a dog-boarding business, “it needs to be in the proper setting.”
Right before the vote, Dance urged the parties to talk things over after the meeting—Crispell’s was the last case on the agenda—because “there may be a better way to do it.”
“There may be a better way to do this,” Planning Commission member Deborah Dance said of a dispute among neighbors over Crispell’s dog-training business.
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An update to a story we posted last month about the site of the former McAfee House in Northeast Cobb:
RaceTrace has received a continuance for a rezoning request for a gas station and convenience store at that northwest intersection of Bells Ferry Road and Barrett Parkway.
The request to rezone the 2.009 acres at 2595 Bells Ferry Road and across from Bells Ferry Elementary School was to have had its first hearing Tuesday before the Cobb Planning Commission.
But Cobb Zoning Division Manager John Pederson announced without comment at the start of the meeting that the case was being continued to September.
According to the filings (you can read them here), RaceTrac will be asking for the land to be rezoned to Neighborhood Activity Center (NAC). The fuel station and convenience store would be open 24/7, according to the filings.
RaceTrac also is seeking variances to waive the rear setback from 30 feet to eight feet and to increase the maximum amount of impervious surface from 70 to 74 feet.
The McAfee House, which dates to the 1840s, was the headquarters for Union Gen. Kenner Garrard, whose cavalry troops guarded the Noonday Creek valley after Northern troops seized Big Shanty in June 1864, in the run-up to the Battle of Kennesaw Mountain.
Earlier this year the house was relocated by preservationists to Cherokee County. In 2023, a car wash was proposed for the land, owned by the Medford Family LP, and the Cobb Planning Commission recommended approval. But the request was withdrawn by the applicant due to what it said were other business obligations.
Another Northeast Cobb case that was to have beem heard Tuesday also has been continued to September.
It’s a request by Little Sunshine’s Playhouse to rezone two acres at Sandy Plains Road and Trickum Road for a 12,330-square-foot day care center (you can read the filings here).
The two land parcels fronting Sandy Plains Road are residentially zoned and have older homes on them, and are surrounded by other residential properties.
It’s also across the corner from a CVS store and near a preschool on Trickum Road. Parks Huff, the applicant’s attorney, asked for the continuance in a letter to the Cobb Zoning Office last week until September.
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Tom Cousins, the influential Atlanta real estate mogul and philanthropist who developed the Indian Hills subdivision in East Cobb, has died.
Cousins died Tuesday at the age of 93, and left a major imprint on residential and commercial development in the Atlanta area.
Indian Hills, which opened in the early 1970s as a planned, staged development with golf courses and a country club, is considered the key development in the transformation of East Cobb.
Cousins also helped bring professional sports to Atlanta in the late 1960s as the ower of the Atlanta Hawks basketball team and the Atlanta Flames, a hockey franchise.
Along with architect John Portman, Cousins during his career included developing many of the landmark buildings of the Atlanta skyline, including CNN Center and the Omni sports arena, as well as the 191 Peachtree Tower.
In addition to redeveloping the famed East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta, Cousins turned his eyes in the late 1960s to a new kind of development in the Atlanta suburbs.
Until then, most of Cousins’ residential development had been in the Augusta area, where he built prefabricated homes, and was the largest homebuilder in the state of Georgia according to a history of Indian Hills.
He came to Atlanta seeking more opportunities, initially building apartment complexes.
Cousins set his sights on building out roughly 1,000 acres of farmland several miles east of the city of Marietta between Lower Roswell Road and what was then called Upper Roswell Road (now just Roswell Road).
Linking those two roads was Gray Road, which traversed hills that dropped down to Bishop Creek. That became the heart of a planned community with homes and golf courses, the first such development of its kind that far out from the city of Atlanta.
As the development progressed, other changes came about. Gray Road was renamed Indian Hills Parkway. Lots were laid out and sold for as little as $7,000 (in late 1960s money).
But an economic downturn cast doubt on the Indian Hills project, and Cousins had to be talked into finishing the work, according to the Indian Hills history (you can read it at this link).
Lot sizes were reduced and size of the golf clubhouse was also cut down to raise the funding to build out Indian Hills, which was regarded as a very experimental project.
Hal Adams, who worked with Cousins and bought a home in Indian Hills, said in the Indian Hills history that sales were slow at first, but school busing plans in the city of Atlanta resulted in many residents moving to Cobb County.
(Cobb schools began desegregation in the late 1960s, but without a busing program.)
Cousins also had to build a temporary sewage treatment facility at Indian Hills to accommodate the development until Cobb could construct its sewer lines to the East Cobb area.
For the final phase of Indian Hills in the early 1970s, Cousins purchased 3oo more acres of land, built out 350 residential units—including condominiums—as well as a third nine-hole golf course.
By the mid 1970s, growth in East Cobb was exploding, with the opening of Walton High School and other schools in the Johnson Ferry corridor.
Cherie Poss Chandler, who grew up on a farm on Lower Roswell Road at Woodlawn Drive, said the opening of Indian Hills changed everything about the community.
“That’s when it went from being Mt. Bethel to East Cobb,” Chandler said a 2018 interview with East Cobb News.
She said that while she and her siblings still had farm chores to do before going to school—their cows sometimes wandered onto the Indian Hills golf course—their new schoolmates had very different backgrounds.
To promote Indian Hills, Cousins and his team also built tennis courts and swimming pools. The golf course was showcased as the venue for a stop on the Ladies Professional Golf Association Tour.
The development was sold in 1978 to Futren Hospitality, a private club management that continues to operate Indian Hills today.
Today Indian Hills has more than 1,680 homes on around 2,000 acres. Many of the small, single-story ranch homes that Cousins built are being torn down for mega-mansions selling for well above $1 million.
You can read more about how Indian Hills came to be at this link. The information was compiled by a special committee created in 2008 to collect documents and conduct interviews with residents and key players in the creation of Indian Hills.
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Not long after the historic McAfee House was relocated by preservationists to Cherokee County, the two-acre site at Bells Ferry Road and Barrett Parkway is being proposed for a commercial use.
And not for the first time.
Preliminary filings with the Cobb Zoning Division indicate that RaceTrac, Inc. is seeking rezoning for a fuel station and convenience store where a home with Civil War connections once stood.
RaceTrac has hired prominent Cobb zoning attorney Kevin Moore to handle the application, which is scheduled for a first hearing on Aug. 5 before the Cobb Planning Commission.
The 2.009 acres at 2595 Bells Ferry Road and across from Bells Ferry Elementary School is owned by The Medford Family Limited Partnership and is currently zoned Planned Shopping Center (PSC).
According to the filings (you can read them here), RaceTrac will be asking for the land to be rezoned to Neighborhood Activity Center (NAC). The fuel station and convenience store would be open 24/7, according to the filings.
RaceTrac also is seeking variances to waive the rear setback from 30 feet to eight feet and to increase the maximum amount of impervious surface from 70 to 74 feet (see site plan below), according to the filings.
The zoning staff hasn’t yet conducted a full analysis or made a recommendation, but said in its summary that the NRC zoning “will permit a use that is more suitable to the Subject Property” which is surrounded by other commercially-zoned development.
“The proposed zoning will allow for a higher and better use of the Subject Property,” according to the preliminary zoning staff summary.
In 2023, a car wash was proposed for the Medford Family LP 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.
That was as Cobb Landmarks, a preservation non-profit, was renewing efforts to have the McAfee House removed.
The McAfee House, which dates to the 1840s, was the headquarters for Union Gen. Kenner Garrard, whose cavalry troops guarded the Noonday Creek valley after Northern troops seized Big Shanty in June 1864, in the run-up to the Battle of Kennesaw Mountain.
(Garrard’s Confederate cavalry opponent during that time, according to the Georgia Historical Society, was Gen. Joseph Wheeler, namesake of Wheeler High School in East Cobb.)
“Reportedly, blood stains remain visible on the upstairs bedroom floorboards, hidden beneath modern carpeting,” Cobb Landmarks wrote in a fundraising appeal earlier this year.
“As one of the oldest surviving structures in the Atlanta area and the last pre-Civil War building in Cobb’s Town Center area, the McAfee House is an important piece of Georgia history.”
The pine house was facing demolition when Cobb Landmarks offered to sell the home to anyone who wanted it for $1. A Cherokee County couple, Lee and Brittani Lusk, were the buyers in February, and they had it transported in three pieces in May to their private property in Ball Ground.
According to a local Civil War blog, the Lusks are in the real estate industry and own a wedding and special events venue, also in Ball Ground, and have invested in other historic structures.
While some locals were hoping the McAfee House could have been kept and restored inside Cobb (like the Powers-Jackson Cabin), the cost of the Medford LP land figures to be very desirable.
According to Cobb property tax records, the Medford property has an appraised value of $749,750.
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An East Cobb resident who wanted to use her home on Paper Mill Road to run an outdoor summer day camp for up to eight children withdrew that request Tuesday before the Cobb Board of Commissioners.
“I just want to invest in our kids,” Emily Jordan told commissioners of her summer camp proposal.
Following a lengthy discussion about concerns over traffic and setting an unwelcome community precedent, Emily Jordan withdrew the request for a 24-month land-use permit without prejudice.
Commissioners approved the withdrawal by a 4-0 vote, with new commissioner Erick Allen absent.
The vote means that Jordan can bring the proposal back at any time, since it wasn’t denied.
Commissioner JoAnn Birrell of East Cobb said while she commended Jordan for wanting to work with children, “but to me this is not really appropriate in a residential area. It’s not a home-based business. It’s not allowed.”
Jordan and her family last fall moved into a home on a two-acre property on Paper Mill Road near Woodlawn Drive on land zoned R-80 (low-density residential).
An occupational therapist, she has children aged one and two years old, and wanted to operate the camp on a half-day basis with age-appropriate activities that she said would be “therapeutic based.”
She would run the camp one week a month in June, July and August, and the activities might include meal preparation and nutrition, gardening, as well as carpentry and similar trade-oriented activities for older children to supplement traditional academic subjects.
“These are things that can help them be more independent,” Jordan told commissioners. “This is a passion project. This doesn’t pay our bills.”
Although the Cobb Zoning Staff recommended denial, the request was recommended for approval two weeks ago by the Cobb Planning Commission.
The original proposal would have had between 5 and 12 additional people on the property each day, including volunteers and professionals to help with the teaching and a state requirement for child-to-adult ratios at camps.
Jordan said the driveway is large enough to accommodate parking for the camp and that there would be no deliveries while it is in session.
She also said that she properly informed neighbors of her camp plans and none of them objected.
But the zoning staff said the use was not compatible with the neighborhood and cited the lack of a traffic plan with Jordan’s application.
Richard Grome of the East Cobb Civic Association countered that traffic would be a problem, and commercial activity makes this “a precedent-setting case.”
He said the proposal is confusing and short on specifics, in terms of how many people would be on the property and for how long, and what activities in particular would be offered.
Approval “would set a negative precedent for homeowners in residential neighborhoods to use their property for summer camps,” Grome said. “This is not a home occupation. There are too many clients visiting the home at the same time and is too intense for a business operated from a residence.”
He said there’s additional traffic using the Paper Mill-Woodlawn area as a detour due to the ongoing Lower Roswell Road construction project.
“This isn’t a big operation,” Jordan said, “This isn’t 100 kids at a YMCA camp.”
She said she never heard from anyone at the ECCA or anyone who might be opposed to the camp.
Birrell suggested holding the application but Commissioner Keli Gambrill said she would vote to deny it “because there’s a lot homework that needs to be done,” including traffic plans, getting proper permits for the food activities and meeting code requirements.
A denial would have meant that Jordan couldn’t bring her plans back for 12 months.
Gambrill suggested she resubmit the application after resolving those issues.
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