Language to allow accessory dwelling units (ADUs) and data centers is being proposed as part of upcoming code amendment changes in the Cobb County Code.
The Cobb Board of Commissioners will be holding public hearings in October to consider those code amendment changes, and three hearings have been scheduled.
The first of those hearings, on Oct. 6, concerns zoning only, and those proposed code amendments are focused on those two controversial topics.
Cobb government posted the hearing dates and proposed code amendments late last week. and the zoning code amendment proposals (Section 134) can be found by clicking here.
Cobb withdrew code changes to allow ADUs in late 2024 after citizen protests, but the language in the proposed code amendments isn’t much different.
The new proposal (see page 5 at the link just above) calls for allowing ADUs in the back of residential properties of up to 850 square feet, or 50 percent of the square footage of that property’s main dwelling unit.
The ADUs would be limited to a single story and must be connected to the utility meter of the main building, and at least one off-street parking space must be provided.
ADUs also could not be used as short-term rental properties and the property owner must reside there.
The ADUs were proposed by Cobb Commission Chairwoman Lisa Cupid to address housing affordability issues, but Commissioner JoAnn Birrell of District 3 in East Cobb was among those voicing strong opposition.
The East Cobb Civic Association also was opposed, echoing concerns that the single-family nature of many areas of the county would be dramatically altered with ADUs.
Cobb is under a moratorium for considering data centers until February, as county staff have been preparing language to include in the code for the first time.
The code amendments to be considered (pages 5-7) would require that data centers use power generated off-site, with a miimum lot size of 5 acres and a maximum size of 30 acres.
Data centers also would have to meet certain noise regulations, including for cooling systems and backup generators, and other restrictions would include site lighting and building height.
The proposal also would require data centers to use a “closed loop” water cooling system, “with no cooling water discharged into the county wastewater system, except for routine maintenance.
In August, the Marietta City Council approved a data center off Delk Road near Interstate 75 but is under a moratorium through the end of the year as it drafts code amendments to govern future requests.
The zoning code amendments hearing is Tuesday, Oct. 6, at 9 a.m. The other hearings will take place on Oct. 13 at 9 a.m. and Oct. 27 at 7 p.m., with votes on code amendments also scheduled for Oct. 27.
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The Cobb Planning Commission on Tuesday voted to recommend denial of a senior-living project at Eastside Church in East Cobb.
Saying it’s “not a fit for a low-density, walkable residential neighborhood,” vice chairwoman Deborah Dance of District 3—which covers most of East Cobb—made the motion to turn down the request, following a brief discussion.
The vote was 4-0, with chairwoman Nadia Faucette absent. The Planning Commission’s recommendation will be considered by the Cobb Board of Commissioners, which will hear the request on Sept. 15.
Eastside Church wants to convert 8.65 acres on its Lower Roswell Road campus for a 95-unit assisted living facility with services and amenities, and for eight independent cottages.
The complex, called The Haven at Eastside, would be built on mostly unused parking areas of the church property, which also houses a school and a soccer field at Lower Roswell and Little Road.
The church is adjacent to the Red Oak Park neighborhood of older homes, and numerous residents living there have been working to fight the proposal, which the Planning Commission held in June and has been continued since then.
More than 70 people turned out last week at a community meeting held by Dance and Cobb Commissioner JoAnn Birrell, almost all against The Haven.
A total of 57 people came to the zoning hearing on Tuesday in opposition and 21 were in support, and Dance said that another 45 people expressed opposition via an online system and two said they were in favor.
During the hearing Tuesday, Abby Shiffman, a resident of a neighborhood across Lower Roswell Road from the church, said she started a petition against the project that thus far has 232 signatures.
Red Oak Park resident Lyndsay Webb
Attorney Kevin Moore, who represents Eastside, said The Haven is compatible with the area and cited Sterling Estates, a senior-living facility further east on Lower Roswell, as an example of an even bigger facility next to a single-family neighborhood.
“This isn’t incompatible,” Moore said. “It’s compatible.”
Shiffman noted that Sterling Estates and Parc and Piedmont, another senior-living community on Roswell Road, are located next to commercial properties and have more substantial buffering than what’s being proposed at Eastside.
While those two complexes are the result “step-down zoning” decisions, Shiffman said, with The Haven proposal, “there’s nothing to step down from.”
Eastside submitted a revised site plan and new elevations for the main building last week and conducted a traffic study that was filed only Monday afternoon.
Moore said the traffic study, which wasn’t required, showed that the impact from The Haven would be less than a two-second delay “at its worst” and for the most part, less than a second, at the intersections around Eastside.
He didn’t provide further details, and Cobb DOT said it hadn’t had time to examine the traffic study.
Richard Grome of the East Cobb Civic Association said the rezoning is incompatible for traffic, density, design and stormwater reasons.
Eastside Church executive pastor Darrell Whipple
Red Oak Park resident Lyndsay Webb, who has led much of the opposition, rattled off the names of people living in the neighborhood, saying “these are more than land parcels. These are my neighbors.”
The site plan includes 150 parking spaces for the main building at The Haven, which would be located next to a soccer field that is being used by students at Eastside Christian School.
Planning Commission member Fred Beloin asked about the school’s enrollment, and Eastside executive pastor Darrell Whipple said it currently stands at 275 with a cap of 600.
Eastside Christian has been building out its high school offerings, and when asked by Beloin about future enrollment trends, Whipple said they are growing.
Before the Planning Commission vote, Beloin said the Eastside case was “unique” with a church and a school on one property that would be bisected by a senior-living building.
“I’m not sure I’ve heard enough to be comfortable with” the Eastside proposal, Beloin said.
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Cobb Planning Commission member Deborah Dance (right) speaks as Cobb Commissioner JoAnn Birrell listens at a community meeting Thursday at the East Cobb Library. ECN photos.
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 filedan 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.
Red Oak Park resident Lyndsay Webb (in blue) has been leading the opposition to The Haven.
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.)
The proposed main building of The Haven has been reduced from three to two stories in a rendering released this week.
‘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.
Richard Grome of the East Cobb Civic Association.
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.”
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.
“At night, I feel like we’re at the end of an airport runway,” Red Oak Park resident Denise Merritt said of the lighting at the Eastside Church parking lot near her home.
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.
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After weeks and months of pleading, citizens living near the former Sprayberry Crossing Shopping Center got a resolution following their complaints that something be done about the former SunTrust bank building.
It’s been sitting vacant for about a decade in front of the former dilapidated retail center, which has been redeveloped for senior apartments, townhomes and eventually some retail space.
In the old SunTrust lot, vegetation is overgrown and trash and debris have been also laying around.
But the 3,600-square-foot building will soon be coming down.
An excavation vehicle has been parked out in front in recent days, following visits from Cobb Code Enforcement and and upcoming court date after citations were issued against the property owner, CMG Marietta 2, LLC.
That’s a Florida-based commercial real estate leasing company, which according to Cobb property tax records bought the 0.85-acre property at 2674 Sandy Plains Road in February for $1.75 million.
Located across from the intersection of Sandy Plains and Kinjac Road, the bank building will give way to a Chipotle fast-casual restaurant.
Those plans have been in the works for some time, but the decrepit state of the empty building has gotten worse.
In recent weeks, the violations have included a junk removal truck parked there.
In a post on Aug. 11 on the Sandy Plains Area Residents Coalition (SPARC) Facebook page, Cobb commissioner JoAnn Birrell said the cleanup has taken longer than intended because initially the “rightful owner of the property was not served properly [and] we had to start the process over again.”
CMG Marietta 2, LLC purchased the land from Hong Tran and Hahn H. Tran, who acquired it from SunTrust in 2017.
Birrell said the Chipotle proposal—which doesn’t need rezoning—is in site plan review in the Cobb Zoning Division and that most departments have signed off on the project.
A Sept. 3 court date was set to hear the citations, but “hopefully all this will get approved and they can start with the demolition soon and begin construction,” Birrell wrote, adding that a land-disturbance permit also has been issued.
It’s been more than three years since redevelopment began on the site of the long-blighted Sprayberry Crossing. The EVOQ East Cobb senior apartment complex began leasing two years ago, and Toll Brothers is completing the East Cobb Walk townhomes.
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Cobb commissioner JoAnn Birrell has scheduled a community meeting for Thursday about a controversial rezoning case in East Cobb.
Birrell sent out word Monday that the meeting is Thursday from 6-7:30 p.m. at East Cobb Library (4880 Lower Roswell Road) and will be devoted to a proposed senior-living complex at Eastside Church (case Z-22-2026).
The complex would have 95 units in a three-story building with amenities and eight cottages, also on the church property at 2450 Lower Roswell Road.
Birrell told East Cobb News that “this a community meeting not a public hearing” designed for her and her Cobb Planning Commission appointee, Deborah Dance, “to hear neighbors concerns regarding Z-22.”
Birrell said that “as soon as the traffic study and a revised site plan is submitted I will forward out to the community.”
The Planning Commission voted to hold the case in June after a hearing that generated community opposition. On July 2, Eastside asked for a continuance to do a traffic study with the start of a new school year and to consider concerns from citizens at a community meeting in late June.
Citizens have complained that project is too dense and will cause traffic and stormwater issues and said the church didn’t adequately inform them about their plans.
Church leaders have said that they’re not planning revisions to their site plan that’s expected to go back before the Planning Commission next week.
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 Red Oak Park, the neighborhood that surrounds Eastside Church.
Eastside is seeking to rezone a portion of its property from R-20 (single-family residential, the standard category for houses of religious worship) to RSL (residential senior-living).
They’ve said that the project they’re calling The Haven at Eastside will address a housing shortage for seniors with independent living capability.
The complex would be run by the church non-profit and managed by a vendor with expertise in providing senior care.
The East Cobb Civic Association also is opposing The Haven, for density reasons and for what it said would cause a precedent in the area.
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“Companies will come here just to be near this technology,” Prime Storage CEO Robert Moser (center) told the Marietta City Council.
The Marietta City Council on Wednesday approved a controversial proposal to build a data center in a current storage facility off Delk Road that faces Interstate 75.
In a rezoning case that was tabled last month, the council voted 5-2 to approve Prime Storage’s request to use a portion of its 90,000-square-foot building for an 18-megawatt data facility for what it calls “mission critical” local purposes.
That includes law enforcement, medical and emergency services and local businesses in the area. At last month’s meeting, Marietta also voted for a six-month moratorium on considering other data centers, as Cobb and other jurisdictions have been doing.
But it didn’t include the Prime Storage request. After more than two hours of occasionally heated public comment and discussion on Wednesday, the council agreed to a motion from Ward 7 member Joseph Goldstein that included a number of stipulations.
Those include constant monitoring of the data center site, an independent sound study to gauge noise levels, observing existing city noise limits, silencing of coolers and generators and for Prime Storage to agree not to build another data center at its other Marietta facilities.
Ward 7 includes the East Marietta area where the Prime Storage facility is located, on Powers Ferry Place, near several hotels and apartment buildings in city limits and subdivisions in unincorporated East Cobb.
State Rep. Mary Frances Williams
“Vote them out! Vote them out!” chanted some of the opponents of the data center, who for the last two months have galvanized public attention and crowded City Hall meeting chambers.
Before Wednesday’s meeting, opponents sent out multiple press releases warning against “toxic data centers” that benefit only tech billionaires while using public water ane electricity and causing pollution issues.
Much of the opposition comes from local branches of the Democratic Socialists of America, and local Democratic Party groups and candidates also have been opposed.
State Rep. Mary Frances Williams, a Democrat from Marietta who held a data center town hall recently, said that “I continue to have concerns” about the Prime Storage proposal “that in my opinion have not been answered.”
At one point, an opponent shouted out about what was on four fully redacted pages in the Prime Storage agenda item (see pages 29-33), but his question was ignored.
Supporters of the data center turned out in strong numbers, including an engineer from East Cobb-based J & A Engineering, which does low-voltage consulting work, as well as the Cobb Chamber of Commerce.
Dana Johnson of Select Cobb, the Chamber’s economic development arm, said that “this is no different than any other type of infrastructure that you control.”
Marietta City Council Member Joseph Goldstein
Then the meeting went from raw emotion to highly technical talk about emergency generators, cooling systems and noise decibel levels.
Council member Cheryl Richardson (Ward 1, near Dobbins) asked a series of questions about those, saying that “I have a lot of problems with the sound study” that was done, particularly since it didn’t explain a situation in which multiple backup generators would be running.
Parks Huff, the attorney for Prime Storage, said that’s happened only twice in the last couple years at an adjacent data center, for only a few hours.
He also said his client would agree to a stipulation that the data center would not be connected to Marietta’s municipal water and electricity systems.
Prime Storage CEO Robert Moser said he was prompted to build a data center because of a medical emergency involving his mother and learning about the lack of real-time responses that such facilities provide.
He said what’s being planned in Marietta isn’t an artificial-intelligence data center that’s prompted opposition around the country, with additional concerns over potential job losses.
“This is the future,” Moser said, adding that “this will benefit local businesses and citizens. This is the most community-friendly [type of data center] there is.”
Some heckling ensued, but Moser continued, estimating that his data center could attract nearly 50 companies and create 1,500 new jobs over the next decade.
“Companies will come here just to be near this technology,” he said.
After Goldstein’s lengthy motion, Richardson and Ward 3 (West Marietta) council member Daniel Gaddis voted against the rezoning, as howling and chanting ensued.
On Thursday, Shelia Edwards of Cobb County, a Democrat running for the Georgia Public Service Commission, issued a statement opposed to the Marietta data center.
“I will always stand with communities that don’t want these facilities,” Edwards said. “I just struggle to believe that the Council had zero tools to push this back a little longer and ensure due diligence for the people of Marietta.”
The Marietta moratorium on data centers expires on Dec. 31.
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A rendering of a 95-unit independent senior living building proposed by Eastside Church on its Lower Roswell Road campus.
Eastside Church is asking for another delay for a proposed senior-living complex on its campus on Lower Roswell Road.
Church leaders told East Cobb News Thursday that they want to have a traffic study conducted, although it’s not required, to compare to Cobb Department of Transportation traffic estimates for the project.
“We want to do one, but it makes more sense to do it when school is in session,” church elder Ray Farmer said.
Eastside’s attorney, Kevin Moore, has notified the Cobb Zoning Division of the request to have the proposal rescheduled for September.
Eastside is seeking to rezone a portion of its property to RSL, or residential senior living.
The case was to have been heard on Tuesday by the Cobb Planning Commission, which voted to hold it in June. On July 2, Eastside asked for a continuance to do a traffic study and to consider concerns from citizens at a community meeting in late June.
The school year in Cobb County begins on Monday, and Eastside executive pastor Darrell Whipple said that the traffic study is expected to start next week and would take a week or two to complete.
In its traffic analysis, Cobb DOT estimated that the area around Eastside along Lower Roswell and its intersection at Little Road generates 13,000 vehicle trips per day.
Eastside is proposing a 95-unit assisted living/memory care building and eight independent living cottages for seniors as part of its expanded church mission.
The Haven, as the facility is being called, would accommodate elderly people who can live somewhat independently but don’t need nursing home-type care.
The complex also would have 133 parking spaces, and Cobb DOT estimates that the facility would generate 426 vehicle trips per day.
Traffic, density and stormwater concerns were raised by citizens at the June Planning Commission meeting and at a June 23 meeting at the church with nearby residents.
One of them, Lyndsay Webb, told East Cobb News that she was frustrated that the church didn’t adequately inform nearby residents of the Red Oak Park community and other neighborhoods about the plans.
“People were upset and they were emotional,” Webb said of the gathering, which included Cobb Planning Commissioner Deborah Dance.
On Thursday, Eastside leaders told East Cobb News that there are no revisions for the site plan or what would provided at The Haven.
“We have heard the community concerns and think that we have addressed them,” Farmer said.
The church would oversee the facility through a a 501 (c)(3) non-profit. The operator of The Haven would have expertise in providing senior care and would directly answer to the church’s board of elders.
The Haven is being opposed by the East Cobb Civic Association, mostly over density issues (13 units an acre), but also because of what it said would set a precedent in an otherwise residential area.
Moore told the Planning Commission in June that the RSL category is included in the Cobb County code as being among the uses “that shall not be established as a precedent for any other residential or non-residential district.”
On Thursday, Whipple said that “we would concur with the statement that Kevin Moore made that day.”
The Haven proposal also includes maintaining a 40-foot buffer with mature trees between the church property and nearby homes to stem any sight issues from a three-story building.
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The Marietta City Council Wednesday approved variances requested by the owner of the former Kroger property on Powers Ferry Road.
Habersham Partners LLC is proposing a location of a national fitness center chain, EoS, which will be making major renovations.
The variances would reduce a 40-foot buffer between the back of the building (at left) and allow more parking spaces between landscaping islands.
The measures were approved by a unanimous 7-0 vote after little discussion.
The 4.8-acre site on Powers Ferry at Delk Road has sat vacant since the grocery retailer relocated up the street nearly three years ago.
The council voted unanimously to approve a five-story, 322-unit apartment complex on the property at the same time, but that was vetoed by the mayor.
Local residents supporting the apartments expressed concern that the former Kroger site would become blighted, and in its application for the variances, Marietta planning officials noted some of the erosion.
The property been the subject of code enforcement complaints, including the presence of trash and debris, outdoor storage and marked by graffiti.
Habersham Partners doesn’t need rezoning, since the existing community retail commercial (CRC) category includes fitness centers.
EoS has several other metro Atlanta locations, including Smyrna, Milton and Alpharetta.
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Approving a new data center for local responses is a “win-win,” former State Sen. Chuck Clay told the Marietta City Council.
After more than two hours of discussion and some fiery comments from citizens, the Marietta City Council on Wednesday voted to table a request for a data center off Delk Road.
The matter will be taken up again Aug. 12 at the behest of council member Joseph Goldstein, whose Ward 7 includes most of East Marietta, including the Delk Road area.
Before that vote, and with a packed crowd on hand, the council issued a six-month moratorium on considering any other data center requests.
A week after the Marietta Planning Commission voted 4-3 to recommend approval, the City Council heard plenty from citizens in favor of and opposed to the data center request, which entailed adding another use under the existing Community Retail Commercial (CRC) category.
Prime Storage has operated a self-storage facility on Powers Ferry Place, off Delk Road and fronting Interstate 75, for the last 30 years.
It wants to convert a portion of its existing 90,000-square-foot facility for an 18-megawatt data facility for what it calls “mission critical” local purposes.
That includes law enforcement, medical and emergency services and local businesses in the area.
Former State Sen. Chuck Clay, from one of Marietta’s most prominent families, was among those representing Prime Storage.
He said that Marietta historically has always been a “vision city,” developing an old air field for what became Dobbins Air Force Base (and now Dobbins Naval Air Station), and more recently has been building up the Franklin Gateway corridor.
Adding a data center to meet local communications needs is no different.
“These things just don’t happen,” Clay said, as opponents heckled during his remarks.
He urged the city “to do what’s best” to continue to provide “local jobs with local power.”
Clay said that a new data center—located adjacent to another data center that has existed for years—would be a “win-win.”
‘What I heard was a lot of fear’
Opponents came from all parts of Marietta, including Chris Conley a former UGA and NFL football player who relocated his family off Burnt Hickory Road.
He said one of his daughters has respiratory issues, and like a number of the speakers Wednesday, raised environmental concerns about data centers.
“You don’t want people like me coming here,” Conley said, telling the council that “you messed up.”
Sun Valley Estates resident John Mendoza
Other citizens live close to the data center, including neighborhoods in unincorporated Cobb.
John Mendoza, who lives on Powers Ferry Drive, in the Sun Valley Estates subdivision, read from the city zoning staff analysis about a lack of code or any kind of guidance on data centers.
“So why are we even considering this?” he asked.
The council extended time to speakers, most of whom continued to express opposition.
But that also gave Prime Storage additional time to explain what they have in mind.
“What I heard was a lot of fear,” applicants’ attorney Parks Huff said about the data center opponents.
The proposed data center would be a “closed loop system” for cooling the servers and therefore reducing water consumption.
He said Prime Storage would be paying market rates for energy needed to power the data center, and would take necessary measures to go beyond complying with the city’s noise ordinance.
“I just have too many sound questions,” Marietta City Council member Cheryl Richardson said.
That’s where the discussion with council members stayed for quite a while.
Cheryl Richardson of Ward 1, which is near Dobbins, said she’d like to see a noise study as well as talk to the proposed data center’s sound engineer.
Of Huff’s point that another data center has existed near the proposed site with no incident, Richardson said that “just because we’ve done it once doesn’t mean we should do it twice.”
Some opponents broke out into applause, but Richardson told them they shouldn’t presume anything by her remarks,
“I just have too many sound questions. I’m not a scientist.”
The Marietta moratorium on considering other data centers ends on Dec. 31.
“We just want to make sure we’re doing the right thing,” Mayor Steve “Thunder” Tumlin said.
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The former Kroger site on Powers Ferry Road has sat vacant since the grocery retailer relocated up the street nearly three years ago.
The 4.8 acres on Powers Ferry at Delk Road was proposed for apartments at the same time, and plans were approved unanimously by the Marietta City Council, but then vetoed by the mayor.
The developer who wanted to build a five-story, 322-unit apartment building said then that the site wasn’t viable for other commercial or retail uses.
And since then, the property been the subject of code enforcement complaints, including the presence of trash and debris, outdoor storage and marked by graffiti.
But now the property owner, Atlanta-based Habersham Partners LLC, is proposing a location of a national fitness center chain for that site, and will be asking the City of Marietta for approval.
The City Council on Wednesday will be asked to consider two variances for an EOS Fitness Center, which has three metro Atlanta locations.
According to an agenda item (you can read it here), Habersham Partners doesn’t need rezoning, since the existing community retail commercial (CRC) category includes fitness centers.
What is being requested is a reduction of a 40-foot screening buffer adjacent to residentially zoned property, as well as a reduction of the requirement to install landscaped parking lot islands for every 12 consecutive parking spaces.
The agenda item states that EOS will be undergoing extensive interior and exterior renovations to operate in the old Kroger, which opened in the early 1980s.
“The site plan provided contains very little detail about the proposed improvements to the building and site,” states the city’s zoning staff analysis, which doesn’t make a recommendation on the variance requests.
Nearby apartments that are in unincorporated Cobb and located off Delk Road were built around the same time, “and have coexisted, presumably without issue, for 30 years without a buffer,” according to the zoning analysis.
“Should this variance be approved, consideration should be given to requiring a new fence and also limiting the area to overflow parking to minimize impact on the residential neighbors.”
As for the parking island requirement, the staff analysis said the proposal for the fitness center would include retrofitting the parking lot “to add numerous islands bookending rows of newly striped parking spaces.
“While not meeting the strict rule of ‘no more than 12 parking spaces in a row without an island,’ these changes will substantially improve the look (and drainage) of the site. And, again, although there is no hardship present, these changes will only incur benefits and drastically reduce the nonconforming parking area.”
The Marietta City Council also will hear on Wednesday a data center proposal off Delk Road near Interstate 75 that that was recommended for approval by the Marietta Planning Commission in a split vote.
The City Council also will consider a request for data center moratorium, similar to one in Cobb County. You can read through the full meeting agenda by clicking here and here.
The City Council meeting begins at 7 p.m. Wednesday at Marietta City Hall. (205 Lawrence Street).
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Clackum Road off Old Canton Road offers a touch of country, but soon could include million-dollar homes.
Tucked away off Old Canton Road is a narrow-single lane road with some older houses that evokes a rural feel amid East Cobb’s suburban sprawl.
Although the road is paved, residents say there isn’t much other modern infrastructure to serve the few homes along Clackum Road, some of which are owned by members of the Clackum family.
One of those residents is a developer who wants to assemble 11.8 acres along Clackum Road, as well as Old Canton Road and Shelly Court for a luxury single-family subdivision.
Jairo Murillo wants the land—which is split into two non-contiguous parcels—to be rezoned from R-30, a low-density residential category to R-15, which is more dense than most of the surrounding subdivisions.
The proposed homes on Clackum Road would start at $1 million.
Last month, the Cobb Planning Commission continued the case following opposition, and on Tuesday voted again to hold the request (you can read through it here) following the submission of a new site plan.
Murillo initially proposed building 20 homes on the land, which stretches beyond a cul-de-sac at the end of Clackum Road and along property he owns near Sewell Mill Creek (see the site plan below).
Residents of the nearby Mill Creek subdivision expressed opposition in June, especially over stormwater concerns.
On Tuesday, a revised site plan reduced the number of homes to 14, and included three designated areas for stormwater retention.
Murillo’s representative said Tuesday the homes envisioned would be at least 4,800 square feet and feature three-car garages and would be priced starting at $1 million.
For Jeb Beardsley, a commercial real estate specialist whose family owns one of the homes on Clackum Road, the development would be a welcome addition.
Clackum Road serves a few homes with one lane of traffic and a cul-de-sac.
Clackum Road, he said, is only 16 feet wide, and it’s difficult for traffic getting in and out.
“All of this will help the neighborhood tremendously,” he told Planning Commission members Tuesday. “This is a local developer, a local family-owned business.”
But other residents, including in Mill Creek, again expressed opposition. The site plan doesn’t address their stormwater or density concerns.
Mike Cotti, who lives nearby and owns a construction and remodeling business, said the R-15 category isn’t compatible with the surrounding area.
“The people that live in the area aren’t anti-development,” he said. “They just want to see a reasonable development.”
He suggested an R-20 category, which is what Mill Creek and the nearby Canton Hills subdivisions are zoned. The Olde Canton Chase subdivision to the south of the Murillo property is zoned R-15.
The Cobb Zoning Division had recommended denial based on the initial site plan. John Pedersen, the zoning manager, told Planning Commission member Deborah Dance that his office hadn’t had time to analyze the revised site plan, which was received last Monday.
She moved to continue the case, and the motion passed 5-0 to bring it back in August.
Click here to see a larger view of the site plan, with homes on Clackum at Old Canton (top) and at the left, close to Sewell Mill Creek.
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A rendering of The Haven, a 95-unit independent senior living building proposed by Eastside Church.
A proposed senior-living complex at Eastside Church will not be heard again until August at the earliest.
The Cobb Planning Commission delayed the application in June for another month, but the church’s attorney has asked the Cobb Zoning Division for additional time.
The matter has been taken off of Tuesday’s Planning Commission agenda, according to filings this week, and is continued until Aug. 4.
Kevin Moore, who represents Eastside, said in a June 25 letter that the delay is needed to conduct a traffic study and to “evaluate comments received from a recent community meeting.”
That community meeting took place last week, after the Planning Commission heard from some nearby residents concerned about density, traffic, stormwater and other issues.
Eastside wants to build a 95-unit assisted living/memory care building and eight independent living cottages for seniors as part of its expanded church mission.
The main three-story building would have full services and amenities, including medical care and food service, as well as exercise and recreational space.
A retention pond would be landscaped and surrounded by a walking trail to serve the senior community, which would have 133 parking spaces.
Eastside would build, operate and maintain the complex, which it would run through a non-profit entity.
“We want to be good neighbors,” Eastside executive pastor Darrell Whipple told East Cobb Newsin outlining the proposal.
Lyndsay Webb, a nearby resident on Little Road, told East Cobb News this week that she attended the June 23 community meeting at Eastside Church, and that more than 50 people showed up.
She said most of those who spoke were against the proposal for some of the same reasons, and said the church didn’t adequately inform nearby residents of the Red Oak Park community and other neighborhoods about the plans.
“People were upset and they were emotional,” Webb said of the gathering, which included Cobb Planning Commissioner Deborah Dance.
Webb said that they wanted to know more about not only about the scale and size of the project, but how it will be paid for and run.
“What are they going to do with this and who are they giving it to?” she said.
Red Oak Park is an older neighborhood in East Cobb, built in the late 1950s and will smaller homes and smaller lots than newer subdivisions.
While some longtime residents there remain, Webb said many of the residents are like her and her family, raising children.
“There are lots of families in our neighborhood,” she said.
They have continuing issues over traffic and walkability on streets without sidewalks.
Also opposing the Eastside project is the East Cobb Civic Association, which balked at density levels in a single-family residential area that would come to 13 units an acre.
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By a 4-3 vote Wednesday, the Marietta Planning Commission recommended approval of a data center off Delk Road that drew community opposition.
The proposal by Prime Storage would convert up to 40 percent of its existing 90,000-square-foot facility on Powers Place, located adjacent to Interstate 75 at Delk, for what the applicant’s attorney called “mission critical” data infrastructure use for local purposes.
Attorney Parks Huff said the proposed data center is needed in the area because “latency is a problem.” He was referring to the time lag between when a data request is made and when it is processed, especially for medical and other time-sensitive purposes.
But nearby citizens urged at least a delay in the request (you can read it here) because they said more details need to be made public.
“This could be a good use,” said Marietta resident Don Barth, who lives in the Powers Ferry Hills community not far from the Prime Storage site.
“But there’s not enough information. It’s not a bad deal, but you’re building too close to homes.”
The Prime Storage site is surrounded by commercial properties, but is close to apartments, motels and two neighborhoods in unincorporated Cobb—Tuxedo Estates and Sun Valley Estates.
The proposed 12-megawatt data center, which could be expanded to 18 megawatts, is on a much smaller scale than a data center rezoning request approved by the Marietta City Council last year, and which has drawn strong opposition recently.
While there’s no proposal at the Bells Ferry Road property, several dozen people turned out Wednesday before the Planning Commission to echo similar concerns.
David Baker, who lives nearby and who said he is a corporate computer analyst, said that while “data centers have been around for a long time, we don’t know what technology is going to look like in 10 years. Is this really the only use planned?”
Other citizens expressed concerns about the possibility of rising electrical and water rates because of what data centers can consume, as well as noise issues.
Huff said that “we’ll comply with the noise ordinance,” which was referenced in the city’s zoning analysis.
The city zoning staff also extensively noted that the Marietta code doesn’t have anything specifically relating to data centers. The proposed data center sits close to an existing data center on Powers Place that has a larger size.
The Marietta City Council will consider the Prime Storage request next Wednesday, and could discuss the matter at a work session on Monday.
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The Marietta City Council voted 4-3 Wednesday to recommend approval. The Marietta City Council will consider the request next week.
ORIGINAL REPORT:
Just a few weeks after hearing opposition to data centers, the City of Marietta will be considering a rezoning case to build one on a site near several neighborhoods in East Cobb.
On Wednesday the Marietta Planning Commission will hear a request to convert a portion of an existing storage facility on Delk Road near Interstate 75 into an 18-megawatt data center.
The meeting takes place Wednesday at 6 p.m. at Marietta City Hall (205 Lawrence Street) and will be preceded by a work session at 5:30 p.m.
The 10.7-acre property on Powers Ferry Place (bordered by the yellow lines in the map above) is zoned Community Retail Commercial, or CRC.
The applicant is asking to keep the same zoning category, but wants to add an existing use that would allow for the construction of a data infrastructure facility.
The applicant’s name is blacked out on the zoning application (you can read it here), but the existing facility there is called Prime Storage.
It’s located at 1150 Powers Place, in an area surrounded mostly by commercial uses. But there are also hotels and apartments nearby, as well as two neighborhoods in unincorporated Cobb—Tuxedo Estates and Sun Valley Estates.
(Those are the streets shaded in brown, just above the light blue-colored areas indicating City of Marietta boundaries.)
The city’s zoning staff didn’t make a recommendation on the data center proposal, but did note in its analysis noise issues, how other local jurisdictions are handling data center requests and acknowledged the fact that Marietta doesn’t have anything about such uses in its ordinance.
“As a result, applications of this type are reviewed under existing commercial categories, which may not fully address the unique characteristics of data center development,” the analysis states.
“This case also highlights a type of use that the City may want to evaluate further as part of future zoning code updates.”
On June 10, dozens of citizens lobbied the Marietta City Council to scuttle any plans to build a data center on land approved for that purpose on Bells Ferry Road a year ago.
The initial request would have allowed up to 100 megawatts of power, but that fell through, and city officials have said the “the most recent discussions have included much smaller power purchase amounts of 60MW or less; however, even those conversations have stalled.”
There are no plans to build there at present, but protests have grown around the country to fight data centers. A number of local governments, including Cobb County, have issued moratoria against considering them.
Prime Storage operates a self-storage facility that would continue, according to the application.
An 18-megawatt data center is being proposed, and that’s considered a mid-size or enterprise facility. In the application, Parks Huff, the attorney for Prime Storage, called the proposed data center “mission critical” and said that the current structure will not be expanded, and that no increases in water consumption or electrical rates to other ratepayers are anticipated.
The data center would take up 21,570 square feet, or 22 percent of the existing building.
“The proposed mission critical data processing facility will provide computing and data needs close to the end users, which is critical for situations where latency is an issue, such as traffic controls or medical facility operations,” Huff wrote in a letter submitted to the city on May 19.
The city’s zoning analysis said that “the applicant has indicated that mechanical equipment would be housed within purpose-built enclosures and utilize a closed-loop air-cooled system; however, no technical specifications or operational details were provided. Since Marietta’s zoning code does not include standards specific to data centers, additional information would be needed to evaluate potential impacts on surrounding properties.”
Under the city’s noise ordinance, there are decibel limits for residential properties.
“Because the project includes a new exterior support area, the placement of equipment, noise control, lighting, and screening will be important considerations, especially with Elme Apartments to the northeast and the Rodeway Inn to the south,” the analysis states.
The zoning staff also noted that the property contains two non-conforming uses, including buffer and sewer easement encroachments and chain-link fencing as well as two legally non-conforming billboards.
The Marietta Planning Commission makes recommendations to the Marietta City Council, which meets July 8.
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A townhome proposal on Bells Ferry Road that would include dedicated workforce housing units has been delayed by the Cobb Board of Commissioners.
Commissioners voted 5-0 Tuesday to hold until July an application by builder Dennis Tidwell and his company, Bumblee Capital, to construct 15 townhomes on 1.4 acres at 1471 Bells Ferry Road, with price points under $500,000.
The land is adjacent to another townhome development and along Bells Ferry between Cobb Parkway and Interstate 75, amid commercially-zoned land and homeless encampments.
But the request became contentious earlier this month before the Cobb Planning Commission, which voted to recommend denial. The land is currently zoned R-20, or low-density residential.
Tidwell is seeking the RM-12 zoning category, and has said that any density less than that would scotch any chance at affordable housing.
In his application, Tidwell stressed the need to build for such professionals as teachers, nurses and first responders.
But the Cobb Zoning Staff has recommended denial, and after two months of delays leading up to the Planning Commission vote, Tidwell lashed out publicly.
“Cobb County does not want workforce housing,” builder Dennis Tidwell wrote after a June Planning Commission vote.
He sent a lengthy e-mail to media representatives on June 3, noting the support from residents at the Cottages of Marietta, the adjacent townhome community.
“It provides affordable housing, improves stormwater conditions, fits the transitional nature of the area, and offers the community its best chance to eliminate the dangerous encampments,” Tidwell said of his request.
He also filed an administrative complaint, alleging that Planning Commissioner Fred Beloin pre-determined his vote in an off-the-record discussion with colleague Sara Micheletto before the meeting.
Micheletto is the appointee of District 2 Commissioner Erick Allen, who represents that area of Bells Ferry Road.
The Planning Commission vote also recommended allowing only 10 units under the RM-8 category.
In his June 3 letter to the media, Tidwell wrote that “the message being sent is unmistakable: Cobb County does not want workforce housing.
“Developers will move on to other areas. The real loss here is for Cobb residents — especially young families — who continue to face an affordability crisis that County leadership has acknowledged for years.”
He echoed similar sentiments on Tuesday, saying that the affordable price caps he’s asking for “are only possible with RM-12 density. If density drops, prices rise. If prices rise, workforce commitment collapses. Lowering the density would eliminate the kind of housing the county says it wants to encourage.”
The land where Tidwell wants to build has had homeless encampments for several years.
There wasn’t any opposition expressed from the public on Tuesday, but Allen asked about the pricing caps.
Tidwell said that with RM-12 zoning, he could put a price cap on a three-bedroom workforce-designated townhome of $370,000. The homebuyers targeted make too much to qualify for government-subsidized housing, and typically earn between 60 and 120 percent of the average median income (AMI).
The density he’s proposing is 10.7 units an acre, which largely prompted the staff recommendation of denial. The Cottages of Marietta, which is in the City of Marietta, has a density of 5.3 units an acre, and the homes are detached units.
Allen said while Tidwell’s request does “solve some issues for me” regarding workforce housing, he made the motion to continue the case “to do a little more work on how we can make this work.”
Cobb Commissioner Erick Allen
Commissioner Keli Gambrill said the board cannot enforce price points on homes, “so there is no mechanism for us to enforce that. How will that be achieved?”
Allen acknowledged it’s a “desire” that cannot be enforced, and Chairwoman Lisa Cupid asked if there’s anything in the current zoning code that could be used as a guide for pricing.
Cobb Zoning Division manager John Pederson referenced square footage—Tidwell’s homes are proposed to be between 2,400 and 2,700 square feet—as an option.
He also suggested the board to provide staff with other policies, such as waiving some fees, but said “there’s only limited things we can do at this point in the process.”
“We’re dependent on the goodwill” of developers to build at lower price points, Cupid said.
Pederson reminded her “it’s unconstitutional for this board to institute a house price.”
Gambrill suggested considering zonings that hew closer to the minimum square footage—including 950 square feet for a detached home—but Cupid added that size doesn’t necessarily dictate price.
Commissioner JoAnn Birrell noted there’s a difference between workforce housing and affordable housing, and asked, “What are we looking at here?”
Allen said that’s one of the questions that could be considered with a delay.
He said while workforce housing is “aspirational, this is really about the density and the location, and does this make sense?”
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An aerial rendering of the main senior living building, with the Red Oak Park neighborhood in the background.
The Cobb Planning Commission on Tuesday put a hold on Eastside Church’s proposal to build a senior living facility on its campus on Lower Roswell Road.
The vote was 4-0 for the delay until July, to give time for the applicant to meet with nearby residents who expressed concerns over stormwater and density issues above all.
As reported by East Cobb News, Eastside Church wants to convert vacant parking areas on its property for a 95-unit assisted living/memory care building and eight independent living cottages for seniors as part of its expanded church mission.
The main three-story building would have full services and amenities, including medical care and food service, as well as exercise and recreational space.
A retention pond would be landscaped and surrounded by a walking trail to serve the senior community, which would have 133 parking spaces.
Eastside would build, operate and maintain the complex, which it would run through a non-profit entity.
Church leaders didn’t speak at the Tuesday zoning hearing, but Eastside attorney Kevin Moore made multiple references that the project would resemble in concept, if not in scale, the Sterling Estates senior complexes in both East Cobb and West Cobb.
Moore pointed out what a church marketing study concluded, with an unmet demand of nearly 1,500 senior living units in the East Cobb area.
Richard Grome of the East Cobb Civic Association.
“Which goes to show you why this is so necessary and so needed,” Moore said.
He also reminded members of the Planning Commission that the residential senior-living (RSL) category Eastside is seeking includes in the Cobb County Code that “these uses shall not be established as a precedent for any other residential or non-residential district.”
But Richard Grome, president of the East Cobb Civic Association, said the senior living complex is incompatible with nearby residential areas and would offer a “fortress-like structure” that would be easily visible.
He said the 13-unit per-acre density is too high for the community, saying the proposal is not a “modest increase but is a dramatic escalation” compared to its residential surroundings.
Nearby residents said they were given notice by Eastside of the rezoning only by the end of April, and said the plans changed multiple times but they weren’t always updated.
“This project would tower over the homes on Freydale Road,” said Abby Shiffman of the Magnolia South subdivision across Lower Roswell from the church.
Eastside Church is bounded by the Red Oak Park subdivision, which has smaller, mostly single-story homes built in the late 1950s and early 1960s.
Steve Wright, a Freydale Road resident since 1984 and whose home is adjacent to the soccer field on the church property, said stormwater problems have increased as the church has grown over the years.
In addition to the sanctuary and church office building, Eastside added a community recreation center and a school, adding to the impervious surface area. The new parking spaces, Wright said, will only add to that.
“I’ve had to build a berm three feet high and 50 feet long at my own expense to keep the stormwater from overflowing my backyard,” he said. Another neighbor had to install a dry creek to prevent water overflows from the church parking lot.
“If you’re going to approve this project, make sure the retention pond actually works,” he said, “and drain to it and not into my backyard.”
Another resident on Lucky Court worried about noise and lighting from the proposed site for the cottages, which would back up to her property.
Moore said the retention pond in the area hasn’t been sufficient because it is aging and hasn’t been maintained, and that with the Eastside Church project, “we’re going to employ today’s standards on stormwater retention and management” that will alleviate many of the existing issues.
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A rendering of main building at The Haven, a three-story structure proposed by Eastside Church.
In 65 years of existence, Eastside Church has undergone a variety of changes—including its own name.
Founded as Eastside Baptist Church in 1961 as a mission of Marietta’s Roswell Street Baptist Church, Eastside grew into one of the biggest faith communities in East Cobb in the following decades.
It expanded its campus on Lower Roswell Road near the Marietta Parkway to include a school and a community recreation center. Banners hung high around the parking lot proclaiming “Exciting Eastside!”
In more recent years, as its attendance fell, Eastside began outreach to local Brazilian and Spanish-speaking communities, which have regular services at the church. The church also started Eastside Kids Academy, a preschool program.
In the period after COVID-19, church leaders developed a 20-year plan to chart Eastside’s future, drawing from a similar roadmap from the 1980s. One particular recommendation stood out, according to executive pastor Darrell Whipple.
Eastside uses a former community recreation building for its school and preschool programs, but the parking lot is mostly empty.
That was caring for senior members of the community.
Whipple said a task force was created to conduct a feasibility study “to see how the Lord would lead us,” and the results were encouraging.
What Eastside discovered was there was an acute need to accommodate elderly people who can live somewhat independently but don’t need nursing home-type care.
They conducted market research to further develop the concept, looking at new commercial senior complexes in East Cobb, and convinced church elders to make it part of Eastside’s mission.
In a recent interview with East Cobb News, Darrell Whipple, Eastside’s executive pastor, and Ray Farmer, who led Eastside’s 20-year plan, explained the senior living concept, called The Haven.
The 20-year Eastside plan includes a variety of initiatives, but the senior living proposal is a markedly different step for a faith community.
Whipple said it’s part of Eastside’s continuing mission to serve its immediate community.
“This is something that will remain with Eastside,” Whipple said, explaining that the plans call for the church to set up a 501 (c)(3) non-profit to operate The Haven.
On Tuesday, Eastside’s application to rezone some of its property from residential (what faith communities are zoned) to RSL, or residential senior living, will be heard by the Cobb Planning Commission.
But it’s being opposed by an influential civic group that says The Haven would set a high-density precedent in a residential neighborhood.
The site plan for The Haven squeezes senior-living space on mostly vacant parking areas of the Eastside campus. For a larger view, click here.
‘We want to be good neighbors’
Eastside is proposing 125 senior-living units to be constructed on its property, using 8.65 acres of parking areas that are no longer in use.
The plans call for a 109,000-square-foot, three-story building next to the former community rec center, now used by Eastside Christian School and the church’s day care center, and that is accessible via Lower Roswell.
The building would have 95 supportive living units, 10 non-supportive living units and amenities on the main floor, and would have a garden/courtyard area in the middle.
“This is not skilled nursing-home care,” Whipple said.
Eight more independent living cottages would be built in another parking area near the main church building accessible on Little Road. Those units would have one-car garages and would be a story and a half.
“This is something that will remain with Eastside,” executive pastor Darrell Whipple said.
A retention pond between the main senior building and Freydale Road would be developed into a recreational pond encircled by a walking trail and stocked with fish.
Whipple and Farmer said they’ve met with nearby residents of the Red Oak Park subdivision. Out of 180 invitations sent to residents for a community meeting, they said around 40 people attended.
“We want to be good neighbors, and they had some questions,” Whipple said. “People seemed pleased with our efforts” to explain their plans.
The Cobb Zoning Division staff is recommending approval with some conditions. The density comes out to more than 13 units an acre, but a civic leader said that’s incompatible with smaller, older homes nearby.
Richard Grome, president of the East Cobb Civic Association, who met with Eastside officials, said his organization is opposed to The Haven proposal.
“This would introduce a high‑density development into a long‑established low‑density residential area,” Grome said in response to a request for comment from East Cobb News about The Haven proposal.
“The proposed plan raises significant concerns about land‑use compatibility, precedent, and long‑term community impact.”
Grome said what Eastside is proposing effectively shows “two disconnected projects” that “are not contiguous, do not function as a unified senior community, and appear forced onto a constrained site already occupied by a school, church, athletic field, and extensive parking.”
Independent living cottages would be built near homes in the Red Oak Park subdivision.
Zoning staff recommends approval
In its analysis, the Cobb zoning staff concluded that “the proposal will not adversely affect the existing use or usability of adjacent or nearby properties. The property is surrounded by residential with the Princess Square Community allowing up to 8 units per acre nearby.”
The analysis also said the request “is in conformity with the policies and intent of the Cobb County Comprehensive Plan. . . . The current rezoning proposal would remain consistent with the PI and LDR future land use categories while providing buffers from existing single‐family neighborhoods except the existing homes that will be renovated along Little Road and Lucky Court.”
That’s a reference to four homes Eastside owns that would conform to the architectural style of the senior-living structures.
Whipple said the needs for senior-living in the East Cobb area are serious, citing feasibility study estimates that the area needs nearly 1,500 more units of senior care.
Eastside submitted a statement with its zoning application that “this initiative aligns with the church’s long-standing mission to serve and uplift individuals across all stages of life, offering compassionate care rooted in faith-based values.”
Farmer said the proposal comes from a genuine desire that “we want to reflect our neighborhood.”
Whipple said that Eastside will continue to be responsive to the community as the rezoning proposal goes through the public process.
“We’re not trying to hide anything,” he said. “This is not a secret.”
The Cobb Planning Commission meeting Tuesday starts 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 hearing on the county’s website and YouTube channels and on Cobb TV 23 on Comcast Cable.
A rendering of independent living cottages at The Haven.
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The Bells Ferry Civic Association submitted a graphic expressing the impact of a gas station.
With practically no discussion, the Cobb Board of Commissioners on Tuesday rejected a request by RaceTrac Inc. to build a 24/7 gas station and convenience store near Bells Ferry Elementary School.
Two weeks after the Cobb Planning Commission recommended approving rezoning to the Neighborhood Retail Commercial (NRC) category, but prohibiting fuel sales and other uses, Commissioner Erick Allen quickly made a motion to deny the application outright.
This is the second time RaceTrac has applied for rezoning—its initial request last year was withdrawn before commissioners could formally consider it.
“We’ver heard this case several times,” Allen said after the RaceTrac presentation Tuesday, adding that that “not a lot has materially changed.”
Commissioner JoAnn Birrell—whose East Cobb District 3 formerly included the two-acre tract on Bells Ferry at Barrett Parkway—just quickly seconded the motion, and the vote was a unanimous 5-0.
The property had been zoned for Planned Shopping Center, which doesn’t allow for a gas station.
For decades, a structure known as the McAfee House, built in the 1840s, stood on the land. The home was used by a Union general during the Civil War and recently was relocated to Cherokee County earlier this year by Cobb Landmarks, an historic preservation non-profit.
Some citizens opposed to the gas station suggested the property maintain its natural character, retaining many of the trees.
But the tract is surrounded by commercially zoned development in a busy corridor.
Opponents have fought the proposal for months, citing the land’s proximity to the school and being adjacent to a day care center, and a gas station’s effect on traffic and the environment.
Kevin Moore, Race’Trac’s attorney, presented slides repeating his client’s claims that there wouldn’t be much additional traffic coming to the intersection to get gas. And he also reiterated claims from a third-party environmental engineer that RaceTrac’s vapor recovery systems would capture 98 percent of benzene emissions at the gas station.
He showed a map of a RaceTrac near Milford Elementary School and said that what his client was seeking now isn’t unusual.
But earlier this month, Planning Commission member Fred Beloin noted that “I don’t think there’s any serious question that people should not be breathing any great quantities of benzene on a regular basis.”
He cited various distance requirements in other jurisdictions, as well as those cited for increased cancer risks, and noted that Cobb has no such restrictions on how close fuel storage tanks can be located to such sensitive operations like child care centers and schools.
“We don’t have a strict rule, but we don’t have a strict rule that we’re supposed to stick our heads in the sand like an ostrich,” Beloin said, generating some applause in the audience.
“Where this community stands, there is no doubt. I just don’t see that this is an appropriate use of this property.”
Before Tuesday’s vote, Cobb Commission Chairwoman Lisa Cupid made a similar reference, suggesting “to take a look at this in code,” meaning a possible county ordinance change.
“There have been instances where looked at the impact of gas stations near residential property. So we need to make sure that we’re being consistent as a board in protecting the health and safety and welfare of all of our residents.”
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“I just don’t see that this is an appropriate use of this property,” Cobb Planning Commission member Fred Beloin said.
Several months after ruling out a gas station a busy corner in the Town Center Mall area, the Cobb Planning Commission on Tuesday voted in a similar manner on a revived rezoning case that has generated substantial opposition.
By a 3-2 vote, the board voted to recommend approval of a request by RaceTrac, Inc. to rezone two acres on Bells Ferry Road at Barrett Parkway in Northeast Cobb for Neighborhood Retail Commercial (NRC) zoning (you can read the request and analysis here).
The stipulations included in the approved motion prohibit fuel and alcohol sales, which is primarily what RaceTrac had in mind for a 16-pump fueling center and convenience store that would be open 24/7.
Following a discussion that lasted more than an hour and a half, Planning Commission member Fred Beloin made a substitute motion to incorporate those and other restrictions, just as he had in October.
Beloin renewed his concerns about traffic and environmental issues at the site, where the historic McAfee House once stood, and that is next to a daycare center and across from Bells Ferry Elementary School.
At last month’s meeting some citizens suggested professional or office use for the land, which has sat vacant for years.
The McAfee House was 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.
RaceTrac withdrew its initial request in October before the Cobb Board of Commissioners was scheduled to hear it, then refiled it earlier this year with few changes.
The Planning Commission held the revived case last month, but Beloin said that “my concern is that this is too close to a school.”
Nearby residents, school parents and the operator of the day care center turned out to speak out against the RaceTrac proposal.
Kevin Moore, RaceTrac’s attorney, reiterated previous statements that the pumps and fuel tanks would have equipment to capture gas vapors from the pumps.
He added the land in question—currently zoned for Planned Shopping Center, which doesn’t allow for a gas station—is suited for the requested use, since it’s surrounded by commercially zoned land.
“To deny this property the very same level of commercial use that the other properties have been provided, is making this property a sacrificial buffer for this intersection,” Moore said.
“That does not comport with the laws and rules of planning and zoning.”
Sara Micheletto, a new Planning Commission appointee of Commissioner Erick Allen—whose District 2 includes the two-acre property—had made a motion at Tuesday’s hearing to recommend approval with a number of stipulations that allowed for a gas station.
But after reading from environmental reports about cancer risks from benzine, a distilled petroleum product, Beloin said that “I don’t think there’s any serious question that people should not be breathing any great quantities of benzine on a regular basis.”
He cited various distance requirements in other jurisdictions, as well as those cited for increased cancer risks, and noted that Cobb has no such restrictions on how close fuel storage tanks can be located to such sensitive operations like child care centers and schools.
“We don’t have a strict rule, but we don’t have a strict rule that we’re supposed to stick our heads in the sand like an ostrich,” Beloin said, generating some applause in the audience.
“Where this community stands, there is no doubt. I just don’t see that this is an appropriate use of this property.”
The other uses that would be prohibited include vaping and tobacco sales, car washes, automotive uses or any type of drive-through business.
Beloin and Planning Commission members Deborah Dance and Deidre Massey voted for his substitute motion; Micheletto and Chairwoman Nadia Faucette voted against it.
Micheletto said before the vote that “we have a prime corner that has to have something built here and this solution did bring positives for the community.”
The Cobb Board of Commissioners will consider the case on May 19.
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‘Dark Chocolate’ has been living in a yard in the Heritage Glen subdivision, but neighbors and the East Cobb Civic Association objected.
An East Cobb father who had been keeping a Shetland pony in the yard of his rented home was denied a request this week to let it stay there.
The Cobb Board of Commissioners on Tuesday voted to deny a request by Timothy Terranova to keep the 300-pound pony at a residence in the Heritage Glen Drive subdivision.
That’s because it violates the Cobb code mandating that livestock animals can be kept on properties of at least two acres. Terranova was seeking a waiver from that requirement.
The home where Terranova and his daughter live is at the end of a cul-de-sac on Heritage Glen Drive, on a lot that’s a half-acre.
Terranova said he got the animal, named “Dark Chocolate,” as an emotional support animal for his daughter after a divorce, when she was five, and while they were living elsewhere in Cobb County on a 10-acre lot.
The girl is now nearly 10, but Terranova, who has sole custody of her, said he “lost everything” in the divorce, and had to relocate.
He said at the zoning hearing Tuesday that the pony has helped his daughter reduce her anxiety over the situation. Dark Chocolate is registered as an emotional support animal, he said, adding that he built a stable and fencing on the property for the pony, which neighbors said he also walks around the neighborhood.
Neighbors contacted Cobb Code Enforcement, which issued citations in October for that and other issues on the property, including scattered debris.
And the East Cobb Civic Association led the objections at the hearing. President Richard Grome said allowing a pony on a lot less than two acres at a home zoned for single-family residential would set “a far-reaching precedent.”
He said there are several boarding and riding stables in East Cobb, including the nearby Sunnybrook Stables off Roswell Road.
A Heritage Glen neighbor, Michele Smith, said she was concerned about the welfare of the animal, saying that Terranova shoots off fireworks on his property.
The Cobb Zoning Division recommended denial of the request, for the lot-size minimum and because the home is located in an area close to other neighborhoods.
When Commissioner JoAnn Birrell asked Terranova if he knew he was improperly keeping the pony, Terranova said he didn’t think so, because he was looking for a home to rent near his daughter’s school and that “had a lot large enough for the pony.”
He said that after living in apartments, he moved to East Cobb and wanted to provide “something joyful to be around” that “my daughter and I can look forward to each day.”
Birrell said “this would set a precedent for others” and made a motion to deny the request, which passed 5-0.
“It’s really not appropriate” to have a pony in such a setting, she said. Terranova will have 90 days to relocate the animal.
“I commend your consideration of your daughter during a very difficult time,” Cobb Commission Chairwoman Lisa Cupid told Terranova.
“A lot parents like myself would see this as an heroic effort to meet the needs of your daughter.”
However, she said, the code issues are significant, and what Cobb allows for livestock animals is similar to other jurisdictions in metro Atlanta.
Tim Teranova constructed fencing for the pony to roam in the yard.
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