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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“This is a defining choice for East Cobb,” said Breckenridge resident Jackie Ellis (at microphone).
The Cobb Board of Commissioners turned down two requests by Walmart to build drone kiosks for delivery services on Tuesday.
They would have been the first such kiosks in Cobb County for the national retailer, which has several others in metro area.
More than 50 people turned out for a zoning hearing to oppose a kiosk at the East Cobb Walmart on Johnson Ferry Road, and many of them live adjacent to the store.
They said the issue isn’t over whether Walmart should operate drones, but rather is a land-use issue.
In requesting a site-plan amendment to a 2005 zoning approval for the Johnson Ferry Road store, Walmart proposed taking out 28 parking spaces for a fenced-in kiosk to accommodate 18 drones.
The drones would travel at 60 mph at a height of 150 feet until reaching the delivery point, then would drop to around 20 feet to a driveway or yard.
By a 5-0 vote, however, commissioners concurred that while the issue of drones for commercial use is evolving, the specific locations are not ideal for that purpose.
“We do look at each case individually, said Cobb Commissioner JoAnn Birrell, whose District 3 includes East Cobb, and who held up papers indicating nearly 100 e-mails and other messages opposing the kiosk.
“This location isn’t conducive to this service.”
District 4 Commissioner Monique Sheffield echoed those remarks in moving to reject a Walmart drone kiosk on Barrett Parkway later in the meeting.
Residents said that locating the kiosks in heavily residential neighborhoods would set a bad precedent.
Jackie Ellis, who lives in the Breckenridge subdivision right behind the East Cobb Walmart, said a drone kiosk there could dramatically alter the residential fabric of the community.
“This is a defining choice for East Cobb.” said Ellis, who was surrounded by several other nearby residents, warning that approving a kiosk would turn the community into an “unregulated test bug” for a commercial service that is in its early stages.
WING’s presentation stressed the consumer convenience of its drone delivery service to Cobb commissioners.
Walmart has been working with the drone delivery service WING. Its proposal stated that Walmart deliveries would be provided only during daytime hours.
During a presentation at Tuesday’s hearing a WING representative said the noise levels coming from a drone would be between a regular car and a delivery vehicle.
The delivery parcels—between 5 and 10 pounds—also would be delivered only to single-family homes.
But Ellis and other opponents, including the East Cobb Civic Association, said granting Walmart permission to add drones would open the floodgates for other retailers to do the same.
She said it could pave the way for “a drone highway 150 feet over our heads. The technology is impressive, but it is not infallible.”
The Cobb Zoning Division recommended denial of both drone kiosk applications as land-use matters.
Cobb Commission Chairwoman called the kiosk cases “a novel matter for us to consider as a board.”
She said she wanted to be open to the idea of having drone delivery services but pointed to the neighborhood concerns.
More than a dozen East Cobb communities, or around 400 households, received notices about the Walmart plans because they live within 1,000 feet of the proposed kiosk.
(The notified neighborhoods include Shallowford Pointe, Alpine Lakes, Byrons Pond, Havencroft, Clary Lakes, Mountain Creek, Garden Gate on Lassiter, Waterfront, Yorktown, Chimney Lakes, Westfield, Marlanta, Childers Walk, Coventry Green and residents of homes on Freeman Road and Childers Road.)
Cupid said that she asked WING and Walmart to meet with the community, but there hadn’t been any dialogue.
“A denial today for this doesn’t mean a denial” for another location, she added, saying that this county “continues to evolve” when it comes to business and technological innovation.
But Cupid also admitted that “we haven’t even discussed what a highway in the sky looks like.”
Commissioners JoAnn Birrell and Monique Sheffield made motions to reject Walmart site-plan requests for drone kiosks.
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The revived rezoning request by RaceTrac for a gas station and convenience store on Bells Ferry Road at Barrett Parkway has been delayed by the Cobb Planning Commission.
After a lengthy discussion the commission voted 5-0 Tuesday to hold the application for 30 days for environmental, traffic and other reasons.
RaceTrac is bringing back plans for a facility at the corner of Bells Ferry Road and Barrett Parkway that it withdrew late last year, before the Cobb Board of Commissioners could vote.
The planning board had recommended prohibiting gas station use, as well as alcohol, vaping and tobacco sales, car washes, automotive uses or any type of drive-through business.
On Tuesday, the board heard from citizens near the two-acre tract that was formerly the site of the McAfee House, a home dating to the 1840s and that has been relocated to Cherokee County.
They repeated concerns about traffic, especially due to the property’s location across from Bells Ferry Elementary School, and adjacent to a day care center, as well as worries over gas emissions from the fuel pumps.
The new site plan by RaceTrac, a Cobb-based company (you can read it here) is relatively unchanged from last year, with a 16-pump fuel station and convenience store that would be open 24/7.
The primary opposition came from the Bells Ferry Civic Association, which repeated environmental concerns about the release of gas vapors into the vicinity on an around-the-clock basis. More than 30 people turned out in opposition at Tuesday’s hearing.
The applicant’s attorney, Kevin Moore, said RaceTrac’s pumps and fuel tanks would be equipped with equipment to capture gas vapors from the pumps.
But Planning Commission member Fred Beloin pressed the issue, asking Moore and Cobb Zoning Division head John Peterson if there’s anything the county can do to require applicants to provide information about what Beloin called “a known environmental threat.”
Moore said there’s no county ordinance to that effect, and Peterson replied that county commissioners have latitude in incorporating such information.
“We’re acting without data, without information . . . to suggest it’s safe,” a frustrated Beloin said.
Other opponents expressed concerns about traffic related not just to school operations but the area in general.
Cobb Board of Education member David Chastain, whose granddaughter attends Bells Ferry Elementary was among them, noting a high number of similar businesses nearby to the proposed RaceTrac.
“How many more 24-hour convenience stores do we need in this particular area?” asked Chastain, who said he was speaking on behalf of the community and not the Cobb County School District.
“Denying this request is not going to harm a good corporate citizen.”
He suggested the property, owned by by Medford Family LP, could be used for medical and professional offices instead.
Moore has countered that a RaceTrac will have no adverse traffic impacts in a commercialized area that’s adjacent to a major retail center with a Publix and a Barnes and Noble and close to the Town Center area.
The Cobb Zoning Division has recommended approval of the application, concluding that a traffic study completed for the initial request “will be considered satisfied” for the renewed application.
The staff analysis recommends that RaceTrac make access on Barrett Parkway right-in, right-out only.
But Sara Micheletto, a newly appointed Planning Commission member who did not hear the RaceTrac case last fall, questioned Moore’s claim in the wake of reconstruction at Bells Ferry Elementary that has relocated some students to Chalker Elementary.
When full capacity returns in the fall of 2027, school-related traffic in the area will return.
The Planning Commission’s vote is contingent on additional staff research into possible traffic and environmental impacts.
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Sales for Shallowford Pointe are to begin later in 2026. Renderings via Toll Brothers.
Site work is getting started for the residential component of the redevelopment of the Johnson Ferry-Shallowford intersection that was the point of contention during a lengthy rezoning process five years ago.
Toll Brothers, a national residential builder, announced this week that it’s commencing construction of a gated luxury subdivision to be called Shallowford Pointe, with advance sales to begin later this year.
The subdivision will have 75 single-family detached units and other amenities on land facing Johnson Ferry Road, at Waterfront Drive.
That’s a residential road leading to the Waterfront and MarLanta subdivisions and that was reconfigured to meet a traffic signal on Johnson Ferry with access to the Shallowford Falls Shopping Center.
Shallowford Pointe will feature homes ranging from 2,319 to 3,659 square feet and from 3-5 bedrooms 2.5-3.5 bathrooms with prices starting at $1 million.
“Shallowford Pointe provides an exceptional opportunity to live in a luxury home in one of East Cobb’s most desirable locations,” Eric White, Division President of Toll Brothers in Georgia, said in a company release.
“With dynamic amenities, proximity to premier shopping and entertainment, and access to top-rated schools, this community is perfect for home shoppers seeking the best of East Cobb living.”
Toll Brothers also has been building high-end townhomes as part of the new East Cobb Walk mixed-use development at the site of the former Sprayberry Crossing Shopping Center.
An interior rendering at Shallowford Pointe, with prices starting at $1 million.
Shallowford Pointe is part of another mixed-use project that includes the ongoing construction of the East Cobb Church at the Johnson Ferry-Shallowford intersection.
North Point Ministries, which operates East Cobb Church, got rezoning in 2021 for the 33-acre assemblage of land at the southwest intersection, whose previous owners, Fred and Lynn Hanna, wanted to sell only to one buyer.
Opposition grew to residential plans calling for 95 units, with nearby residents concerned about density, traffic and stormwater runoff issues. Others objected to frequent site plan updates that were submitted without being presented to the community.
Some citizens who spoke out wondered whether the rezoning would have been considered at all had it not been made by a religious organization.
One of the stipulations included in final passage called for a reduction of housing units after a dredged-up lake was declared to be in a flood plain area.
That declaration, plus the Waterfront Drive relocation, reduced the size of the developable land to 13.89 acres.
North Point Ministries sold that acreage to Johnson Ferry Road, LLC in December 2021, just after the rezoning, for $4.25 million, according to Cobb property tax records.
The land was then sold in June 2025 for $16.669 million to Arroyo Capital, a prominent acquisition and development capital firm, which also paid $4.431 million for three more acres along Waterfront Drive that includes a stream and will have natural landscape buffering.
The Shallowford Pointe site plan (see below) calls for primary right-in, right-out access via Johnson Ferry. The amenities include a pool, cabana, grill station and a covered open-air lounge with a fireplace. Residents also can customize interior features in their homes.
East Cobb Church, which began meeting at Eastside Church on Lower Roswell Road and currently holds services at Fellowship Christian School in Roswell, is expected to open its new location in 2027.
North Point Ministries owns two separate tracts on Johnson Ferry on either side of Waterfront Drive that its initial plans called for small retail space.
Georgia DOT also is planning a $2.7 million traffic improvement project at the intersection to reduce congestion and accidents. The components include signal modifications, the addition of a westbound lane on Shallowford at Johnson Ferry and the removal of an eastbound through lane.
Work was initially scheduled to begin in 2026, but an updated timeline hasn’t been announced.
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Walmart and a third-party company are delivering light parcels via drone in several areas of metro Atlanta. Walmart photo.
Representatives of Walmart will ask Cobb commissioners later this month to carve out a portion of its parking lot at its Johnson Ferry Road store to build a drone delivery station.
Filings with the Cobb Zoning Office indicate that Walmart would fence in the kiosk (indicated in the pink area on the map below), “no land disturbance is proposed and all proposed items will be anchor bolted to the pavement.”
Because Walmart would be amending the site plan, commissioners need to sign off on the proposal, which is scheduled to be heard April 21 during the monthly zoning hearing.
The applicant is Rachel Sutherland, a project manager with Atwell, a national real estate and land development firm that is partnering with Walmart and a third-party drone service to develop the proposed East Cobb drone station site.
The Walmart deliveries would be for light parcels, typically under five pounds, and would cover a radius of a few miles.
Walmart would place a drone kiosk in the shaded area in the parking lot (Johnson Ferry Road is at the bottom).
Walmart is one of the first retailers to offer drone delivery services, and Atlanta is among the test markets (Amazon, Walmart’s main competitor, also is experimenting with drone delivery in certain area, but not Atlanta).
The East Cobb station would be the first such Walmart drone facility in Cobb County; the closest Walmart drone station currently is in Woodstock.
The drones would travel at 60 mph at a height of 150 feet until reaching the delivery point, then would drop to around 20 feet to a driveway or yard.
Walmart has indicated it would provide deliveries only during daytime hours.
Residents in the vicinity have been receiving notifications from Walmart, and some have vowed to fight the drone kiosk.
One of them, Stefanie Stoltz, has written to commissioners asking them to turn down the request, saying that unlike other areas where Walmart operates drones, “this is a very residential area” and that what Walmart is asking for is “a misuse of zoning.”
She lives on Freeman Road, right behind the Walmart store, and is worried about noise, mechanical failures and other issues.
“This isn’t just a small operational change—it would fundamentally change the nature of what happens right next to my property,” Stoltz wrote.
“Living next to what is effectively a drone launch site—with constant noise, overhead activity, and safety concerns—makes my home less desirable to future buyers. This is a direct financial impact on me as a homeowner, through no choice of my own.”
What isn’t included in the Walmart filings is how drone activity might change if the delivery station plans are approved.
Drones are regulated by the Federal Aviation Administration, and Walmart has received permission to deliver via drone into the evening hours in some other markets.
It’s unclear if local governments could implement rules that could be overridden by the FAA.
More than anything, Stoltz, said, “I am also concerned about what this opens the door to. If this is approved, what prevents other companies or additional drone operators from using the same airspace or nearby properties? This could quickly multiply the number of drones overhead, turning an already concerning situation into a constant, unavoidable presence.”
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A revised site plan submitted by RaceTrac for the former site of the McAfee House at Bells Ferry Road and Barrett Parkway.
Shortly after withdrawing a request for a 24/7 gas station on an historic site on Bells Ferry Road in November, the attorney for the property owner refiled rezoning plans with Cobb County.
A request to convert the former site of the McAfee House on Bells Ferry at Barrett Parkway is on the agenda of the Cobb Planning Commission on April 7.
RaceTrac Inc. wants to change the two-acre tract from residential to NRC zoning (neighborhood retail commercial), the same category it sought last year.
But the Planning Commission, responding to substantial community opposition, scuttled that request by excluding fuel sales as a permitted use for the property. The recommendation for approval also prohibited alcohol, vaping and tobacco sales, car washes, automotive uses or any type of drive-through business.
Nearby residents complained about traffic, RaceTrac’s proximity to a child-care center and a glut of gas stations already in the area.
In moving for the restrictions, Planning Board member Fred Beloin said that RaceTrac’s proposal “would take a bad road and make it far, far worse.”
RaceTrac withdrew the request before the Cobb Board of Commissioners could hear it in November.
But on Jan. 21, RaceTrac attorney Kevin Moore filed a new request (you can read it here) with a new site plan that hasn’t changed much from the initial application.
The property is located in Commission District 2, represented by Smyrna Democrat Erick Allen. Since the original case, he has appointed a new Planning Commission member, Sara Michieletto, a former member of the Cobb Board of Zoning Appeals.
In the refiled request, the RaceTrac facility would have 16 gas pumps and a convenience store.
The Cobb Zoning Office has recommended approval of the application, concluding that a traffic study completed for the initial request “will be considered satisfied” for the renewed application. The staff analysis recommends that RaceTrac make access on Barrett Parkway right-in, right-out only.
The land, owned by Medford Family LP, was where the McAfee House once stood. It was built in the 1840s and was used by a Union general during the Civil War. The home was relocated to Cherokee County in 2025 by Cobb Landmarks, an historic preservation non-profit.
In 2023, a car wash was proposed for the 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.
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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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