The green zoning signs fronting the entrance to the Sewell Manor neighborhood have a new date etched in for an annexation and zoning case at Lower Roswell Road and the Loop that residents there have been fighting for months.
After the Marietta City Council twice delayed a vote, and after Cobb commissioners reaffirmed a letter of objection to the annexation, the proposal by Traton Homes to build 52 townhome and single-family units is apparently scheduled to be on the July 10 council agenda.
There’s not an agenda posted yet on the City of Marietta website, and there doesn’t appear to be anything new in the case file. We’ll update with more information.
The city council would act first on annexation before conducting a zoning hearing.
The city and county have been at odds over the case since Sewell Manor residents voiced their objection to the Traton project, on less than eight acres of vacant land.
The county had the right to object to the annexation since the rezoning would come to more than five units an acre, but commissioners didn’t formally ratify their opposition before a January deadline.
The Marietta Planning Commission did hear the case in April and voted to recommend denial of the rezoning.
The Marietta City Council held off on votes in April and May, then asked for mediation, and the county agreed. But commissioner Bob Ott of East Cobb, designated as the county representative, said the city wanted to change the process to something between mediation and formally binding arbitration, and cancelled the talks.
Earlier this month he held a town hall meeting with the Sewell Manor residents.
On June 11 commissioners discussed, but took no action, after Ott briefed them about the dispute.
He admitted that there was nothing the county could do to stop the annexation, but said Marietta Mayor Steve “Thunder” Tumlin had indicated the city would not act on the case as long as the county objected.
Sewell Manor residents have put together a flyer to urge their neighbors and others in nearby communities to turn out for the July 10 Marietta council meeting, which starts at 7 p.m.
What they previously labeled a “Save East Cobb campaign” is now being called “Annexation Without Representation.”
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Wendy,
For future articles, please note that the name of our group is still Save East Cobb. No Annexation Without Representation is a phrase that the group devised.
Save East Cobb is much bigger movement, and goes way beyond Sewell Manor. The truth is, most of the Save East Cobb effort has come from individuals that do NOT live in Sewell Manor subdivision. I, for one, never agreed to represent Sewell Manor exclusively. To some extent it’s about self preservation. But, it’s also about driving a paradigm shift away from developer-driven projects in the East Cobb community and towards a process where all stakeholders have a voice.
Again, it’s not just about them even if that’s what you’re hearing.
Thanks,
James Rosich