An Atlanta developer’s plan to breath new life into a blighted East Cobb shopping center finally cleared the county’s planning board Tuesday, despite continued concerns over traffic safety.
Atlantic Realty Acquisitions’ plan for Sprayberry Commons didn’t advance with a glowing endorsement. The advisory board voted 3-0 to forward the project to the Cobb County Commission without making a recommendation for approval or denial. County planners, members of the public and developers have negotiated over the plans since August.
“I believe that challenges certainly remain,” Commissioner Deborah Dance said. “I also am convinced that time is of the essence. And there’s a time for taking action.”
Atlantic Realty intends to transform the shuttered shopping mall into a mixed-use development that features a 132-unit senior living apartment complex, 102 townhomes and 34,000 square feet of retail space that could include a grocery store.
Dance and planning board members Fred Beloin and Stephen Vault all favored the move to forward the developer’s plans without recommendation. Tony Waybright and newly appointed planning commissioner Michael Hughes were absent during Tuesday’s meeting.
County Commissioners will consider the project and could make a final decision during their June 15 zoning hearing.
The planning board’s vote came after months of negotiations and pushback from residents opposed to the proposal.
The site plans had been stalled in the planning commission for months as the panel demanded tweaks to earlier proposals for the development, many of them sparked by residents’ concerns. Dance noted that during an April 6 planning commission meeting, the board vowed not to delay their decision any longer.
“At this time, I believe it is our responsibility to consider the public interest, which boil down to matters of safety and traffic,” she said Tuesday. “Those are the outstanding issues I see that are of great consequence and great importance. Toward that end, I am encouraged by the discussions that are going on and also the representations that these matters can be addressed, resolved and negotiated by the time of the Board of County Commissioners meeting.”
The property sits on 17.9 acres off Sandy Springs Road just north of East Piedmont Road. Atlantic Realty applied to have the property re-zoned as a “redevelopment overlay district,” or ROD. The zoning district is carved out for projects that incorporate a mix of commercial, office and residential uses.
Atlantic Realty submitted initial site plans in August that included space for open air entertainment and a food hall. But the developer also envisioned 178 traditional apartments originally, which triggered backlash from East Cobb residents opposed to that idea.
Tim Carini started an online petition aimed at getting the project nixed. It’s received over 1,500 signatures.
“We had no closure,” he said Wednesday. “A lot of the residents, even some who are actually for the development, are very concerned to see the way in which this is being handled.”
Traffic safety remains at the core of the opposition’s concerns. Many residents questioned traffic plans for roads leading to the Sprayberry Commons property.
Kinjac Drive, a cross-street that leads into the south end of the shopping plaza from Sandy Plains Road, currently cuts through the parking lot of the Sprayberry Bottle Shop. Critics worried that sending thousands of cars through the parking lot would put the liquor store out of business.
“It’s disturbing to see our officials doing zoning at-will with no respect of the zoning codes and processes in place,” Carini said.
District 3 County Commissioner JoAnn Birrell met with business owners and planning board members at Kinjac Drive and Sandy Plains Road on Friday to hash out solutions on some of the traffic issues.
“I think with the outstanding issues that Mrs. Dance made the right choice for recommendation going forward,” Birrell said. “And I think within two weeks’ time ... we should be able to have everything worked out to where we can have it presented, discuss it and see what the outcome is.”
Amy Diaz, of the state Department of Transportation, said the best option would be turning the current parking lot into an access roadway and moving the parking lot to the other side of the liquor store.
Beloin commended developers on their efforts to improve plans in response to citizen requests and said they had an “excellent presentation.”
But he raised ongoing concerns about traffic from Post Oak Tritt Road, an access road north of the property.
DOT proposed cutting off left-hand turns at that traffic signal. But Beloin said even that change would likely harm business for a nearby McDonald’s and send too many motorists driving through the complex in both directions.
“I just hate it when we, instead of fixing traffic problems, we pass things along with known traffic problems that we’re exacerbating,” Beloin said. “I dislike that so much so that my preference would be to hold this rather than pass it on. I understand though, that there’s a sense of urgency coming from the developer.”
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