The County Commission voted unanimously to deny a Marietta developer’s request to rezone property in West Cobb, but some homeowners say they’re still worried that decision could be reversed.
Columbia Properties filed suit against Cobb County in June after the board denied the company’s petition to rezone the 24-acre property at the corner of Dallas Highway and Garrison Commons Drive to allow a 90,000 square-foot shopping center and 35 townhomes for seniors. The case is currently in mediation.
What concerns some homeowners is the discovery that, according to legal filings and campaign finance disclosure reports, Commissioner Bob Weatherford, the county’s lead negotiator on the case, has accepted at least $5,500 and as much as $7,500 in campaign donations from the law firm he’s negotiating with.
Weatherford said the law firm — Sams, Larkin, Huff & Balli — was one of more than 100 contributors, including several other prominent law firms, to his campaign. The donation won’t affect his judgment at all, he said.
His critics, he said, “are trying to find anything they can to show I’m biased, but that’s certainly not the case. This is my 14th year in elected office, and I’ve never had anyone question my integrity before.”
The same firm donated between $1,000 and $2,500 to each of the other three commissioners and chairman over the same two-year period, the filings show. The plaintiff, Columbia Properties, donated $2,000 each to Chairman Tim Lee and Commissioner Lisa Cupid.
Real estate companies, law and engineering firms regularly contribute to politicians of all stripes, but the contributions have still raised eyebrows of some.
“The thing that jumped out first of all is the higher amount to one commissioner, especially where a lot of the development that’s represented by the law firm is being proposed,” said Mark Beldon, a neighbor who has been actively opposed to the Columbia Properties’ proposal.
Beldon said he and other nearby homeowners want the zoning to remain unchanged, allowing for low-density residential development in accordance with the county’s Land Use Plan.
Some residents said they were skeptical of the developer because they felt another Columbia project, Parkside West Cobb shopping center, did not live up to the “high-end” retail they were promised.
“We have no confidence in Columbia Properties because of what they did at Parkside,” said West Cobb resident Melissa O’Brien. She said the company engaged in an aggressive and misleading public relations campaign to enlist the support of local homeowner associations.
O’Brien also expressed concern over the disparity between campaign contributions to Weatherford and other commissioners.
Former West Cobb Commissioner Helen Goreham said accepting campaign contributions is a personal decision for each elected official. “I think it’s a matter of appearance,” she said. “They’re not illegal.”
Weatherford said he did not recall the exact amount he received from Sams, Larkin, Huff & Balli but accused critics of grasping at straws in an attempt to block development of any kind. In mediation, Weatherford will try to reach a mutually agreeable proposal with the plaintiff, which would come back before the board for a vote.
He said that, in earlier meetings, he tried to find common ground between the developer and concerned residents, but, “It seemed that, every time something was given to (the homeowners), they wanted more.”
Campaign contribution limit for county offices in Georgia is $2,600 per election cycle. Attorney Parks Huff, a partner at the firm and Columbia’s counsel, said the donations to Weatherford were made by individual partners at the firm and should not be tallied together.
“We have traditionally given money to politicians running for office. We’ve given to all five commissioners and often we give to people who are running against the sitting commissioners,” Huff said, adding he saw “no particular reason” why the firm would give more to Weatherford compared to other candidates.
Dozens of residents from the homeowners associations of Heritage Oaks, Garrison Ridge and Chestnut Ridge turned out against the Columbia Properties project when it was heard in May. Many cited concerns about traffic, flooding and the environmental damage of blasting the rock bluff flat for development.
Weatherford, who made the motion to deny the rezoning, said at the time his primary objection was to the density of the senior living portion of the project, not the commercial element.
The lawsuit filed by Columbia and the property owner argues that the site is at the intersection of a four-lane highway next to a Lowe’s shopping center, making it appropriate for commercial development but undesirable for low-density residential. The plaintiffs allege that the county denied their Constitutional property rights.
Like all zoning disputes, the case was referred to mediation with the district commissioner, Weatherford, representing the county. Judge Judge S. Lark Ingram rejected Garrison Ridge Homeowners’ Association’s attempt to become a co-defendant. Recently, Judge Ingram’s father, Conley Ingram, himself a retired judge and a well-known and respected mediator, was named to the case.
Weatherford said the first mediation session was scheduled for this week. The county does not comment on pending litigation.
Columbia Properties did not respond to requests for comment.
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