Cobb senior living houses granted by split vote

A senior living community was approved recently by the Cobb County Board of Commissioners. Chairman Mike Boyce was opposed. An attorney, Commissioner Lisa Cupid was absent due to legal training. Voting their support were Commissioners JoAnn Birrell, Bob Ott and Bob Weatherford.

St. Clair Holdings will develop the 28 houses at the northern intersection of Johnson Ferry Road and Bishop Lake Road on 6.2 acres for ages 55 and older, said applicant attorney Kevin Moore. Also, St. Clair Holdings will pay $500,000 for an intersection improvement at Johnson Ferry Road and Bishop Lake Road, including a dedicated turn lane to go right from Bishop Lake Road, Moore added.

Ott said no one under 19 can live in the Residential Senior Living category to avoid adding to the high school population. Each home will cost $600,000 to $700,000, Ott added.

Explaining his opposition, Boyce said, “This sets a precedent with RSL by changing the concept of the neighborhood. This is hard for me because this is really a great development.” Boyce added this rezoning does not match the land use map and does not match RSL for walking to nearby shopping areas.

“This is the one where I’m going to take that stand although I do appreciate the developer wanting to improve the intersection and we do need to look at housing for the elderly,” Boyce said.

Weatherford said RSLs are designed to be placed on a case-by-case basis so that, by definition, RSLs are not on a future land use plan.