Vinings Neighborhoods Oppose Apartments

An alliance of Vinings neighborhoods has joined forces to keep apartments out of their backyards, but the developer will continue to seek approval from the Cobb Board of Commissioners at its planning meeting Tuesday.

Frank Savini, president of the Paces Homeowners Alliance, a neighborhood organization that represents Orchard Gate, Vinings Heights, Paces Ferry Park, Vinings Walk and Vinings Chase, said he and his neighbors have written letters, attended meetings and even held a rally to protest the proposed construction of a 262-unit midrise apartment complex on the west side of Spring Hill Parkway between Paces Ferry Road and Mount Wilkinson Parkway.

Savini said other developments have been proposed for this site in the past, but called the current plan proposed by Walton Communities the “most obtrusive” to date.

“This building that they’re proposing to build would be 720 feet long,” Savini said. “That’s an eighth of a mile long. It would be 199 feet wide. It would sit on property that has a very steep slope. That’s why when you look at their site plan it’s three stories in the front, but five stories in the back. The units will have 10-foot-ceilings. So the overall height of the building besides it being an eighth of a mile long, it’s going to be 70 feet tall in the back. That’s going to be looking down on that nice neighborhood.”

But before Walton Communities can break ground on the complex, it needs to get approval from the Cobb County Board of Commissioners to change the site’s zoning to multi-family residential. Currently the site is a mix of single-family and multi-family residential zones, said the attorney for Walton Communities.

On March 6 the Cobb County Planning Commission voted unanimously to reject the proposal. It will now go before the Board of Commissioners, where Savini says he and his neighborhood have history on their side.

The county has denied several rezoning requests after a judge ruled in 1990 that the single-family residential zoning was in keeping with the county’s land use plan and that an apartment complex would negatively impact adjacent neighborhoods, Savini said. He added that after one proposal was denied in 1999 the county declared Spring Hill Parkway the dividing line between multi-family residential and sing-family residential properties.

John Moore, the attorney representing Walton Communities, noted that there are already apartments near the neighborhoods represented by the Vinings Homeowners Alliance including Post Spring Apartments on the east side of Spring Hill Parkway and another condo development further north. Moore said that what sets the development proposed by his clients apart from those that have been denied in the past is a 700-foot-buffer between the back of the apartment complex and the existing neighborhoods.

“What Walton is proposing is to push that whole development to the front of Spring Hill Parkway and leave all the area around it down toward Mr. Savini’s house heavily treed the way it is now and a conservation easement deeded to Cobb County,” he said. “So there’s 724 feet from the back of the building and Mr. Savini’s back of his house, which leaves a 700-foot-buffer, which is the largest buffer in the history of Cobb County.”

Moore said that if a developer proposed a single-family residential site plan the trees in the buffer zone would have to come down to allow for construction. Savini countered that this area would be protected regardless of the type of construction because it serves as a drainage area for the existing neighborhoods. He also said the 700-foot buffer zone did not take into account the retaining walls needed to support the apartment complex.

“When you look at the site plan, the limits of construction to build this because of the slope and the massive footprint of this, you’ve got to have retaining walls,” he said. “So in addition to that building, you analyze this you’ve got 148 feet of walls to support this building.”

Savini said he and his neighbors aren't opposed to development of the site as long as its in keeping with the existing neighborhoods. If the rezoning request is approved at Tuesday’s meeting, Savini said the Homeowners Alliance would pursue an appeal because they fear the precedent an approval would set for future developments.

“If this gets rezoned for something like this then the attorney for this current developer can make the claim, ‘Well you’ve got a four-lane here, you’ve got apartments across the street and you’ve got Home Depot a half a mile away.’ What is the next guy going to say when you’ve got this type of structure sitting next to this property? How does the county deny that person from not building a hotel or something more dense?”