Zoning Changed for Area of $300M River View Rd. Development

After two zoning hearings before the county’s board of commissioners and an initial hearing before the county’s Planning and Zoning Commission, the zoning change for the site of the River View on the Chattahoochee development was approved on Tuesday. The board voted 4-1, with southeast Cobb Commissioner Bob Ott casting the dissenting vote.

This approval from the BOC marks the largest rezoning project for Cobb County in two years.

The 82-acre development along the Chattahoochee River is projected to cost about $300 million and build out is estimated to take seven to 10 years. The developers, Green Street Properties, which is a subsidiary of Jamestown Properties and Marthasville Development, wanted to change the area’s zoning, which was currently zoned for heavy industrial use, to Planned Village Community zoning.

PVC zoning allows for mixed commercial and residential use. The 2.3 million-foot development will include hundreds of single-family homes, townhouses, condominiums, apartments, senior residences, as well as retail shops and restaurants.

The developers met with the Mableton Improvement Coalition, commissioners and members of the Chattahoochee Business Industrial Association to find the best compromise during the last 30 days since the BOC tabled the request at their Feb. 15 meeting.

In doing so, the developers agreed that 19 residential units would not be built during the initial buildout phase in order to allow for a larger, thicker buffer as requested by the CBIA.

The developer’s representative, Garvis Sams, an attorney from the Marietta firm of Sams, Larkin & Huff, said that particular area would also contain a 100-foot buffer instead of the initial 40-foot one.

Additionally, as requested by Commissioner Woody Thompson, who represents South Cobb, the developers agreed that they must begin building commercial structures by they finish building 450 residential structures and that if no development begins within two years, the area will revert back to its original zoning.

Members of the CBIA, which opposes the zoning change, spoke passionately during public comment at Tuesday’s meeting about the lack of buffers at certain points of the development, flooding issues and potential complaints from future residents.

Katie Gissendanner, who owns Metropolitan Machinery Movers near River View Road, said, “We burned to the ground, rebuilt and never missed a beat…Now you guys are turning your backs on us and telling us we’re not wanted.”

“It feels like we’ve been kicked in the stomach,” Gissendanner said.

Another business owner said, “Our futures look bleak.”

Gail Wilson, who owns B&W Trailer Services, said, “We’ve voiced our concerns, we’ve begged you to see where we’re coming from. Please don’t destroy us… This is our dream too.”

In addition to the lack of buffers and feeling ignored, CBIA members also voiced that the area’s flooding was a major concern. Many of the business owners said that the area floods each time it rains.

The floor level of each structure will be at least three inches above the flood plain, Sams said.

Also, with the passage of the SPLOST, major improvements, with a $4 million pricetag, will be made to River View Road which will help with flooding issues.

However, Dave Braeden, the senior plan review engineer for the county’s Stormwater Management division, said the area near Dickerson Road would not have emergency access during a flood event.

However, for events more frequent than the 100-Year flood, the SPLOST improvements would reduce the flooding, Braeden said.

The CBIA members voiced that by approval of the zoning change, the commissioners are showing that they do not care about small businesses.

The meeting had become somewhat heated, and Commissioner Woody Thompson, who represents South Cobb, responded to the members of CBIA, “Cobb County government does not in any form or fashion interested in running out small businesses.”

A man from the crowd then shouted a profanity to show that he did not agree with Thompson’s statement before showing himself out.

Thompson told South Cobb Patch later, “It’s not true that I don’t care about small businesses. I’m a small business owner myself.”

The entire project is meant to be a green, sustainable pedestrian-friendly development, explained Walter Brown, Senior Vice President of Development and Environmental Affairs for Green Street Properties.

“We need to constantly look at new and improved ways to create community,” Brown said, adding that he believes the development can coexist with the nearby industrial businesses.

The developers have also partnered with the county for an environmental grant, which will help clean the river and its banks.

Brown, said after the vote, “Our relationship with the river is changing. It’s (this area) no long the ‘wrong side of the tracks,’ or the river in this case, or ‘downstream.’ We need to embrace that.”

Others share his sentiment.

The project has received verbal and written support from the MIC, the city of Smyrna, along with Whitefield Academy, John Wieland Homes, which has built many nearby subdivisions, and even local homeowner associations.

Others still have doubts that the project will have positive effects on the community.

Karen Barton, president of CBIA, said the meeting “didn’t go the way we wanted,” but that the business owners intend to “just move forward” by working closely with the developers and being key members on their committees.

Barton said she foresees that once residents move in, “We will be the problem. We will be the issue, and we’ll have to fight…For the commissioners to put a mixed-use residential development of this magnitude there, it’s beyond comprehension.”