BOC Tables River View Road Development Zoning Request

The Cobb County Board of Commissioners tabled a request for rezoning from Green Street Properties, which is hoping to develop property along the Chattahoochee River in Mableton on River View Road.

The 82-acre property is currently zoned for mostly heavy industrial use, but the developers are hoping to have it rezoned as a Planned Village Community, which allows for mixed-use of both commercial and residential uses.

The county planning commission unanimously recommended approval, if their additional stipulations are met, of the request at their Feb. 1 meeting.

Commissioner Woody Thompson, who serves the South Cobb area, moved for the board to approve the request. However, Commissioners Helen Goreham, Bob Ott and Chairman Tim Lee, felt that there were questions that were still unanswered.

The board unanimously approved to table the motion for 30 days and again consider it at the next board meeting on March 15.

Both the opposition and the developers were surprised, but for different reasons.

The Chattahoochee Business Industrial Association had heavy representation at the meeting, and they were not in favor of the development as it is currently envisioned.

Karen Barton, the president of the organization, spoke to the board about the concerns of the business owners there.

Barton is also a second-generation owner of Phoenix Crane, which sits on the corner of Dickerson and River View roads.

If the businesses in the area feel that the development impacted them to the point that they can no longer continue to conduct business as they had, “we’ll move out of Cobb County,” Barton told the board.

As for the outcome on the zoning request, Barton said, “I was amazingly surprised that he [Thompson] was just ready to go. He wants this development at all costs. Helen Goreham and Bob Ott are smart enough and have enough experience to say, ‘Let’s wait on this.’”

Garvis Sams, a representative for Green Street Properties, was also surprised “because their questions have been answered.” He said he surprised that they did not approve the request when the planning commission unanimously recommended approval after they had their own officials review the plan for the development and suggest their own stipulations.