Commissioners also revisited a vote on a five-story Cumberland-area condo building, allowed a mosque to move to a shopping center and held off on considering a 140-foot amateur radio tower.
Commissioners approved a 21-home development on Woodlawn Drive near Dickerson Middle School in a 4-0 vote, with Chairman Tim Lee absent. The four-bedroom and larger homes located on a 6.6-acre tract are expected to average $1 million each, ranging from 4,000 to 6,000 square feet. Property owners Wilce Frasier Jr. and Carol Hindman Butler are selling the land to Brooks Chadwick Capital, which will develop the subdivision’s infrastructure and sell the lots to a builder to construct the houses.
In other business, commissioners revisited a zoning decision they made in February because stipulations were inadvertently left off the minutes, requiring another vote. The 4-0 vote approves an upscale five-story, 240-unit condo building, with condos ranging from 700 square feet to 1,050 square feet in size. The estimated $30 million proposal is a joint venture between Newport Development and Pope & Land to build three residential condo buildings. The first two are finished, and the third should be built within a year, attorney John Moore said. Among the things the vote revises is allowing for the condos to be leased instead of sold until the market recovers.
Pope & Land Senior Vice President Mason Zimmerman, who serves on the Cumberland Community Improvement District, said the CID board supports additional high-density, high-quality residential development in the
district’s core, “and this site is certainly a great place to accommodate that type of development.”
“We expect the finished product to be very similar to the buildings currently under construction by Walton at Riverwood and on the adjoining property,” Zimmerman said.
Southeast Commissioner Bob Ott said the units would command some of the highest rates in the area, comparable to downtown Atlanta.
“There is not a market for the sale of condos right now, and what the Cumberland core needs to move to the next level is for people to live there, and this development is just part of the entire mix this board is putting in place to help Cumberland move to the next level,” Ott said.
Commissioners also agreed to a zoning change that clears the way for a mosque to move into a shopping center located off Kennesaw Due West Road north of Stilesboro Road.
Commissioners unanimously allowed Masjid-Al-hedaya of Marietta, Inc. to move into the new location. The zoning agenda said the mosque would have a maximum of 150 people in attendance.
Northwest Commissioner Helen Goreham, who represents the area, said while she hasn’t spoken to mosque members, she believed they needed more space than their current location off Powder Springs Street in Marietta.
Masjid-Al-hedaya of Marietta did not return calls for comment.
In 2010, the Powder Springs mosque was damaged in a fire, which Marietta Police investigators said was started by a man who prayed there.
As for the radio tower, a petition to allow Ritner Nesbitt to keep his 140-foot antenna was delayed until next month’s zoning meeting to give the county attorney time to review a Monday letter from Christopher Balch, Nesbitt’s attorney.
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It makes sense, although with the current record low interest rates for home mortgages, I doubt that the lease rates will be much lower than a mortgage payment.
At least it allows someone to "sample" the Cumberland area to see if they like it without making a total commitment to buying a high end condo.
We'll watch this corner. People should be able to worship however they want, but giving special priveleges to some churches because you are afraid to be seen as partial is cowardly.
As to the arson, I hope this mosque will not experience anything of this sort again from the hands of one of its worshippers who believes it is "not conservative enough." This mosque's members have been traditionally members of the Cobb community without radical imams visiting (such as the one who appeared on the scene after the fire, accusing Marietta of hate crimes). Let us hope that they find peace in their new location without controversy (that is why the commissioners should look closely at the traffic and parking situations).
If people are stupid enough to pay $800,000 extra just to buy themselves extra traffic, how can they afford a $1 million house?
Oh yeah... They can't! FORECLOSE!!!
Some parents care about their children's educations and work hard to make sure that they become productive citizens. Limited availability of rental units lead to increased test scores in the local schools. Planning and zoning have kept this area desirable.