Marietta OK's Site Plan for 90-Home Development

This week, the Marietta City Council voted unanimously to approve a site plan for the second phase of a 90-home development in a recently annexed part of the city.

The 7-0 vote came at Wednesday night’s council meeting, following discussion at the council’s Monday work session and several months of negotiating with developer David Pearson Communities.

The project, The Village at Sandy Plains, will sit on roughly 15 acres of land near Kincaid Elementary that was annexed into Marietta by the council in April. It will see 90 single-family detached homes once each of its two phases are complete.

The first phase was approved alongside the annexation and will include 41 homes on approximately seven acres of land. The second phase, which got the green light Wednesday, will see 49 homes on the remaining eight acres.

The council had previously expressed concern over driveway length and subsequent lack of parking. In the approved site plan, 26 of the 90 homes will have driveways that are as short as 16 feet.

“These 26 basically become the locked-in ones at this point ... the only way to shorten a different driveway after that would be to come back before council and change the detailed plan,” Councilman Joseph Goldstein told Kevin Moore, the attorney representing the developer, Monday.

Moore had said while the developer had been hoping they’d be able to exercise discretion moving the shortened driveways from home to home without needing to seek the council’s approval, they’d be amenable that.

“If council feels like they want it set that far in stone, where moving one driveway to a house next door to fit (what) the builder might need at that point in time with a potential homeowner needs to come back before the council, we’re agreeable,” Moore said.

The council had also asked the developer to clarify how much it would be contributing to the city’s tree fund in lieu of meeting the city’s ordinance about tree density.

Rusty Roth, development services director for the city, confirmed that amount would be $6,809.

Moore also confirmed that the developer would abide by city staff’s recommendation to begin building certain amenities, including a pool and pool house, by the time permits have been issued for 40%, or 36, of the homes.