Developer turns to city for annexation, rezoning
Nov. 2—A 700-home development initially on Cobb County's zoning docket is now headed for Marietta City Hall with 100 less units.
Atlanta-based Beazer Homes USA has reduced the size of the project by about 100 homes and requested that Marietta annex and rezone the land for the development, between Marietta and Town Center mall.
Rusty Roth, Marietta's director of development services, confirmed in an email to the MDJ that Beazer has submitted an application to annex and rezone roughly 175 acres of land around Laura Lake Drive, west of Bells Ferry Road. According to Cobb County property records, the acreage proposed for development is owned by a trust company for the family of George A. Montgomery and his wife, Nancy.
Of those 175 acres, just under seven are already in the city limits. The other 168 would be annexed by the city.
Beazer originally proposed to build 694 units on the property, including single-family detached homes, townhomes and residences for "active adults" ages 55 and older, in its initial application to the county. Its application to Marietta lists 596 homes in the project.
Beazer did not respond to the Journal's request for comment by press time.
The Bells Ferry Civic Association previously expressed its opposition to the development when it made it onto the county's zoning docket.
"We will fight it even if City of Marietta hears it," the association's executive director, Tullan Avard, told the MDJ in a text.
When Beazer submitted its proposal to the county, it also filed the proposal with the state's community affairs department as a Development of Regional Impact, which are "large-scale developments that are likely to have regional effects beyond the local government jurisdiction in which they are located," according to the department.
Avard said Beazer reduced the number of units in the site plan by about 100 to avoid the DRI designation, though Beazer did not confirm that was the reason for the reduction.
"Regardless, there will still be thousands of cars on Bells Ferry daily," Avard said.
In August, Kevin Moore, an attorney representing Beazer, told the MDJ the land is "one of the largest single tracts" of privately owned undeveloped property in the county. He said the cost of the homes would be in the $300,000 to $500,000 range, though those numbers could change depending on the project's scheduled completion date, which the original proposal marked as July 2029.
Avard added that the county could write Marietta a letter objecting to the annexation. She referred to a 2019 case, when three Cobb commissioners objected to the annexation of property near the corner of Lower Roswell Road and the Loop. That objection was based on state law that gives the county the right to raise concerns if the density of a development exceeds five units per acre. The new site plan from Beazer lists a density of 3.4 units per acre.
When reached for comment, Cobb Commissioner JoAnn Birrell said she had not seen Beazer's proposal to Marietta, nor had the county received an annexation request as of Tuesday.
She did note that the county recently received a donation of land at Laura Lake Dam, adjacent the property where Beazer plans to build. She added that the donated land is off-limits for development and designated for green space and water storage.
Until the county receives an annexation request, she said, she cannot give more detail on the direction it would take regarding an objection to the request.
Avard was clear about where the Bells Ferry Civic Association stands on the county objecting to the potential annexation request.
"We hope they do."
The Marietta Planning Commission is scheduled to hear the proposal on December 6. The Marietta City Council would then hear the case on December 14.
