Planning Commission to take up Lidl grocery store; Paper Mill Starbucks on hold

Jake Busch, Marietta Daily Journal, Ga.
·2 min read

Feb. 6—The Cobb Planning Commission will consider approving a new grocery store for northeast Cobb Tuesday.

The German grocery store chain Lidl has repeatedly attempted to open a new location in the area over the previous five years. Now, its proposal for a store at Piedmont Road and Canton Highway is on the commission's consent agenda Tuesday, meaning it is likely to be approved and advance to the Board of Commissioners.

According to revised plans, the proposed store would be located on a 3.47-acre lot and total 29,700 square feet, with about 21,100 square feet of retail space.

Lidl is requesting rezoning from a neighborhood shopping district, which is meant for businesses serving a few neighborhoods, to a community retail commercial district, which allows for bigger stores that cater to larger communities.

In 2017, the Cobb Board of Commissioners denied Lidl's request to replace the Park 12 Cobb Cinemas movie theater on Gordy Parkway with a grocery store.

The company's second attempt at opening a store in the area also failed. Lidl had planned to open a 34,000-square-foot store in the revitalized Sprayberry Crossing shopping center in east Cobb. It pulled out of that development last year, the MDJ previously reported.

Lidl currently has one location in east Cobb, located in the Woodlawn Square Shopping Center on Johnson Ferry Road. Lidl also has two locations in Marietta — one at 2641 Powder Springs Road and one at 670 Whitlock Avenue.

Meanwhile, a proposal for a two-story Starbucks coffee shop in east Cobb's Paper Mill Village has once again been held up and postponed to the Planning Commission's March 7th meeting.

Garvis Sams, the attorney representing applicant S&B investments, said in a letter to Cobb zoning division staff that the building's architecture has been redesigned, though he and his client have yet to meet again with residents in the area.

Initial plans had the building, which will include a drive-thru, slated for 5,000 square feet.

The Cobb Planning Commission meets on Tuesday, Feb. 7 at 9 a.m. in the commission room at 100 Cherokee St. in Marietta.