The Cobb County Planning Commission on Tuesday recommended approval of a planned multi-family apartment development at 3200 S. Cobb Parkway, in the Cumberland area, despite concerns from the school district that its construction would put undue stress on a nearby elementary school.
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Attorney Parks Huff, representing Alliance Residential, sketched out plans calling for a five-story building housing 300 apartments, along with a gym, a club meeting room, pool and other amenities, and a six-story parking garage.
Huff told commissioners that it is now occupied by a 35-year-old Homewood Suites, which he said was “obviously moving toward the end of its useful life.”
He told the body the complex would consist of studio, one-bedroom and two-bedroom units, saying that three-bedroom units were not part of their plans because the development was not “targeted to families but to people who want to live and work in the area.” He specifically pointed out younger residents just getting started in their careers and senior citizens wanting to downsize as prospective tenants.
The proposed development is near Cumberland Mall, with a slew of corporate buildings and headquarters, restaurants, and entertainment options in the surrounding area.
Huff said the planned apartments were projected as a $100 million development, while pegging the current suites property’s value at $ 12 million. He claimed the development would produce well over a million dollars in annual tax revenue.
School officials had objected to the development plans because the nearby Teasley Elementary school is overcrowded, with more than 150 students over capacity.
Travis McComb of the Cobb County School District addressed commissioners briefly, saying that “approval of this petition will cause concern for the Cobb County School District as a result of the impact on enrollment of one school already over capacity.”
But Huff said that Teasley Elementary School was also overcrowded when he lived in the area ten years before.
“The school board… has had plenty of time to do something about it, “ he asserted, adding that he doesn’t believe multifamily housing has contributed to the problem. He said that a slight shift in attendance zones would put the prospective complex into the Brumby Elementary attendance zone, with Brumby reportedly a couple of hundred students under capacity.
Commissioner David Anderson quizzed Huff on several points, then advanced a motion to approve the complex subject to several stipulations, including having the district commissioner approve the final site plan, that no apartment unit be smaller than 500 square feet, that any access off of Cobb Parkway be emergency-only and the existing tree line be preserved along the parkway.
The unanimous vote sends the proposal to the Cobb County Commission, which is set to take up the matter June 17.