By Rebecca Gaunt

Kennesaw City Council approved a rezoning request with conditions for a long-troubled property at 6095 Pine Mountain Rd. last week.

The 8.82-acre property is currently zoned for highway general business (HGB), but DRB Group Georgia LLC requested the change to planned unit residential (PUD-R) with plans to build 89 fee-simple townhomes, adjacent to the Cedar Creek Professional Center.

According to Chanelle Campbell, Kennesaw’s director of planning and zoning, Council approved the rezoning of the eastern adjacent 2.88-acre lot to HGB for Cedar Creek in 2006. The intention was to build additional office buildings on the larger lot, but construction never began on the 8.82-acre parcel after the 2008 recession hit.

In 2018, plans for a nursing home were approved but the project fizzled out in 2019. The COVID-19 pandemic struck the following year.

The owner of the property has received multiple citations over the years for unsafe structures, trash, and maintenance.

The lot has limited visibility from the main roads, which Campbell said makes it more suitable for residential use.

A representative for Cedar Creek filed an objection to the plans in January noting multiple concerns with DRB’s site plans, one of which was its intended use of Cedar Creek’s private drive for access from Pine Mountain Road. According to the letter, the original agreement for the two properties to share access to the drive was based on a plan for three office buildings, not 89 residential units.

Adam Rozen with Rozen, Rozen and Reilly LLP represented DRB at the meeting.

He said the current site plan includes a gate, which will slow traffic and prevent cutthroughs. Rozen also presented results of DRB’s traffic study which indicated that the daily traffic generated by the townhomes was lighter than the two previously approved uses for office buildings and a nursing home at 584 versus 721 and 771 respectively.

He presented a photo of the access road, which he said is now gated due to the poor condition of the property.

“Why are we having a concern about having access that was expected all along?” Rozen asked.

Townhome prices will start at over $400,000 with a target market of working professionals, young families and empty nesters. Options include three-story, 1,900 square-foot homes with three and four bedrooms, and two-story, 1,850 square-foot units with three and four bedrooms.

Attorney Stephen Snow represented Cedar Creek at the meeting and cast doubt on the results of the traffic study. He asked that the plan be approved with only one access point to Cobb Parkway.

“It was intended to be three small office buildings with, not a rush of families leaving in the morning and a rush of families coming in, but cars coming here and there during the course of business during the course of a day. Not what we’re proposing here,” he said.

Snow also pointed out that approving the zoning request would also go against the city’s future land use plan.

The HOA president of the nearby Village of Pine Mountain spoke in support of the proposed development and keeping the plan for two points of access.

Council member Tracey Viars also voiced support for the neighborhood with two access points, calling the price point “affordable housing” for Kennesaw.

Making the egress points right turn only was proposed to meet safety concerns during the discussion.

Mayor Derek Easterling redirected the conversation to focus on the rezoning requests, as the details of the site plan, such as ingress and egress locations, will be discussed as the plans move forward.

City staff recommended a rental cap at 5%, as opposed to the traditional 10% due to the small number of homes.

Council member Jon Bothers requested the cap be changed to 10%, which was supported by council member Tracey Viars.

“There’s a big hardship of people around here right now because it’s a buyers’ market. But I would love another stipulation that says an investor can’t buy it for the first two years. And then that means at least, initially, owners own it,” Viars said.

Snow voiced his opposition to upping the rental cap.

Ricky Stewart, Kennesaw’s public works director, made the argument that two access points would relieve some of the congestion concerns by giving both the townhome residents and the employees at Cedar Point two options, though it was pointed out that would not be possible if the neighborhood is gated.

Council agreed to add stipulations that there must be access points on both Cobb Parkway and Pine Mountain Road, a two-year exclusion disallowing investor purchases, and a 10% (9 homes) rental cap.