Public Hearing: YES ☒ NO ☐ Department: Planning & Sustainability
SUBJECT:
Title
COMMISSION DISTRICT(S): 3 and 6
Application of Safe Haven Transitional, Inc. c/o Battle Law, P.C. for a Special Land Use Permit (SLUP) to allow an office building in Tier 5 Corridor 1 of the Bouldercrest Overlay District and the C-1 (Local Commercial) zoning district, at 2001 River Road.
Body
PETITION NO: N7-2026-1266 SLUP-26-1248280
PROPOSED USE: Two-story office building.
LOCATION: 2001 River Road, Ellenwood, GA 30294
PARCEL NO. : 15 053 03 001
INFO. CONTACT: John Reid, Sr. Planner
PHONE NUMBER: 404-371-2155
PURPOSE:
Application of Safe Haven Transitional, Inc. c/o Battle Law, P.C. for a Special Land Use Permit (SLUP) to allow an office building in Tier 5 Corridor 1 of the Bouldercrest Overlay District and the C-1 (Local Commercial) zoning district.
RECOMMENDATION:
Recommended Action
COMMUNITY COUNCIL: (Oct. 2026) Full cycle deferral.
PLANNING COMMISSION: (Nov. 5, 2026) Pending.
PLANNING STAFF: Denial.
STAFF ANALYSIS: The Subject Property carries a Suburban (SUB) land use designation under the DeKalb County 2050 Comprehensive Plan. The Comprehensive Plan’s Suburban character area expressly allows “limited nonresidential development, such as small mixed-use developments outside of existing, stable single-family neighborhoods, particularly in locations with high levels of pedestrian connectivity, to meet the needs of surrounding residents.” A two-story professional office at the intersection of Bouldercrest Road and River Road is precisely the type of limited, neighborhood-serving non-residential use envisioned by the Comprehensive Plan. The proposal also advances the Comprehensive Plan’s guiding principles of focusing development intensity in existing developed areas with infrastructure capacity and supporting activity centers and corridors. The Board of Commissioners approved a text amendment to allow office use as a SLUP within a single-family tier of the BOD (Tier 5 Corridor 1) (TA-26-1248067) on July 7th, 2026. That text amendment indicated that “limited office uses, when subject to a Special Land Use Permit, strict eligibility and access criteria, and additional safeguards, may be compatible with Tier V when carefully reviewed”. The SLUP application demonstrates compliance with most of the BOD Tier 5 office criteria, including “Section 3 Criteria A through C” (Eligibility and Access Requirements) and “Section 4 Criteria A through D and F through I” (Additional Tier V Office Supplemental Regulations). However, the conceptual plan does not comply with “Section 4, Criteria “E” which requires a 30- foot buffer along the rear property line abutting an underlying R-100 residential property and the submitted plan only shows a 15-foot-wide buffer. Therefore, based on review of Section 4 Criteria “E” of the Tier 5 office criteria (Transitional Buffer), Section 27-7.4.6 A (Adequacy of the site), and B (Compatibility), and, it is the recommendation of the Planning & Sustainability Department that the application be, respectfully, “Denied”.
PLANNING COMMISSION VOTE: (November 5, 2026) Pending.
COMMUNITY COUNCIL VOTE/RECOMMENDATION: (Oct. 2026) Full-Cycle Deferral (8-0-0) to allow the Small Area Plan(s) for the area to be completed and allow the application to be reviewed for consistency with those SAPs.