Public Hearing: YES ☒ NO ☐ Department: Planning & Sustainability
SUBJECT:
Title
COMMISSION DISTRICT(S): 4 & 7
Application of Casswell Design Group to request a Special Land Use Permit (SLUP) in the R-100 (Residential-Medium Lot-100) District to construct a Place of Worship and an accessory skills development center, gymnasium, educational garden, grounds keeper quarters, and religious education facilities, at 5942 Rockbridge Road.
Body
PETITION NO: D7. SLUP-21-1244249 2021-2119
PROPOSED USE: Place of worship, with accessory uses.
LOCATION: 5942 Rockbridge Road, Stone Mountain, Ga.
PARCEL NO. : 18-035-01-001
INFO. CONTACT: John Reid, Sr. Planner
PHONE NUMBER: 404-371-2155
PURPOSE:
Application of Casswell Design Group to request a Special Land Use Permit (SLUP) in the R-100 (Residential-Medium Lot-100) District to construct a Place of Worship and an accessory skills development center, international visitor guest house, gymnasium, educational garden, grounds keeper quarters, and religious education facilities. The property is located on the northwest corner of Rockbridge Road and Mountain Park Trail, at 5942 Rockbridge Road, Stone Mountain. The property has approximately 280 feet of frontage on Rockbridge Road, 480 feet of frontage on Mountain Park Trail and contains 3 acres.
RECOMMENDATION:
Recommended Action
COMMUNITY COUNCIL: April 2021 Full Cycle Deferral; Feb. 2021 - Denial.
PLANNING COMMISSION: May 6, 2021 - Full Cycle Deferral. March 4, 2021 - Full Cycle Deferral.
PLANNING STAFF: Full Cycle Deferral.
STAFF ANALYSIS: The proposed request for a Place of Worship with Accessory Uses is required to obtain a Special Land Use Permit (SLUP) since the property falls within a single-family residential zoning district (R-100 Residential Medium Lot). The subject property has frontage along and access to a two-lane minor arterial (Rockbridge Road). This item was deferred from the March 25th Board of Commissioners public hearing. Since that meeting, the applicant has completed a traffic impact study (see attached) to address community concerns about traffic issues. That traffic study was just recently submitted to the County’s Transportation Department on Monday April 19th and is still in review. At the April 20th Community Council meeting, the applicant indicated that they were planning on reducing the scope of the application and were going to meet with the community again on April 27th. The applicant requested that this item be deferred full cycle until the July agenda cycle (see attached email) to allow time to revise the plan based on community comments and to allow time for the DeKalb County Transportation Department to review and comment on the Traffic Impact Study. Therefore, it is the recommendation of the Planning and Sustainability Department that the application be “Deferred, Full Cycle”.
PLANNING COMMISSION VOTE: May 6, 2021 - Full Cycle Deferral 8-0-0. LaSonya Osler moved, April Atkins seconded for Full Cycle Deferral, per Staff recommendation. March 4, 2021 - Full Cycle Deferral 8-0-1. L. Osler moved, E. Patton seconded for a Full Cycle Deferral, per Staff recommendation, to allow for a traffic study and more dialogue with the community. V. Moore abstained.
COMMUNITY COUNCIL VOTE/RECOMMENDATION: April 2021 Full Cycle Deferral 12-0-0, per the applicant’s request to allow consideration of further revisions to the plan, including reducing the scope of the proposed accessory uses. Discussion included traffic and land use concerns; Feb. 2021 - Denial 11-0-1. The Council recommended denial due to concerns about traffic impacts, potential flooding impacts from the large amount of parking areas, and sewer capacity. The applicant indicated that a Traffic Impact Study was in the process of being completed but was not yet finished. Council recommended that the results of the Traffic Impact Study be shared with the community when it is completed.