PictureFebruary 2015 Isakson Living Plan
Here are the conditions set by the Planning Commission on March 3, 2015 for recommendation of approval for Z-2 2014 (Isakson Living). The final hearing will be heard March 17, 2015.

District 2 Planning Commissioner Mike Terry's recommended APPROVAL of rezoning case Z-2 2014, and his resolution was passed 5-0 at the March 3rd, 2015 Planning Commission Hearing. The approval came with several conditions.  This page discusses those conditions in depth,  most of which were beneficial to the community.  

  • Commissioner Terry is the appointee of District 2 County Commissioner Bob Ott.

Conditions of approval

1) "Site plan specific" was set as a condition but was then later ruled out, since changes to other parts of the recommendation contradicted this, and it was recognized that a revised site plan would be required.

2) Subject to all Zoning Staff comments and recommendations.  See Z-2 final zoning analysis here for those comments and recommendations. See especially Page 12, titled "STAFF RECOMMENDATIONS".  The most important staff recommendation are:

  • Revised site plan to be approved by the Board of Commissioners.
  • Open space to remain 32.96 acres, with setback and buffers as shown on the plan in this Zoning Analysis. (NOTE: a change to stipulation #24 was to not allow stream buffer averaging, which should move some houses further back away from the adjacent subdivision houses.)
  • Maximum of two stories, or as otherwise determined by the Board of Commissioners taking into consideration the viewsheds, setbacks and height of buildings.

3) Changes to stipulations, some of which override the Z-2 presented plans and staff recommendations.  See original stipulation letter here.  The most important changes were:

Stipulation #3, concerning a covenant on the property to prohibit future use as non-age restricted apartments was changed to condominiums or apartments, for sale or for lease.

Stipulation #4, concerning the minimum 9 acre park donation.  The timing of the park donation was previously tied to the issuance of the final certificate of occupancy.  This was changed to 'when the final certificates of occupancy are issued for buildings K and F' on the Z-2 plan.  Also, the boundary of the park donation must be pre-approved by the district commissioner.

  • Our Concern about Stipulation #4:  This is an improved stipulation, however, Buildings K and F are part of Phase 2 construction.  Building K is required, because it is the skilled nursing building, and the CCRC code says that within 3 years of the issuance of first certificate of occupancy (likely for one of the houses in Phase 1), the CCRC must provide on-site skilled nursing.  We are concerned that Building F, an apartment building, is not required to be built, which could delay or prevent the park donation.

Stipulation #9, concerning a minimum of 18 acres of "undisturbed areas" redefines what undisturbed areas means.  Changes were made requiring additional landscaping in these areas, as well as requiring maintenance and replanting to replace dead or dying trees and plants.  The previous stipulation said that the undisturbed areas, minus the park donation, would be put into a permanent conservation easement, which would prevent development of these areas.  

  • Our Concern about Stipulation #9:  This would mean taking out smaller trees and underbrush, making it 'disturbed' land rather than 'undisturbed'.

Also, the timing of the conservation was not well defined, so another change was to define the timing of the conservation easement as 'no later than 60 days after the final engineering and plan review'.  Note that the area to be put in a conservation easement includes areas along the front of the property that were cleared long ago, and does not include the 9 minimum acres of the park donation.  Stipulation #4 states that if the county refuses all or part of the park donation area, that will also go into a conservation easement.

Stipulation #14 concerning construction, was strengthened to prohibit construction vehicles from parking along Robinson Road, Providence Road, or any business or residential property in the area.  The previous version of this stipulation only prevented parking along Roswell Road, East Cobb Park or Fullers Park.

Stipulation #16, concerning an opaque 8-foot fence around the construction, was strengthened to state the fence must be maintained, and only taken down with approval of the district commissioner.

Stipulation #18, concerning measures to save trees, a sentence was added stating the undisturbed areas can be penetrated during construction for installation of utilities,  but must be replanted.  Another sentence was added that the fence around the construction area must be at or beyond the drip line of trees identified to be saved.

Stipulation #24, concerning the number and types of units, it was changed to limit the overall number of units to 450 (down from 481), and the number of "cottages" to 58 (down from 65).  The 7 "cottages" to be removed include the 4 nearest Roswell Road (which would have been in front of the current house), and 3 on the south side near the Hidden Hollow subdivision, which would have been in the stream buffer.  Another change was to prohibit the use of "stream buffer averaging", which previously allowed some houses to be built in protected stream buffers.

Stipulation #40, concerning the types of "minor changes" the district commissioner could not approve, was both strengthened and weakened.  It was strengthened in that another item was added that the district commissioner could not approve, namely moving the location of the entry road.  It was weakened in that previously Isakson Living had agreed to take any of the listed changes through zoning, rather than the way these types of changes are normally handled, as "Other Business Items".  An Other Business Item can be approved quickly, with little notice to the community, while zoning takes at least 3 months.

Stipulation #41 was new, stating the property would revert to its current zoning category of R-20 (20,000 sq ft residential lots) if building permits are not pulled within 24 months of Board of Commissioners approval.

Stipulation #42 was also new, but was only partially approved.  It concerned blasting.  Part of the stipulation required written notice 48 hours prior to blasting, no blasting on weekends, and only between the hours of 9 AM and 3 PM, to protect children; this was approved.  The other part of this stipulation was that adjoining neighbors would have the opportunity to have the foundations of their homes inspected at Isakson Living's expense, and if any damages were determined to have been caused by blasting, these would be fixed at Isakson Living's expense.  After consulting with the county attorney, the part about foundation inspections was removed.

  • Concern about Stipulation #42 - We believe that there is precedent in prior zoning cases to require the applicant to provide foundation inspections prior to blasting.  Isakson Living met with residents of the adjacent Glen Side subdivision, and informed them that blasting may be necessary for the construction of the proposed Z-2 homes nearest Glen Side; these proposed houses are less than 100 ft from existing homes.  Blasting is a huge concern that should not be ignored.


See the full blog on the March 3, 2015 Planning Commission meeting here.