Politics & Government
Isakson: 'They Changed the Rules'
Battle lines over a proposed senior living development next to East Cobb Park are hardening.
In her many dealings on rezoning matters, Jill Flamm can recall only one instance in which a developer didn't run a proposal by the East Cobb Civic Association she leads before seeking formal approval.
Make that two, because of what happened earlier this week.
Flamm, the ECCA president, was as flabbergasted as anyone involved in the Isakson Living rezoning request when the senior residential developer suddenly refiled its application on Tuesday.
Isakson Living, which withdrew an application for a 987-unit complex on the Tritt property next to East Cobb Park in October following community opposition, has reduced the scale of its development to around a 840 units, dropped building heights and worked in underground parking instead of a parking garage.
As East Cobb Patch reported Wednesday, civic leaders such as Flamm were caught off guard by the move, having been told by Isakson Living officials that they would be informed of any revisions beforehand.
Kevin Isakson, the company's director of sales and marketing, said he had every intention of doing that as a new plan was being prepared for refiling early next year.
But then, he said, "they changed the rules."
"They" is a reference to a proposed agenda item to be heard by the Cobb Board of Commissioners next Tuesday that would impose a moratorium on zoning applications seeking the continuing care retirement community (CCRC) designation.
It's a new zoning category, created in 2008 following the recommendation of a citizens' committee that met for nearly a year and included Isakson, the son of U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson of East Cobb.
The Isakson Living application is slated to be the first to come before Cobb officials for CCRC status, and some of its provisions have drawn concerns about allowed density, especially near a residential area.
Because it was refiled before any freeze would be enacted, the Isakson Living proposal would not be subject to possible CCRC changes.
"We have the right to be heard under the code as it is currently stated," Isakson said in an interview with East Cobb Patch Thursday.
Isakson said the decision to refile came because he had heard that discussions were underway about possible CCRC changes. But he said wasn't aware there was an agenda item up for possible action until he spoke with a reporter for The Marietta Daily Journal Wednesday (paywall story here).
While that hardened his resolve to proceed with the rezoning request, Isakson pledged that he and his firm "will be getting back in touch" with community groups.
"We expect to continue to have positive dialogue as it pertains to the changes we have made," Isakson said.
Related stories
- Isakson Living Refiles Rezoning Request
- Isakson Living Withdraws Rezoning Request
- East Cobb Hears Isakson Living Plans
- Petition Drive Started Against Isakson Living Proposal
- Senior Complex Proposed for East Cobb
But flouting the standard practice in East Cobb rezoning cases of being transparent with civic groups -- especially the politically powerful ECCA -- figures to further entrench Isakson Living opponents, who say the revised senior living complex is still too dense.
"I'm disappointed they didn't honor their pledge to the community," said East Cobb Commissioner Bob Ott, who says he is neutral on rezoning request.
He said a moratorium is a good idea because of the difficulty the county has had in developing zoning categories to accommodate senior living.
The other case Flamm referred to also involved a senior living proposal, the Sterling Estates community on Lower Roswell Road.
The developer didn't provide many details before the nearly 100-unit complex was voted down by the Cobb Planning Commission in early 2010.
After that, Sterling Estates met with ECCA leaders and they hammered out changes -- including building height restrictions -- that resulted in the first senior living facility located next to a residential community in Cobb County.
Flamm said Wednesday that the ECCA, which opposed Isakson Living's original proposal, will ask to see the revisions before issuing a new recommendation.
"We'll have to take a look at the plans," she said.
Ott, a former ECCA president, said while the Isakson Living and Sterling Estates cases "are completely different," they illustrate the need to reconsider CCRC now.
"We need to step back and look at this without something else sitting out there," he said. "We're stepping in some uncharted waters."
An East Cobb group, Concerned Citizens Over Isakson Living, wants CCRC to be changed to preclude high-density development from adjoining low-density residential neighborhoods.
It also is calling for any land zoned for CCRC to be within five miles of an acute medical care facility. That presumably would not include WellStar's East Cobb Health Park that is being built across Roswell Road from the Tritt property.
But Isakson contends that Isakson Living "is a very compatible use for the land."
The Isakson Living case will be heard next February at the earliest, setting up several months of wrangling between a developer and community groups at seemingly intractable odds.
"Unfortunately, I think it's going to be contentious," Ott said.
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