The Johns Creek Board of Zoning Appeals held a public hearing and deliberation on three variance cases on March 17, 2026. The meeting began with the approval of minutes from the previous meeting and included staff presentations, applicant testimony, and public comments. The board voted on all three cases, approving each with modifications to staff recommendations.
The board also noted that the next meeting is scheduled for April 21, 2026, and that elections for chair and vice chair will be held at that time.
Welcome to the City of Johns Creek Board of Zoning upbeats meeting for March. The meeting will now come to order. Mr. Green is not here. And uh warm welcome to our newest member, Miss Jean Marie Wineman. Um welcome. Uh it's an exciting board. Um excited to have you here. Um I would also like to thank uh the mayor and the city council for reappointing me and Mr. Talipoli for another um term. Um thanks and appreciate the trust. So we have our agenda for the current meeting and the minutes from our meeting in Nowember. If um all the members have had a chance to review, uh are there any changes or any motions on the um meeting in the minutes. I'll make a motion that we accept the minutes as uh delivered to us, sir. Uh Mr. Stan has made a motion to accept. Um any seconds? I second. Mr. Talapoli is seconded the motion. All members who voted in favor of the motion, please say aye. Aye. Aye. Anyone in opposition? The motion carries. Uh for the public hearing tonight, we have three cases. Um the staff will present the case. Uh after the staff presentation, the applicant will have ten minutes uh to present their case. Any opposition will have a total of ten minutes. Uh if the applicant does not use their full ten minutes, the remainder can be served for a result for rebuttal. Anyone that wishes to speak should step up to the podium and be sure to state your name and address for the record. All questions for staff, applicant and the opposition will be after uh the public hearing is closed. We'll have Taylor. This is to accommodate the construction of a forty thousand square foot shopping center and the parking required to serve it. Variance review criteria. Relief, if granted, would be in harmony with or could be made in harmony with the general purpose and intent of the zoning ordinance, or the application of the particular provision of the zoning ordinance to a particular piece of property due to extraordinary or exceptional conditions pertaining to that property because of its size, shape, or topography would create an unnecessary hardship for the owner while causing no detriment to the public. Following a staff analysis. Subject property has an elongated configuration and the front property line measures approximately 800 feet along the Guinness Ferry Road. The property has a depth of approximately 178 feet for 75% of the property before expanding to roughly 270 feet near Brookmere Place. Just going back to what that image looks like. The constrained shape of the property with limited depth and the required 40-foot landscape strip would prevent an unnecessary or would present an unnecessary hardship for the property owner. The direct reduction in landscape strip would mitigate the limited depth and enable a site to accommodate a commercial commercial building as well as the parking required. Uh that includes landscape areas, benches, and a walking trail connecting to the proposed shopping and inevitably to the adjacent residential neighborhood. Staff is of the opinion that the request, if granted, would be in harmony with the general purpose and intents of the zoning ordinance. If you see at the bottom, that is the proposed community gathering space located on page bottom left here. With that, staff recommends approval of V-2601 with the following conditions. The sites will be developed shall be developed in general accordance with the site plan received and stamped by the city on January 26th. The owner and developer shall provide a minimum of 11,000 square feet of community gathering space in accordance with the exhibit received on January 16, 2026. And the owner developers shall provide and replant where sparsely vegetated in the following landscape strips as shown on the site plan received on January 26th. Those landscape strips would be 20 feet along McGuinness Ferry Road, 20 feet along Brookmere Place, and 10 feet along the south and east property line adjacent to the Brookmere subdivision.