Planning commission approves stream-buffer variance for VMB Residential LLC mixed-use pad

The City of Cumming Planning and Zoning Commission on Tuesday approved a variance allowing portions of a 2.13-acre commercial parcel in a larger mixed‑use development to encroach into city-designated stream buffers.

The variance affects buffer areas established by the city (described in the hearing as a 50-foot “undisturbed” buffer and a 75-foot no-impervious-surface buffer). The commission approved the request after a staff recommendation that included a condition requiring the Department of Planning and Zoning to determine and require landscape replanting within the disturbed areas before project completion.

Kenneth Wood, the agent representing the applicant, described the parcel as the commercial portion of a larger 31.42-acre mixed‑use development that began construction about nine months ago. “We can’t have another access point from GDOT into this location,” Wood said, describing access constraints that, he and staff said, contributed to the need for relief from the buffer standards.

Wood said the site is approximately 2.13 acres and that the encroachment is necessary to provide parking, drive aisle and a restaurant or retail pad at the front of the parcel. He described the project as envisioned with several restaurant or retail pads, circular parking and landscaping to preserve a neighborhood feel along the stream edge.

Planning staff reported the area within the stream buffer is approximately 40% of the parcel and quantified the requested encroachment: approximately 11,000 square feet into the 50-foot buffer (including retaining walls, sidewalk and road) and about 5,000 square feet into the 75-foot no‑impervious buffer (including part of the parking area and a portion of one building pad). Scott (Planning staff) told the commission the combination of steep topography and a single permitted access drive contributed to the hardship finding and recommended approval with the replanting condition. “Staff recommends a variance with the following condition,” Scott said, describing the requirement that planning staff determine replanting within disturbed buffer areas before project completion.

The commission voted to approve the variance (recorded in the hearing as approved). The motion as recorded in the transcript identified the applicant as VMB Residential LLC (variance number referenced in the hearing as 20225042 initially and later cited in the motion as 2025042); the transcript did not capture individual mover/second names or a roll-call tally.

The variance approval includes the staff condition that, after clearing the impacted city stream buffers and before project completion, Department of Planning and Zoning staff will determine landscape replanting required within the disturbed area. The commission did not, in the record, specify additional mitigation measures or binding limits on future development beyond that condition.

The parcel and its requested relief are tied to a larger development approved in 2024; the hearing record noted the commercial component is part of that previously approved multifamily and mixed‑use project. The record did not include building permits or final engineering approvals, and staff emphasized topography and access limitations as the principal practical constraints that supported the variance recommendation.

The commission’s action permits the applicant to proceed with the project subject to the staff replanting requirement; further permits and approvals (engineering, grading, construction) were not resolved in the hearing and remain future steps for the developer and city staff.