Smyrna board approves variances to allow home on West Cooper Lake Road, adds erosion-control stipulation

The Smyrna License and Variance Board on Jan. 8 approved two variances allowing construction of a two-story home at 3910 West Cooper Lake Road, contingent on mitigation measures and a requirement that the applicant work with city staff to design a permanent erosion-control best management practice (BMP).

Planner Caitlin Crow told the board the property, a little more than one acre in the Cooper Lake Hills subdivision, was platted in 1979 and has never had a house. The city’s stream buffer ordinance, enacted in February 2005, imposes a 50-foot undisturbed stream buffer and a 75-foot impervious-surface setback; the applicant sought variances from both protections to place a 4-bedroom, 4-bathroom, two-story home on the lot.

Crow said the property also includes a sanitary sewer easement that bisects the buildable area. The applicant proposed “buffer averaging” — extending mitigation buffers on the rear of the lot contiguous to existing buffers — and engineering staff reviewed the mitigation plan and found it consistent with the Georgia Stormwater Management Manual requirements. Community Development recommended approval with two staff stipulations: substantial compliance with the submitted site plan and elevations, and a plat showing the buffer extension recorded prior to issuance of a building permit.

City Engineer Mark Wolf and Board Member Eric Randall raised additional concerns about future erosive flows on the steep slopes behind the proposed home. Wolf asked whether the plan included flow breaks or level spreaders to reduce erosive runoff; the applicant’s representative, site supervisor Joshua Gentis, said the plan did not include those devices but that the builder would sod disturbed areas, staple sod on steeper banks, and work with staff to meet any reasonable city requirements.

After discussion the board added a third stipulation requiring the applicant to work with staff during permitting to develop a permanent BMP — for example, a berm or level spreader — to reduce future erosion risk. Gentis told the board he would cooperate and said construction would take roughly six months after a permit is issued.

Two nearby residents spoke in opposition during the public hearing. Craig Magus, who lives at 3920 West Cooper Lake Road, said he was told years ago that the lot was unbuildable and that he opposed the variance. Lisa Leonakis, at 3885 West Cooper Lake Road, said the lot’s stream cuts the buildable area in half and raised concerns about driveway placement, neighborhood fit and the potential for further encroachments.

Board members said the property’s plat date (1979) predates the 2005 buffer ordinance and that other homes in the area were built under the same conditions. After the board confirmed the applicant accepted the staff stipulations and the additional erosion-control stipulation, it voted 3–0 to approve both variances.

The board’s approvals require: substantial compliance with the submitted site plan and elevations; a recorded plat showing the buffer extension before a building permit is issued; and a permit-stage agreement to develop a permanent BMP acceptable to city staff.