Smyrna board approves setback variance to allow pavilion at Creekwood Park

The Smyrna Licensed Variance Board voted 3-0 to approve variance V B24-065, reducing a front setback from 35 feet to 10 feet so the city can place a 480-square-foot timber pavilion at Creekwood Park, a pocket neighborhood park on Creekwood Trail.

Caitlin Crowe, Planner I in the city’s Community Development department, told the board the application was submitted on behalf of the Smyrna Parks and Recreation Department and that staff recommended approval "with the following 3 stipulations." She listed those conditions as substantial compliance with the submitted site plan and elevation, routing of stormwater to be reviewed by the city engineer prior to land-disturbance issuance, and that park features meet ADA requirements to be reviewed by the fire marshal before a building permit is issued. "Staff does recommend your approval with the following 3 stipulations," Crowe said.

The pavilion was proposed after neighborhood outreach; Crowwood Park is a quarter-acre pocket park the planner described as a primary bus stop for the neighborhood that currently has only a swing set and a small mulch play area. The design calls for a larger rear mulch/play area and an open-air pavilion placed forward to provide shade and shelter at the bus stop and to act as a buffer between the playground and the roadway.

Taylor Pounds of Foley Design, the applicant’s representative, said the R-15 setback standard that triggered the variance is intended for residential structures rather than small park facilities and emphasized the pavilion’s open-air design. "It's our belief that the R-15 zoning setback is really to keep a residential home from being built any closer to the road. It really wasn't the intention of park structures per se," Pounds said. He added the project team plans to replace the existing wooden fence with a more secure aluminum or steel fence and to coordinate drainage improvements with the city engineer. "We are less than 5,000 square feet of impervious, so we are exempt from Georgia Blue Book standards, but we'll be making sure that we don't increase stormwater from current conditions," Pounds said.

Neighbors raised maintenance and safety concerns during the public hearing. Ophelia Sierra, who lives at 3460 Sioux Path next to the park, asked whether the fence would remain and whether the project would affect her property. She also said a nearby drain is clogged and that earlier attempts to contact the city in the spring had not produced a response. "There is a heavy drain clog ... I'm not sure if it's my property or the city's park," Sierra said; a board member and city staff pledged to connect her with the appropriate city office and noted the city engineer will review stormwater routing for the project.

Another resident, Clark Efa of 3364 Navajo Trail, asked that the dog sanitation station remain and be sited or maintained so smells would not affect picnickers. "We walk our dogs through there a lot, and I just wanna make sure that there's going to be a dog sanitation station still there," Efa said. The chair noted the city's 311 app is the mechanism to log maintenance requests.

After questions and discussion, an unidentified board member moved to approve the variance as presented; the motion was seconded and the board voted to approve the item 3-0. The approval incorporates staff's three stipulations, including the requirement that stormwater routing be addressed by the city engineer before land disturbance and that ADA compliance be vetted by the fire marshal before issuing a building permit.

The board then approved previous meeting minutes and adjourned at 10:12 a.m. The next procedural steps on the pavilion project are the applicant’s coordination with the city engineer and subsequent building-permit review and issuance, subject to the stated conditions.

Note on transcript inconsistencies: multiple segments in the meeting transcript attribute brief utterances to different speaker numbers in a manner that appears inconsistent with who introduced themselves earlier; the article attributes quotes only to speakers explicitly named in the transcript (for example, Caitlin Crowe, Taylor Pounds, Ophelia Sierra, and Clark Efa) and treats motions and votes as recorded in the meeting minutes.