MARIETTA - The Georgia Supreme Court is scheduled Tuesday to hear the case of two northwest Cobb residents who have sued the county and zoning applicants Johnson Ferry Baptist Church and WellStar Health System for their plans to develop a 65-acre tract of land in northwest Cobb.

The plans at the center of the dispute call for rezoning the land in rural northwest Cobb - near the intersection of Cobb Parkway and Awtrey Church Road - to build a satellite church with athletic fields, a small hospital, medical offices and retail shops.

Teresa Stendahl and her son, Timothy Cannon, live in the residential neighborhood that borders one side of the land. The other three sides border property zoned for commercial and light industrial use.

They have challenged the constitutionality of the Cobb Commission's 3-2 decision made on July 17, 2007, that approved a rezoning application for the 934,000-square-foot development.

On Jan. 7, Cobb Superior Court Judge Robert Flournoy III signed a motion in favor of dismissing the suit, which was originally filed in August 2007.

After Flournoy's decision, Stendahl told the Journal, "It is just unbelievable that an individual's property rights are not upheld in Cobb County."

Stendahl lives on an 11-acre tract east of the Cobb Parkway and Awtrey Church Road intersection, immediately south of the impending development.

On Feb. 6, she and Cannon appealed the dismissal to the state's highest court. They are being represented by Kyle Williams of the Atlanta firm of Weissman, Nowack, Curry & Wilco.

Johnson Ferry Baptist Church has been at its location on Johnson Ferry Road in east Cobb for about 25 years and has a sanctuary that seats 1,750 to 1,800 people. The new development would be home to a 400,000-square-foot satellite church.

In addition, WellStar officials have said two medical buildings in the development would occupy a total of 440,000 square feet. The hospital would provide inpatient, outpatient and possibly emergency services to residents of north Cobb, Paulding and Bartow counties.

Marietta attorneys Fred Bentley Jr., Coleen Hosack, John Moore and J. Kevin Moore are representing the defendants in the case.

The case will be heard during the court's 2 p.m. session in Atlanta.

mhoward@mdjonline.com

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