MARIETTA — This week, the Marietta City Council approved a proposed 15-home development on Cobb Parkway to aid homeless Marietta City School students and their families. 

The council voted 7-0 to approve the project, named Emmanuel’s Village, to create a short-term transitional housing solution for local families in need. 

The 1.4-acre property, at 1055 Cobb Parkway North between Elizabeth Street and Canton Road Connector, will include 15 tiny mobile homes, a playground, community garden and pavilion. 

The property is located directly behind and owned by Glory Haus, a faith-based home decor company that acquired the property from the city and will own the proposed development. 

Marietta resident Thatcher Young, who spoke on behalf of Emmanuel’s Village, said the homes will be semi-permanent, either on wheels or a foundation and match the city’s architectural design standards. 

Each home will have a main floor bedroom for adults, a loft with two or more beds for children, as well as a bathroom, kitchen and living room space. 

“We are seeking a home for every student in Marietta,” Young said. 

Young believes the development could help address Marietta’s “major homelessness crisis.” 

“We have about 564 students reported this year unhoused in Marietta,” Young said. “That makes up a little more than 6% of our student population.” 

Young added that, throughout the county, there were a little under 2,000 students unhoused every day. 

“That would be enough students to fill Marietta High School,” Young said. 

Families will be recommended to join the development by school social workers and other staff who serve the students and families daily, he said. 

In addition to housing, families will also receive coaching from a dedicated case manager to connect to community resources, find sustainable employment and learn how to better budget and save money. 

Autumn Sines, executive director of Family Promise of Cobb County, said Family Promise will manage Emmanuel’s Village, alongside another nonprofit. Family Promise is a nonprofit that provides rotational and transitional housing, along with comprehensive case management and other resources for Cobb families with children. 

She said the average stay with Family Promise in 2024 was 155 days. 

“And then…, we have an 84% success rate where our families are finding attainable homes within Marietta or Cobb County,” Sines said. 

The development will also partner with other community organizations like MUST Ministries for additional support. 

Kevin Pounds, MUST’s director of strategic partnerships, told the council the development would be a way to address the issue of homelessness upstream and prevent families from hitting rock bottom. 

Pounds added that homelessness affects people of all ages, not just adults. 

“You already know them. You just don’t know that you know them, because they’re going to school with your kids and your grandkids,” Pounds said. 

Vacant since at least 1997, the property is mostly undeveloped, with only a small concrete foundation remaining. 

The development will share an access point with Glory Haus and use some of the warehouse’s 100 unused parking spaces. 

“We don’t anticipate that many of the families that we’re going to be serving are actually going to have the cars,” Young said. 

He believed many of the families will use public transportation, adding that the nearby Cobb Community Transit bus stop was one reason the location was ideal. 

Water and sewer will be brought up from Cobb Parkway through Glory Haus to serve the area, Young said. 

A circular drive will be installed to allow emergency medical service vehicles like police and fire to access the entire community. 

Young said the applicant planned to create a warm, welcoming and stabilizing place for families. He said they envision having a missionary family living within the community to provide some additional consistency. 

“Trying to learn in today’s environment is super challenging, with all the distractions that surround our children, electronic and otherwise,” Young said. “Not having a place to sleep that is safe and secure, not having a place to bathe or shower before school, not knowing where your next meal is going to come from, all those are extreme barriers to academic success.” 

While there was general support for the applicant’s mission, some residents and council members expressed their concerns regarding the zoning category and seven requested variances. 

The applicant, MFH Investments, requested the property, currently unzoned, be zoned as a planned multifamily residential development. 

MFH Investments is the property owner of Glory Haus. 

Marietta resident Larry Wills said he knew the effects of homelessness in the school district, considering his wife was a retired Marietta school teacher, but felt the proposed project was more “institutional” rather than residential. 

“This is really a stretch of the zoning ordinance,” Wills said. “Approving this many variances, which is even phenomenal for y’all, seems excessive.” 

Councilmember Cheryl Richardson expressed her own surprise that she agreed with Wills. 

Richardson was not physically present Wednesday but listened and chimed into the meeting via phone. 

She said the council was “putting the cart before the horse” and should create the right zoning language for the project before approving it. 

Rusty Roth, planning and zoning development services director, said staff chose that zoning category because it required a detailed plan so the City Council could have a second review later. 

“The main problem is we don’t have a zoning category that addresses tiny houses,” Roth said. “That’s why there’s a need for multiple variances.” 

Councilmember Grif Chalfant said the council should probably create a category for tiny homes, but now was not the time. 

“This is a semi-emergency situation,” Chalfant said. “We can’t wait to start and propose changes to the ordinance to enable us to do that.” 

Councilmember Joseph Goldstein also appeared hesitant to zone the development as residential in a mostly commercial and industrial area. 

He made a motion to add a stipulation “for the purposes of affecting other zoning categories,” which failed 4-3, with Richardson, Goldstein and Councilmember Andre Sims voting for the amendment. 

The second motion to approve the development, with all seven variances, passed unanimously.