Tossed from the saddle: RaceTrac's battle to build a gas station and convenience store at Georgia Civil War cavalry site loses second round at planning commission

Work last month on the McAfee house at its new home in Cherokee County, Ga. (Civil War Picket photo)

Concerns about gas vapors and traffic once again led a suburban Atlanta planning commission to vote against RaceTrac’s effort to build a 24/7 station and convenience store on two acres that until last year contained a home caught up in Civil War cavalry clashes.

The Cobb County Planning Commission voted 3-2 to back rezoning of the property at Bells Ferry Road and Ernest Barrett Parkway, but stipulations would not allow alcohol and fuel sales. The Robert and Eliza McAfee home, built 20 years before the 1864 Atlanta Campaign, had been empty for years.

Nearly 30 people in opposition attended Tuesday’s meeting, arguing the project should not be permitted so close to an elementary school and day-care center.

The final say rests with the county’s top elected body.

“We do intend to move forward to the Board of Commissioners at their May 19th Zoning Hearing and seek approval of the rezoning application,” RaceTrac and property owner attorney Kevin Moore told the Picket in an email shortly after the hearing. (Picket photo, left)

The home -- which briefly served as the headquarters for a Union general and was in the middle of cavalry movements and clashes in summer 1864 – last spring was moved to adjoining Cherokee County after a long effort to save it from destruction. It stood at the corner of Bells Ferry Road and Ernest Barrett Parkway. (At left, a map showing troop positions in June-July 1864; note McAfee House, Library of Congress)

Because the owner of the property never sought historic an historic designation or protection and Cobb County declined to purchase the property, it’s inevitable some kind of commercial development will come to the site. Neighbors suggest medical buildings or businesses that would generate less traffic than a gas station.

Planning Commissioner Fred Beloin cited articles about the risks of vapors, including benzene, a carcinogen. The distance between the RaceTrac property line and Bells Ferry Elementary, across the street, would be less than 200 feet. While the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency suggests 1,000 feet, and some Georgia counties have rules for about a 500 to 600-foot buffer, officials said, Cobb County does not have such requirements.

“It has been pointed out that we don’t have a strict rule but we also don’t have a strict rule that we are supposed to put stick our head in the sand and act like ostriches,” said Beloin.

The McAfee site at left and elementary school across Bells Ferry Road (Picket photo)

Moore said RaceTrac has agreed to add a right-turn lane and raised medians to address worries about increased and unsafe traffic. And, the lawyer argued, RaceTrac has systems that would limit vapors from the 16 pumps and fuel storage areas.

Businesses around the site offer some of the same products RaceTrac would feature, he said, arguing the station is compatible and a benefit for the area.

To deny the property the same level of commercial use as others nearby “is rendering this property the sacrificial buffer for this intersection. That does not comport with the laws and rules of planning and zoning,” Moore told the planning panel.

Site was used in 1864 as cavalry HQ and hospital

The Planning Commission in October recommended rezoning the property, but added conditions that would not allow gasoline sales. (The planning staff had recommended approval of the project.)

The company last November withdrew its rezoning bid. But the Board of Commissioners voted to allow RaceTrac to reapply. RaceTrac’s bid has not changed substantially since that meeting.

The Robert and Eliza McAfee House before its move to Cherokee County (Cobb Landmarks)

Planning commissioner Sara Micheletto on Tuesday urged approval, with several stipulations, but the majority voted to again reject the project. The real estate agent for the property owner had no comment Tuesday.

The McAfee dwelling dated to the 1840s, and the sprawling farm was a fixture in the Noonday Creek area. 

It served a few weeks in June and early July 1864 as the headquarters for Brig. Gen. Kenner Garrard (left) and his three brigades. After the seizure of Big Shanty (Kennesaw) by Federal forces on June 9, Garrard’s cavalry division was posted on the left flank during operations on the Kennesaw Mountain front. 

Federal troopers clashed almost daily near Noonday Creek with Confederates led by Maj. Gen. Joseph Wheeler. The McAfee farm was believed to have been occupied by Confederates, too, during the action around Kennesaw Mountain. The house is said to have been used as a field hospital.

The nonprofit Cobb Landmarks, the Bells Ferry Civic Association -- which opposes the RaceTrac -- and the county’s historic preservation staff all recommend an archaeological survey of the site if the rezoning is ultimately approved.

Work continues at home's new home in Ball Ground

Cobb Landmarks had worked to find someone to move the home, including when a car wash was proposed. 

Although observers were pleased the McAfee House was not destroyed, many decried Cobb County's loss of history with its move to an adjoining county

The sturdy home was cut into six pieces before its move in spring 2025 (Civil War Picket photo)

Cobb Landmarks sold the house for $1 to entrepreneurs Lee and Brittani Lusk, with the main requirement it be moved and restored.

The couple moved the sturdy residence to near their home in Ball Ground and have been working since on its foundation. The couple says they expect the house to either rented as a residence or an Airbnb-style arrangement.

The Civil War Picket visited Ball Ground a couple weeks ago. Retaining walls have been added and a protective material placed around bricks. Work inside has not yet begun as crews work to complete the home's foundation and substructure.

The front of the McAfee home in Ball Ground in April 2026 (Picket photo)