Olympia Development Group wants to build an undetermined amount of office space, retail and restaurants on the tract at Dallas Highway and Kennesaw View Road. But opponents from nearby neighborhoods tell county officials the area needs more green space, not more commercial projects.

Commissioners tabled the rezoning request when it first came up in December. The commission previously rejected a comparable rezoning request from another developer at Dallas Highway and West Sandtown Road.

Cobb County, Georgia's third-largest county, has been attracting new development for the last several years, largely because the county is in solid financial condition, according to New York-based Fitch Ratings Service. Fitch last year gave Cobb a AAA rating on the $65 million worth of general-obligation tax anticipation notes and $33.8 million of general obligation refunding bonds the county began selling on Wall Street in March 2003.

Fitch says Cobb, "as part of the vibrant Atlanta metropolitan statistical area, exhibits healthy economic diversification and above-average wealth levels." Cobb's permanent population of 643,830 has grown an estimated 39% from 1990 to 2001, Fitch says.