The homeowners argued the Goodman project would violate the low-density residential and low-scale retail regulations cited in the county's 10-year-old land-use plan, area marketers and brokers who attended the public meeting tell GlobeSt.com. Goodman is considering appealing the county's decision through a Superior Court lawsuit but has made no decision on that route, sources close to the developer tell GlobeSt.com.

The 112 acres in west Cobb County would have been one of the largest rezoning requests in recent county annals, brokers following the county's zoning activities tell GlobeSt.com. County officials killed the project even after Goodman reduced its residential and retail size by almost 50%, county staffers confirm for GlobeSt.com.

Goodman's initial proposal was for 300,000 sf of retail, 145,600 sf of office, 650 homes, a town square, amphitheater, observatory and 50 acres of green space, as GlobeSt.com previously reported. The development site is on Dallas Highway between Bob Fleming and Old Hamilton roads, 10 miles north of Downtown Atlanta. Whisper of the River would have been directly across from Cousins Properties Inc.'s 205,000-sf, open-air Avenue West Cobb mall.

The county's action followed a similar zoning rejection by the Cobb County Planning Commission two weeks ago, even after the Atlanta Regional Commission and the Georgia Regional Transportation Agency separately endorsed the Goodman enterprise.