A rendering of a home in the proposed Provence Estates subdivision on Wigley Road.
After more than a year of delays, the Cobb Planning Commission Tuesday recommended approval of a Wigley Road rezoning case that would convert hilly, rocky former farm terrain into a single-family subdivision.
The commission vote was 4-1 in favor of an application by Oak Hall Companies for single-family homes on 96 acres on what once was the Wigley family farm. The land abuts the Cherokee County line to the north, and is north of Sweat Mountain, Jamerson Road and Summitop Road.
The planning board initially heard the case in May but placed a 60-day hold on the application, which was once again delayed in July.
The developer wanted to build 95 homes for a community to be called Provence Estates, but the commissioners recommended 91 instead. Parks Huff, an attorney for Oak Hall, noted the rarity of a proposal for single-family homes that is around one to an acre.
Since the planning board recommended the R-30 OSC category, roughly half the tract would be placed in a conservation easement.
The land is from the estate of Audra Mae Wigley and was part of the Wigley Farm in Northeast Cobb. Initially, the Oak Hall application was for 55 acres, but both pieces of the former farm property were put together in a single request earlier this year.
Some neighbors were opposed for traffic as well as for stormwater runoff issues, and it was a factor outgoing planning commissioner Thea Powell cited for her vote against the request.
The Cobb Board of Commissioners will have the final say on the rezoning request on Aug. 21.
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Press release from the Cobb County School District:
The National PTA organization recently named three Cobb schools as Schools of Excellence for 2018-2020: Davis Elementary School, King Springs Elementary School, and Dodgen Middle School.
The three Cobb schools were among only 278 schools nationwide to achieve the recognition for helping to empower parents to support student success. Cobb’s PTA Schools of Excellence accounted for almost 18 percent of the Georgia schools on the list.
According Davis Elementary PTA Co-President, Melissa Monroe, the award is a direct reflection of the hard work done by their community to help make Davis Elementary such a special place.
“This award recognizes the efforts of all our many volunteers and families who work together to help strengthen relationships at our school. Davis PTA hopes to continue building an environment where all families feel welcomed and empowered. The success of our students is our number one priority, and PTA is thrilled to have such a strong relationship with the school,” Monroe said.
The President of the National PTA, Jim Accomando, reinforced Monroe’s thoughts in his own statement, “Research shows that when families and schools work together, students do better in school and schools improve. Davis Elementary, King Springs Elementary and Dodgen Middle and their PTA and PTSA programs have worked hard to strengthen their family-school partnership and create an environment where all families feel welcomed and empowered to support student success. We are pleased to recognize them as National PTA Schools of Excellence.”
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The Rose and Crown Tavern is the only existing business on “Restaurant Row” on Powers Ferry Road. (East Cobb News photos by Wendy Parker)
A rezoning to allow a Powers Ferry Restaurant Row project that would raze mostly empty commercial property was recommended for approval Tuesday by the Cobb Planning Commission.
The board voted 4-1 to recommend a request by Powers Ferry Road Investors, LLC, to rezone 8.8 acres to regional retail commercial (RRC) from the current general commercial (GC) category.
Most of the land includes vacant restaurant space, with the exception of the Rose and Crown Tavern at 1931 Powers Ferry Road. The rezoning plans call for that restaurant to be part of the multi-use complex, which would include 290 apartments and 181 senior living units.
Rose and Crown would be expanded from 4,400 square feet to 6,000 square feet in a 10,000-square-foot restaurant/retail building.
“It stays and it gets better,” said Marietta zoning attorney James Balli, who represents the applicant.
The land along Powers Ferry sits between Windy Hill Road and Windy Ridge Parkway and is next to the Wildwood Office Park.
Window signage for the long-departed Famous Dave’s restaurant remains.
Three other free-standing buildings have been empty for years, and once housed the Sal Grosso, TGI Friday’s and Famous Dave’s restaurants.
Balli told the planning board that under the current GC category, the land could be used for adult entertainment businesses, nightclubs, tattoo parlors and even a homeless shelter.
While some nearby residents support redeveloping the property, they objected to the parking density and were upset that no crash data information was provided in the application.
The developer is calling for 711 total parking spaces for the development, far less than the minimum of 783 required by the county code.
Balli said that by comparison, the adjoining Horizons at Wildwood, an 18-story condominium complex, has 442 spaces for 273 units.
Eric Meadows, who lives in the Horizons, said his building has 454 parking spaces (two under code), for a ratio of 1.82, and calculated that the Restaurant Row parking density would come to 1.38 spaces per each apartment unit and 1.08 for the senior building.
The Horizons at Wildwood condos overlook Restaurant Row.
“That’s unacceptable,” Meadows said. “I do not believe it’s a suitable solution.”
He also objected to the front and rear setbacks being reduced from the minimum 50 feet to 15 feet, saying there’s nothing else like that around Wildwood.
Meadows also said Horizons residents and their pets have come close to being hit by cars while walking along Windy Ridge Parkway.
Planning commissioner Andy Smith of East Cobb, who represents District 2, supported the application and requested that a stipulation be included for crash data figures to be prepared when the Cobb Board of Commissioners takes up the request Aug. 21.
“This is head and shoulders above anything I’ve seen for this proposed site,” Smith said.
The only opposing vote came from Thea Powell of East Cobb, and it was her final vote. She said she was being replaced by commission chairman Mike Boyce for publicly opposing his property tax increase.
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The Sprayberry Yellow Jackets will start another season of high school sports as East Cobb softball teams swing into action this week.
The Yellow Jackets are playing at home tonight at 7 against Sequoyah, following a JV game between the two schools at 5:30 p.m.
Clay Ardeeser, new Sprayberry softball coach
Sprayberry is coming off a 10-15 season in 2017 and will have a new coach. He is Clay Ardeeser, a former baseball assistant coach at North Springs High School, and his appointment was announced July 22.
After several away games over the next week, Sprayberry returns home Aug. 14 to play Osborne.
On Wednesday, the Pope Greyhounds also open their season at home at Harrison at 5:30 p.m.
Pope, a longtime state powerhouse, is coming off a 30-6 record, which was its best winning percentage for a season in school history, and earned a trip to the Class 6-A finals in Columbus. But the Greyhounds lost several standout players to graduation.
They do have four players who were named to the 7-AAAAAA All-Region team: third baseman Zoe Laneaux, pitchers Hallie Adams and Trinity Pizzutti and shortstop Gracie Kittrell.
Laneaux and Adams were both named 1st team All-State in 2017 by the Georgia Athletic Coaches Association and Adams was named Cobb County Pitcher of the Year.
This is the 12th season for Pope coach Chris Turco, who is 241-125-2.
The other East Cobb teams will either start their seasons or play their home openers next week.
Kell plays at home next Monday against Hiram.
Lassiter is home to Brookwood on Tuesday, Aug. 14, and Walton is home against Norcross the same day.
Wheeler’s home opener is next Wednesday, Aug. 15, against Riverwood.
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In October the Mountain View Arts Alliance will be honoring the memory of Pete Borden, a longtime East Cobb resident who was actively involved in community theater.
The memorial event will take place Oct. 10 from 7-9 p.m. at The Art Place (3330 Sandy Plains Road), and will include the unveiling of a memorial stone hand crafted by local artist Julie Mazzoni.
Borden died in March at the age of 81 from lung cancer.
Born in Texas and a U.S. Marine Corps veteran, Borden was a brick mason by profession and active in Cobb theater organizations, including The Art Place, as a playwright, director and actor. He also was a member of the Catholic Church of St. Ann in East Cobb.
Borden also wrote a regular column for many years in The Marietta Daily Journal and advocated for local arts and theater organizations in that space.
Shortly after his death, the MDJ reprinted one of Borden’s columns from 2012, as he recalled an early 1990s flap on the Cobb Board of Commissioners over arts funding and an anti-gay resolution that cost Cobb County its official 1996 Olympics participation.
In a message on its Facebook page about the memorial event, the MVAA said:
If you would like to perform a scene or song or skit or even a roast tributing Pete, please advise and we will put together a program.
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Cobb Planning Commissioner Thea Powell, who said she was being replaced by Cobb Commission Chairman Mike Boyce, offered some remarks Tuesday morning before her last meeting.
An East Cobb resident who also served twice on the Cobb Board of Commissioners, said she received a letter from Boyce on July 26 notifying her of her termination, effective at the end of August.
She said Boyce had never expressed to her any disagreements about her votes on zoning issues, and said no reason was given for her firing. Powell noted that the letter came not long after she spoke out as a citizen against his proposed property tax increase.
In her comments, Powell made references to freedom of speech, saying that “no government should have the arrogance to believe that it alone knows what is in the best interest of its citizens.”
She thanked her colleagues on the five-member Planning Commission, who are appointed by county commissioners, and urged them “to continue to listen to all who come before” them.
She also thanked the county zoning staff and citizens and said “you have and will continue to make a difference.”
At the last public hearing before the budget was adopted, on Aug. 17, Powell referred to budget presentation information supporting a tax increase “a dog’s breakfast.”
She said that in spite of a 1.7-mills increase in the general fund that Boyce had sought in a record tax digest year, the county was spending more money than it had, and feared there may a repeat of the same situation next year.
Powell has a long history of public and civic service in Cobb County, starting with the East Cobb Civic Association. She served as a commissioner from Northeast Cobb’s District 3 from 1988-91 and also on an interim basis in the same post in 2010 when Tim Lee resigned to run for chairman.
Powell served on the Cobb Development Authority after being appointed by East Cobb Commissioner Bob Ott. In 2011, he tried having her appointed to the Cobb Citizens’ Oversight Committee.
At the time, there was speculation that she might run against Lee in 2012 (she did not), and her nomination was thwarted by the commissioners. Ott later hired her as his full-time staff assistant.
Powell also was appointed by Cobb Board of Education member David Chastain to serve on the school district’s Facilities and Technology advisory board. In 2016, she was a campaign adviser to Boyce in 2016, when he upended Lee.
After he took office, Boyce appointed her to the planning commission. Powell said Tuesday she looks forward to “having the opportunity to use my freedom of speech unencumbered.”
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The event is Aug. 19 from 3-5 p.m. at the offices of Georgia Veterinary Rehabilitation & Pain Management. 230 Johnson Ferry Place, Suite J-70. Books will be available for purchase, and refreshments will be served.
The book tells the story of the bond between Chancer, a Golden Retriever service dog, and her Russian-born adopted son, who had been diagnosed with fetal alcohol syndrome. The story gained national attention thanks to a 2012 story in The New York Times Magazine by acclaimed Atlanta author Melissa Fay Greene.
Now Winokur, author of two previous children’s books, has expanded and updated the story. The East Cobb event will include a demonstration with Quinn, Iyal Winokur’s current certified service dog.
Writes Winokur in her book:
“While our life remains more chaotic than not, we continue to land on our blistered feet, drag each other out of the quicksand, beg for forgiveness as we wander out of the doghouse, and dig for the humor beneath our grief. So our family, four-pawed members included, continues to bound forward celebrating our canine connection and sharing hope with all who need healing.”
More about the story of Chancer and the book can be found here, as well as Winokur’s previous works.
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A couple of community-oriented events are coming up with Cobb Police this week, starting with National Night Out from 5-9 Tuesday at Jim Miller Park (2245 Callaway Road, Marietta). Here’s what will be going on:
“This event is part of the continued effort to build and strengthen public safety personnel’s relationships with the community they serve. Admission is free and everyone is invited to enjoy an evening of food, fun and entertainment. There will be public safety demonstrations, 15 giant inflatable and water activities for children, food trucks and live music. The School of Rock will perform on the main stage all evening. Also, there will be balloon artists, face painters, jugglers and magicians.
“National Night Out is an annual community-building campaign that promotes camaraderie to ensure our neighborhoods are safer, more caring places to live. National Night Out enhances the relationship between neighbors and law enforcement while bringing back a true sense of community. It also provides a great opportunity to bring police and neighbors together under positive circumstances.”
On Wednesday, the Cobb Police Coffee With a Cop sessions resume in East Cobb. This is a chance to meet with police officers and ask crime and public safety questions. That session will be from 6-8 p.m. at Zaxby’s at 2981 Delk Road.
Another session takes place Aug. 17 from 10 a.m.-12 p.m. at Sterling Estates East Cobb (4220 Lower Roswell Road).
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A rendering of a proposed six-story, 290-unit apartment building that would occupy long-vacant restaurant space on Powers Ferry Road.
Here’s an update to the Powers Ferry Restaurant Row project proposal we posted about on Friday, which are plans to redevelop 8.8 acres of mostly empty eatery space for a very dense, mostly rental residential complex with some retail, and that’s getting an initial hearing Tuesday before the Cobb Planning Commission:
Powers Ferry Road Investors, LLC, the developer, has provided revised and conceptual landscaping plans and its attorney, James Balli, has filed a stipulation letter (you can read the whole thing here) that would increase the proposed parking from 510 spaces to 711 spaces.
The parking situation was among the concerns expressed by the Cobb Zoning Office analysis, which recommends approval of the nearly 500,000-square foot mixed-use project to regional retail commercial (RRC).
The 471 apartment units (290 multi-family, 181 senior active adult living) are still proposed, with the former (see rendering at top) taking up six stories, and the latter (see below) encompassing a five-story building.
The 10,000 square feet of mostly restaurant and retail space is still proposed for the center of the property, and would include the expansion of the current Rose and Crown Tavern from 4,400 to 6,000 square feet.
Most of the apartments will be studio, or one-bedroom units, and some will have two bedrooms.
The proposed 181-unit senior living building adjacent to the Sage Woodfire Tavern on Powers Ferry Road.
The Powers Ferry Corridor Alliance, a civic group, has filed a response to the proposal, and has expressed concern over a growing and overwhelming trend in the area toward rental housing.
While eager for “Restaurant Row” redevelopment, the group suggested a moratorium for more apartment construction: “Is there REALLY no market at all for owner-occupied units in a truly mixed-use development that could go on this site?”
The citizens group noted the development would be located next to a premium condominium high-rise complex on Powers Ferry.
The PFCA was strongly in support of the MarketPlace Terrell Mill project approved earlier this year that includes 298 apartments. But the group has estimated that since 2015, a total of 1,152 apartment units have been approved for the corridor, as opposed to only 155 owner-occupied dwellings.
If the Restaurant Row project is approved as presented, that would add up to 1,623 rental units, a ratio of 10.43 multi-family units to one owner-occupied unit.
A conceptual landscaping plan filed by the developer and that was submitted on Thursday.
The PFCA also wants to see the development reconfigured to include more retail, since more than half of the proposed space for that part of the project would be taken up by Rose and Crown, an existing business.
The civic group also has made numerous landscaping, parking, lighting and walkability suggestions: “The residents of each building should not have to exit from the parking lot or parking garage to go to the restaurant or out to the street at Powers Ferry Road. There should be attractively lit and maintained footpaths going from the buildings to the sidewalk on Powers Ferry Road.”
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A record total of 694 people took part Saturday morning in the 13th East Cobb Rotary Club Dog Days Run, which started and ended at the East Cobb-McCleskey Family YMCA.
The 5K event took place along East Piedmont Road and Sewell Mill Road before winding back along Roswell Road to the YMCA. The proceeds will benefit a number of East Cobb charities, including School Mates Literacy Project, Canine Assistance, Aids Awareness, The Center for Family Resources, Cobb County Public Safety and Kids2Leaders Inc.
Runners were cooled off by the Cobb Fire Department as they made the final turn back into the YMCA.
Post-race refreshments included bottled water, donuts and plenty of bananas. Local businesses, including Honest-1 Auto Care, Tuxedo Pest Control, Cheek Dental, Dentistry of East Piedmont, Fitness Together East Cobb, Big Peach Running Co., MDE School, Dermatology Consultants and The Solana East Cobb had information booths.
Also on hand were members of East Cobb Robotics, who later shot small rubber balls into the souvenir-seeking crowds.
Blooper, the Atlanta Braves mascot, also turned out for the festivities.
Some of the top winners. Medals were awarded across all age groups, ranging from under 10 to the 80s. There even was a woman runner who is 99 years old.
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The following East Cobb restaurant scores from July 5-Aug. 3 have been compiled by the Cobb & Douglas Department of Public Health. Click the link below each listing to view details of the inspection.
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As we’re typing these words, the sun has come out! It’s expected to stay out, at least partially, as this weekend’s sports-heavy lineup leads off Saturday with the 13 annual East Cobb Rotary Dog Days Run.
It gets underway at 7:30 a.m. at the East Cobb-McCleskey Family YMCA (1055 E. Piedmont Road). Race-day registration is $30, and the proceeds benefit a number of East Cobb charities, including School Mates Literacy Project, Canine Assistance, Aids Awareness, The Center for Family Resources, Cobb County Public Safety and Kids2Leaders Inc.
At the same time, the Lutzie 43 Foundation Road Race is taking place at Lutzie Field at Lassiter High School (2601 Shallowford Road), with proceeds going to the non-profit set up in the memory of Phil Lutzenkirchen, the former Trojans football star. It helps teach young people leadership skills and how to make good decisions. There’s a 1-mile fun run for kids in addition to the 5K. Race-day registration is $30 for students and $43 for adults.
Not far away, another school community is celebrating its upcoming football season. The Pope Football Pancake Breakfast goes from 9-11 in the cafeteria at the school (3001 Hembree Road), and is a Pope Touchdown Club fundraiser. For $11 a person or $26 a family (players eat free!), you’ll get pancakes, sausage, bagels, fruit and juices; stick around for the team picture day to follow.
The Wasted Potential Brass Band returns to The Art Place Saturday.
Saturday also is Sandy Plains Softball Fun Day from 11-1 at Field 1 at Sandy Plains Park (2977 Gordy Parkway), and it includes walk-up registration for the fall season.
On Saturday evening, bring your blankets and lawn chairs to The Art Place (3320 Sandy Plains Road) and enjoy the sounds of the Wasted Potential Brass Band. The popular Atlanta group is appearing as part of the Mountain View Arts Alliance’s Summer Stars Concert Series. Concessions are in exchange for a donation to MVAA, or you can bring your own food (but no alcohol is allowed).
More prep football on Sunday takes place 2-4. It’s Walton Raider Day at the Raider Valley stadium (1590 Bill Murdock Road). Admission is free, and the jamboree-style event includes kids games, a coaches dunk tank, face-painting, trampoline-jumping and a meet-and-greet with all the Raiders teams. Wear your Walton Spirit gear, since there will be drone group photo taken during the day.
Also on Sunday, the Good Mews Cat Shelter (3805 Robinson Road) is having another microchip and vaccination clinic from 10-3. Additional services include nail clippings, and appointments are encouraged but not required. Dogs are welcome too, and all pets must be in a carrier or on a leash when they arrive.
Did we miss anything? Do you have a calendar item you’d like to share with the community? Send it to us, and we’ll spread the word! E-mail: calendar@eastcobbnews.com, and you can include a photo or flyer if you like.
Whatever you’re doing this weekend, make it a great one! Enjoy!
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Plans call to demolish four restaurant buildings on Powers Ferry Road for a nearly 500,000 square-foot, mostly residential complex near Wildwood Office Park, in upper right. (From Cobb Zoning Office case file.)
A proposed Powers Ferry Road development that would include nearly 500 residential units and restaurant and retail space comes before the Cobb Planning Commission Tuesday.
The rezoning request by Powers Ferry Road Investors, LLC, would raze a string of vacant restaurants and build 291 apartment units and 181 upscale senior active dwellings in between a 10,000-foot restaurant building, according to a filing with the Cobb Zoning Office (agenda packet item here).
The project would include three buildings totaling 438,555 feet near the Wildwood Office Park.
The 8.8 acres along Powers Ferry between Windy Hill Road and Windy Ridge Parkway currently houses only one active business, the Rose & Crown Tavern, which will remain and be “enlarged” in the new development, according to a zoning impact statement included in the case file.
Surrounding it are empty restaurant spaces that were once Sal Grosso, Famous Dave’s and TGI Friday’s. The Sage Woodfire Tavern location that opened last fall in the former Houston’s space on the corner of Powers Ferry and Windy Ridge Parkway is not part of the development.
The site plan calls for a senior living complex on the left, with a large apartment building at the right. The office/retail/restaurant space is slated for the center building. (From Cobb Zoning Office case file.)
(Earlier this week, Sage Woodfire Tavern filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, but no announcements have been made on possible restaurant closings.)
The Cobb Zoning staff is recommending approval of the request to rezone the land with conditions from general commercial (GC) to regional retail commercial (RRC), which is recommended for large developments of 500,000 square feet or more.
The future land use plan calls for regional activity center (RAC).
The developer has included three variance requests that would reduce the front and a side setback from the minimum 50 to 15 feet, and reduce a recommendation of 859 parking spaces to 510.
The Cobb Zoning Staff analysis said while the requested zoning category is compatible with the area, the six-story heights are taller than nearby buildings. The staff also does “not support the reduction of the required parking spaces.”
The cases are the latest major redevelopment projects slated for the Powers Ferry corridor since the opening of SunTrust PArk, and follow the MarketPlace Terrell Mill rezoning approved earlier this year.
The meeting begins at 9 a.m. Tuesday in the second floor board room of the Cobb government building, 100 Cherokee St., in downtown Marietta.
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Twenty years after first opening an independent bookstore in East Cobb, the owners of the Bookmiser Roswell store are closing it.
Owners Jim and Annell Gerson announced Tuesday that they’re closing the store at 4651 Sandy Plains Road by the end of September, and that a liquidation sale has begun for everything, including books, books on CD, fixtures and accessories.
Most items will be an additional 20 percent off during the liquidation. A specific closing date hasn’t been announced.
Their other Bookmiser store, at 3822 Roswell Road, at the intersection of Robinson Road East, is remaining open.
No more trades will be accepted at the Roswell store, which will keep its usual store hours as it prepares to close: Sunday 12-5; Mon-Fri 10-7; Sat 10-6.
Here’s more in a message sent out last night to Bookmiser customers:
Thank you all for making the Roswell location one of longest running bookstore locations in the state of Georgia.
Discounting of our inventory at the Roswell location will begin immediately, so please stop by for the extra savings. Early bird gets the worm, so stop by soon and often to take advantage of our discounts. Trade credit will still apply on any used merchandise purchased at either location.
The liquidation process does not lend itself to placing books “on hold” or searching for specific titles, so come on by and enjoy the search.
We hope all our Roswell customers will frequent our East Cobb store in the future. We will continue our off-site author events, and book clubs will meet at our East Cobb location.
Bookmiser opened in 1998, as retail brick-and-mortar book chains began faltering. The Borders location at The Avenue East Cobb closed in 2011 as the chain was liquidated. There also was a Bookstar store (part of Barnes & Noble) at the Providence Square Shopping Center in the 1990s.
Other indie book stores have come into East Cobb since then: Book Exchange on Canton Road, Once and Again Books on Shallowford Road and a Book Nook at 1547 Roswell Road.
They also have a buying and trading program, as does Half Price Books, a national chain that opened in East Cobb at Woodlawn Square on Johnson Ferry Road in 2016.
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The start of the school year is a soggy one, and the rest of the week will be wet as well. Cobb is one of many counties in north and central Georgia under a flash flood watch until 8 a.m. Friday.
The National Weather Service in Atlanta is predicting that Cobb could get between and inch to an inch and a half of rain until then.
Under a flash flood watch, conditions exist that could lead to flash flooding of lakes, streams, creeks and rivers and could cause hazardous driving situations on roads.
The forecast for Cobb calls for cooler temperatures but high humidity over the next few days. Today’s high is expected around 80, with a low of around 70, and a 100 percent chance of rain and thunderstorms.
For Thursday, similar conditions are expected, with the rain expected to taper off to a 60 percent chance by the evening.
Friday also calls for a 60 percent chance of rain with highs in the low 80s and lows in the low 70s. Likewise for Saturday, with the chance of rain forecast to dwindle to a 20 percent chance of thunderstorms.
The rainy weather is expected to continue into early next week.
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Thanks to the Cobb County School District’s communications office for the photos from today’s ride-along for Nicholson Elementary students who aren’t as familiar with that “back to school” feeling as those in the higher grades.
That’s because they’re kindergarteners and first-graders getting ready for the first day of classes on Wednesday as the 2018-19 school year begins.
They got up early with their parents to ride the school bus, and were greated by teachers and staff. They also got greetings and special messages from the CCSD transportation staff on how to be safe riders on the buses.
The Chick-fil-A cow, the CCSD’s transportation mascot Hawkeye (in the background below) and Kell High School students took part in the ride-along festivities at Nicholson, and they were repeated at other schools in the district.
Nicholson is one of seven East Cobb schools to have new principals this year. Faith Harmeyer comes over from Mt. Bethel Elementary School, where she had been an assistant principal.
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East Cobb Middle School students and staff join Superintendent Chris Ragsdale (third from right) and Principal Leetonia Young (second from right) to cut the ribbon Tuesday morning. (East Cobb News photo by Wendy Parker)
The doors opened to new campuses for Brumby Elementary and East Cobb Middle School Tuesday morning, as two overcrowded school grounds more than 50 years old gave way to twin facilities on Terrell Mill Road.
The day before a new school year began, staff and teachers at the East Cobb’s oldest schools rejoiced in a day they have been hoping would come about for many years.
Back-to-back ribbon-cutting festivities, followed by open house tours, doubled the excitement for both school communities.
“This community deserves this,” East Cobb MS principal Dr. Leetonia Young said to rousing cheers, referring to the two-story building as a “resort.”
Instead of five aging buildings bunched in on Holt Road, its home since it opened in 1963, East Cobb MS is just one building, and can handle an enrollment of 1,300 students.
“Compared to where you came from, this is a resort,” echoed Cobb schools Superintendent. Like young and other dignitaries who spoke at the festivities, he thanked Cobb voters for approving the Cobb Ed-SPLOST sales tax that financed construction of both new schools to a combined tune of more than $53 million.
An East Cobb Middle School student looks at class lists posted on the wall. (CCSD photo)
Brumby Elementary, which opened in a single round building on Powers Ferry Road in 1966, was massively overcrowded even with additional buildings and 17 portable classrooms.
Not only was that unsafe for students and teachers, but it also posed traffic dangers for carpooling parents and bus queues that lined up on busy Powers Ferry Road.
A Brumby student who can attest to those conditions is rising fifth-grader Vincent Carter, a member of the school’s Boy Scout color guard.
He said it was “a really looooong walk” to leave class and go to the bathroom at the old school, and not fun at all in the rain.
He’ll get to enjoy his new school for only a year, but a year from now will start sixth grade next door at the new East Cobb Middle School.
Dr. Amanda Richie, the Brumby principal, got emotional discussing the evolution of the new school, which was about five years in the making. She also credited her faculty and staff that she said stuck together during some adverse times, trying to make do with an outdated campus.
“We’re a family, we’re the Brumby family,” she said. Because it’s a special group, she added, the new building will be “not just a school house, but a school home.
“I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.”
Principal Amanda Richie (in black dress) said the Brumby ES family will help make the new campus “not just a school house but a school home.” (East Cobb News photo by Wendy Parker)
Members of the family whose land made the new schools possible also were in attendance. Six generations of the Hill family lived and farmed on 40 acres on Terrell Mill Road, even after it was subdivided to descendants.
The land was sold to the Cobb County School District for just under $10 million in 2014, and construction got underway in the fall of 2016.
Ed Graham, the grandson of Dorsey and Sarah Hill, attended Brumby its first two years, and brought along the jersey he wore as a member of the first Brumby Bobcats football team.
While the land featured cows, pigs, some chickens and vegetables, to him and his siblings and his cousins, “it was a 40-acre playground.”
His cousin, Tracy Luttrell Bennett, recalled childhood memories that included pea-shelling, corn-shucking, selling vegetables to passers-by, homemade ice cream every Father’s Day, Easter egg hunts and sales of pumpkins and Christmas trees during the holidays.
Ed Graham, who grew up on farmland that is now the schools’ sites, holds up the jersey he wore as member of the Brumby Bobcats. (CCSD photo)
“It’s a great honor to see these schools here today,” she said, encouraging the students to “work together, work hard, stay strong in the good times and the tough times, value your community and value your education.”
Cobb Board of Education member Scott Sweeney, who represents the Brumby and ECMS attendance zones, said that with their expanded capacity, the schools will be better able to serve as community centers.
While both schools have educational challenges—students come from cultural backgrounds that include a total of 40 languages and their enrollments have many transitory families—the extra elbow room can start to help make a difference.
Charlene Brisco, who is starting her sixth year as Brumby’s social worker, said she and her counselors have classroom space at the new school they didn’t have before, and that will enable them to conduct small-group meetings with students who need their help.
There’s also a food pantry to help out families in need, with room for a refrigerator that wasn’t available at the old school.
“Now we can expand what we’re doing,” she said.
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The Janice Overbeck Real Estate Team office will partner with Silverton Mortgage to host a free home buyers seminar in August. This FREE community class is open to the public and is an informative session for those looking to purchase their first home or for those who have not purchased in the last few years.
“Since the market has been quickly changing, simple processes and information can be very different today than it was even a few short years ago,” says Nick Seidell, who is an in-house loan officer at the team’s office in Marietta.
This seminar will include a wealth of information, along with free study guides, workbooks, and checklists for each guest.
Two class sessions will be offered and are set for Wednesday, August 8th from 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm and Saturday, August 11th from 11:00 am – 1:00 pm. Food will be served, so please call (404) 585-8881 to RSVP. Location: 2249 Roswell Rd. Marietta, GA 30062.
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At the 2017 East Cobb Pigskin Preview, head coaches, L-R: Tab Griffin (Pope); Brett Sloan (Kell); Daniel Brunner (Walton); Brett Vavra (Sprayberry); Mike Collins (Wheeler); and Jep Irwin (Lassiter). They’re all back for 2018.
With August only a day away, local business groups are revving into back-to-school mode, including the East Cobb Area Council of the Cobb Chamber of Commerce. Its annual East Cobb Pigskin Preview breakfast is next week.
It’s on Thursday, Aug. 9 from 7:30-9 a.m. at Indian Hills Country Club (4001 Clubland Drive), and you can get registration information here. While last season was full of change, as four of the six public high schools in East Cobb had new coaches, for 2018 they will all be back.
The coaches will be answering questions and will bring some of their top players with them as pre-season practice is getting underway.
The highlight of the year was Walton reaching the second round of the state playoffs under Daniel Brunner, who was one of the rookie coaches.
On Thursday, the Sandy Springs-Cobb MeetUp networking group has its monthly breakfast from 9-10:30 a.m. at Egg Harbor Cafe (4719 Lower Roswell Road). Small business owners will meet to share trips and help find referrals in an open group setting. The group also meets for lunch the third Thursday at Tijuana Joe’s (690 Johnson Ferry Road).
The East Cobb Business Association is holding its next Lunch and Learn Session Aug. 7 at the Sewell Mill Library, with the program subject being identity theft protection strategies. The ECBA monthly luncheon guests on Aug. 21 at Olde Towne Athletic Club are Atlanta Braves marketing and partnership executives.
The ECBA’s East Cobb Open Networking breakfast is every Friday from 7:30-8:30 a.m. at Egg Harbor, and it’s drop-in event.
The NCBA’s Five Alive business after hours event on Aug. 30 goes from 5:30-7:30 p.m. at the Fidelity Bank Canton Road branch (830 Old Piedmont Road) and also is themed for the upcoming football season.
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The last of the test runs for Cobb school buses take place Tuesday as another school year begins on Wednesday.
Here’s more about the Cobb County School District’s transportation services in this podcast with CCSD Executive Director of Transportation Rick Grisham and Associate Director John Lyles. The district has a bus route information page, and also has more information about stop arm laws and student safety.
Also Tuesday: Ribbon-cuttings will be held for the new Brumby Elementary and East Cobb Middle School campuses, which are ready to go after construction was completed this summer.
In addition to CCSD officials and school board members, the invited guests include Congresswoman Karen Handel, State Sen. Kay Kirkpatrick and State Rep. Sharon Cooper.
The ECMS event is from 9-9:30 a.m. at 825 Terrell Mill Road, and the Brumby ribbon-cutting starts at 9:30 a.m. right next door at 815 Terrell Mill Road. Public open houses will follow.
From Cobb County government, here are some road and school bus safety tips for motorists to observe:
These tests will include activating the bus lights and stop arms—be on the lookout!
As Cobb County children head back to school, drivers are reminded to be alert and exercise patience and caution. Impatient, uninformed or apathetic drivers pose a great threat to children waiting at school bus stops. Georgia Department of Education staff recommends these safety practices:
Be on the alert as children walk to and from their school bus stops.
Exercise care and be responsive as children congregate and wait at their bus stops. They may be thinking about getting to school, but may not be thinking of getting there safely.
Be ready to act when you see the yellow flashing lights on the front and the rear of a school bus. This is your warning that a bus stop is about to take place.
Begin to slow down and look for students in the area. NEVER speed up to beat a school bus. You must be focused and exercise caution any time you are in the vicinity of a school bus stop, as student riders can sometimes be impulsive.
Abide by the law when a school bus comes to a full stop and you see the flashing red lights activate and the stop arm deploy. Motorists are required to stop in nearly every instance. The only exceptions to this rule are when highways are separated in the center by a dirt, grass or concrete median or a center turn lane. In these situations, only vehicles following or traveling alongside a school bus in the same direction must stop.
Be attentive after stopping. You must remain stopped until all loading students are aboard in the morning or all unloading students have cleared 12 feet off the roadway in the afternoon. Proceed with caution only after all students have safely cleared the roadway, the stop arm is cancelled and the flashing red lights are deactivated.
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Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
“This award recognizes the efforts of all our many volunteers and families who work together to help strengthen relationships at our school. Davis PTA hopes to continue building an environment where all families feel welcomed and empowered. The success of our students is our number one priority, and PTA is thrilled to have such a strong relationship with the school,” Monroe said.
