The East Cobb Business Association announced Tuesday it’s holding a forum in mid-November on the East Cobb cityhood issue.
The forum will take place on Tuesday, Nov. 12, during the ECBA’s monthly luncheon from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Olde Towne Athletic Club (4950 Olde Towne Parkway).
According to Rosann Hall, who heads the ECBA’s speakers and program committee, the forum will include representatives of the Committee for Cityhood in East Cobb, which supports incorporation, and the East Cobb Alliance, which opposes cityhood.
“Whether we become a city or whether we don’t, this is going to impact us a lot as business owners and as citizens,” ECBA president Jim Harris said at Tuesday’s luncheon.
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The pro-cityhood group held two town hall meetings and spoke at another civic meeting in the spring, after State Rep. Matt Dollar (R-East Cobb) sponsored legislation (read HB 718 here) that, if passed next year, would call for a cityhood referendum, also in 2020.
The cityhood group wants to carve out a portion of unincorporated Cobb, mostly below Sandy Plains Road, and create a city of around 100,000, citing public safety and development reasons.
The proposal has been controversial from the beginning and has generated plenty of skepticism in the community. 
The East Cobb Alliance was formed recently to launch organized opposition, questioning a financial feasibility study conducted for the pro-cityhood forces and what it calls a lack of transparency by those pushing for a city.
In September, an independent group of finance and legal experts reviewed the feasibility study and concluded it was fiscally sound, but recommended any City of East Cobb not start with police services.
(The review group’s summary and full report).
David Birdwell, a leader of the cityhood committee, said the review confirmed that cityhood is financially viable, and that a new city can provide better services without raising property taxes.
The East Cobb Alliance hasn’t formally responded to the independent review report, but it has examined various portions of the feasibility study, including public safety, franchise fees and inter-governmental agreements.
Most recently, the group posted a graphic on its Facebook page of a hungry-looking raptor with the message that “while the Raptor is fictional….the ‘City of East Cobb’ is a government horror that will slowly eat you alive for years.”
The cityhood group has redirected its original website to one with the domain of communityofeastcobb.com that includes much of the same information it has been discussing in recent months:
- East Cobb’s Precinct 4 police staffing of 53 patrol officers that is 24 fewer than has been allocated;
- Claiming property tax rates wouldn’t be higher than they are now in unincorporated Cobb;
- Promising more prompt road repairs;
- And “passing zonings without interference of votes from outside the city.”
Rob Eble, another leader of the cityhood group, said it’s looking to have a town hall tentatively on Nov. 11, but a venue has not been confirmed.
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WE do NOT need another Government. Present one A-OK. Another redundant Government. WE just need to form up and make sure OUR taxes get funded at a higher percentage then present to EAST COBB. East COBB pays a percentage which we get less of percentage of annually. A Cityhood will cause the following additional costs when going independent that will come out after YOU say “YES”…
New Gov. Building, independent fire,police and whatever.Repaving and developement stops at the new City limits and WE pay for our end in new taxes. DO a Country wide survey for your selves. HEY go the other way:: Jacksonville, FLA to Duval County=ONE!!!
One of the more vocal members of the cityhood group, David Womack, has been vocal in supporting the 300 plus high rise apartment complex on Sandy Plains Rd. Is the goal to add high rise apartments on Johnson Ferry next?