East Cobb Cityhood Archives

East Cobb residents sound off on cityhood bill at hearing

January 13, 2022 5:24 PMJanuary 12, 2022 6:02 PM by Wendy Parker

East Cobb Cityhood bill hearing — *State Rep. Matt Dollar, sponsor of the East Cobb Cityhood bill, and Mindy Seger, a leader of the opposition East Cobb Alliance.*

A bill that would call for a referendum on creating a City of East Cobb could get a committee vote as early as Thursday after the legislation got its first full hearing Wednesday.

UPDATED: The House Governmental Affairs Committee voted on Thursday to approve the bill, which goes to the full House.

East Cobb residents spoke both in favor and against the cityhood bill before lawmakers on Wednesday (you can watch the hearing by clicking here).

A special panel of the Georgia House Governmental Affairs Committee heard arguments that echoed public debate when East Cobb cityhood first came up in 2019.

The bill is listed on the agenda of the full committee, which meets at 8 a.m. Thursday. You can watch that meeting by clicking here.

Unlike the first campaign for cityhood—which was abandoned by the bill’s supporters after vocal opposition surfaced at town halls—the current effort was conducted last year in virtual format and small gatherings.

At the hearing at the Coverdell Legislative Office Building, proponents of cityhood, including chief sponsor Rep. Matt Dollar, stressed the importance of local government control in Cobb County, whose four district commissioners now serve around 200,000 citizens each.

Opponents made familiar complaints that cityhood would be adding another layer of government and questioned who was behind the campaign, despite newcomers who represented the Committee for East Cobb Cityhood.

“East Cobb, it is a place,” said Dollar, who sponsored the original bill in 2019 and now has the support of Rep. Sharon Cooper, another East Cobb Republican.

“It’s very relative. East Cobb means something different to everyone who’s out there.”

He said cityhood supporters have gathered plenty of feedback from the first campaign to incorporate into their drive to create a city of 55,000 people with public safety, planning and zoning and code enforcement services.

Dollar, who is not seeking re-election this year, said initially he was opposed to the cityhood bill.

“I think it’s a positive thing for a place I’ve called home my entire life,” said Dollar, who added that he’s recently bought a new home in East Cobb.

“It’s our forever home. I’m not leaving.”

What’s changed since 2019?

The political dynamics in Cobb County, for starters.

The Cobb Board of Commissioners now has a Democratic majority after Republicans began dominating in the 1980s.

Pamela Reardon, a realtor who said she opposed the initial cityhood effort, is now on board because of zoning and development issues in Cobb, suggesting that current county elected officials are plotting a high-density future for the Johnson Ferry Road corridor.

“What scares me to death is the direction these commissioners are taking the county,” she said. “They make no bones that their goal is to urbanize our suburbs.”

But other East Cobb residents were just as adamant that they didn’t see a need for a new city.

“What’s in it for me other than more taxes?” said Robert Hanson, a retiree. “Who’s really behind this?”

He suggested Cobb County have a singular government, folding in the six existing cities and “eliminating politicians and bureaucracy.”

Resident Norman Black said “I don’t know of anyone whose opinion was solicited before this bill. It came from out of the blue.”

Mindy Seger, a leader of the East Cobb Alliance, which formed in 2019 to oppose cityhood, reiterated to the subcommittee that creating a city would be creating a new layer of government, and that while there are some new faces on the cityhood committee, “it’s the same song and dance.”

She questioned the late summer 2021 addition of police and fire services to a financial feasibility study, which was released in November and showed an annual revenue surplus of $3 million.

But Seger said the study didn’t include cost estimates for police and fire personnel, equipment and related expenses.

And she questioned the current bill’s governance structure of a weak mayor system—in which city council members would elect one of their own to serve two-year mayoral terms.

That’s a format similar to the Cobb Board of Education, which has been roiled in controversy over the last three years.

“It’s not the best model of governance right now,” she said in response to a question by Rep. Barry Fleming, a Republican from Harlem (near Augusta).

She was countered by State Rep. Ed Setzler, who spoke to the subcommittee in favor of East Cobb Cityhood.

He’s a Republican from West Cobb and is the sponsor of a bill to create a City of Lost Mountain, primarily for zoning and development reasons.

Setzler said that “it’s not more government, it’s representative government.”

He said his constituents in the cities of Acworth and Kennesaw get “40 times the representation” from their city council members as those in his district living in unincorporated Cobb County from a single commissioner.

With a city of East Cobb, he said, citizens would get “20 times the representation that you have now.

“The cityhood movement needs to be seen in the context of quality of life and representative government.”

State Rep. Mary Frances Williams, a Democrat from Marietta who represents part of Northeast Cobb that’s not in the proposed city, asked Setzler about East Cobb’s demographics—which she said were around 75 percent white—in comparison to the rest of the county.

He said he’s supported cityhood across the board, including South Fulton, with a high minority population, and countered that her premise “is wrong to ask. Does this group look the same as a broader group of people?”

She replied that “you haven’t really answered my question but thank you” and said she was curious about “why cityhood is being pursued here.”

Another Democrat on the subcommittee, Rep. Mesha Mainor of Atlanta, said she was familiar with East Cobb after having lived in Sandy Springs.

“East Cobb is its own place,” she said.

Cityhood committee members who spoke Wednesday said that’s why they’re getting involved now, after not doing so or being unaware of the issue three years ago.

“A lot of times it seems our representatives are out of touch,” said Cindy Cooperman, the group’s communications leader. “I’m not getting the engagement or representation I’m looking for.”

Another newcomer to the cityhood campaign, Sarah Haas, said she’s taking part now to help preserve “the character of East Cobb,” particularly regarding development and redevelopment.

“How do we have local control and a local voice?” said Craig Chapin, the group’s president. “This isn’t secession from Cobb County.

“Folks who live in the community should be making the decisions that are the most relevant to our community.”

East Cobb cityhood bill to get first legislative hearing

January 12, 2022 6:14 PMJanuary 11, 2022 5:52 PM by Wendy Parker

Revised East Cobb city map — *The proposed city of East Cobb boundaries, as revised in August 2021. For a larger view, **click here**.*

The first hearing for the East Cobb Cityhood bill will take place Wednesday in a Georgia House subcommittee.

UPDATED: East Cobb residents sound off on cityhood bill at hearing.

A special subcommittee of the House Governmental Affairs will hear HB 841 at 1 p.m. in Room 406 of the Coverdell Legislative Office Building (18 Capitol Square, SW, Atlanta).

It’s a hybrid hearing that also will be live-streamed at this link; the meeting is for hearing purposes only, and will deal only with the East Cobb legislation, according to the agenda item.

The bill, HB 841, was filed at the end of the 2021 legislative session by two East Cobb Republican House members, Matt Dollar and Sharon Cooper.

Under state law, cityhood bills must be considered over two years in the same legislative cycle, meaning they are introduced in the first year and considered in the second year.

The hearing by the special subcommittee is the first step in that process; the bill would eventually have to be voted out of the Governmental Affairs Committee to reach the full house floor. The Senate also would act along similar lines if the bill is approved in the House and then “crosses over.”

The full legislature must vote to approve the bill, which calls for an incorporation referendum in November 2022 to be decided by voters in the proposed city boundaries.

The Committee for East Cobb Cityhood hasn’t publicized the subcommittee hearing, but a group opposed to cityhood, the East Cobb Alliance, sent out an e-mail alert Tuesday afternoon urging those interested in speaking against the bill to show up in person.

“You do not need any long-winded speech to oppose,” the e-mail read. “You can just appear, sit down, and say ‘I oppose this legislation as I oppose a new city being jammed down my throat by a handful of people who keep pushing their agenda to add government to my life!’

“Or, say whatever you want in your words.”

This is the second East Cobb cityhood bill filed since 2019, when Dollar first submitted legislation that was later abandoned by its initial supporters.

Community opposition included local and state lawmakers, among them State Sen. Kay Kirkpatrick, who would need to sponsor the current bill. State law requires cityhood bills to have local sponsors in both chambers.

Cooper didn’t support the first bill but appeared with Dollar on a cityhood virtual town hall last year.

Current supporters said their reasons for backing cityhood now is to preserve the suburban feel of the community, with planning and zoning and code enforcement among the proposed services.

After a financial feasibility study was released in November, the cityhood group said it was adding police and fire services, which had been part of the initial cityhood campaign.

However, any services ultimately would be decided by the city council, should a cityhood referendum pass. State law mandates a minimum of three services for new cities.

The proposed charter that’s included in HB 841 also calls for a different governing structure, with six city council members coming from three districts (two members from each district), and with the council then selecting a mayor.

The current bill includes much smaller boundaries than the 2019 legislation, with around 55,000 in a city centered along the Johnson Ferry Road corridor.

The special subcommittee conducting Wednesday’s hearing includes State Rep. Mary Frances Williams, a Democrat from Marietta whose District 37 includes some of Northeast Cobb, but not the proposed East Cobb city area.

Three other cityhood bills in Cobb—for Lost Mountain, Vinings and Mableton—will undergo a similar process—but no committee hearings have been immediately assigned.

Reapportionment, cityhood top Cobb 2022 legislative agenda

January 10, 2022 3:37 PMJanuary 10, 2022 10:34 AM by Wendy Parker

The 2022 session of the Georgia General Assembly began on Monday, with local reapportionment and cityhood bills of particular interest for the the Cobb delegation.

*Outgoing State Rep. Matt Dollar is sponsoring the East Cobb cityhood bill, along with State Rep. Sharon Cooper.*

The proposed City of East Cobb is one of four cityhood bills that have been introduced by Cobb lawmakers, along with Vinings, Lost Mountain and Mableton.

The Cobb delegation also will redraw lines for the four district seats on the Cobb Board of Commissioners and all seven posts on the Cobb Board of Education.

The initial East Cobb cityhood bill introduced in 2019 was abandoned by a committee pushing for incorporation after opposition surfaced from the community and Cobb elected officials.

State Rep. Matt Dollar has the support of State Rep. Sharon Cooper as a co-sponsor for the current bill, but it also will need the sponsorship of State. Sen. Kay Kirkpatrick.

She has not commented publicly on the bill; in 2019 she said she could not support it because of negative feedback from citizens.

In 2021 the Committee for East Cobb Cityhood held several virtual meetings and said it will be continuing to meet with individual civic groups as the legislative session continues.

The city would have a population of 55,000, centered by the Johnson Ferry Road corridor, and is proposing police and fire, planning and zoning and code enforcement services.

The East Cobb cityhood bill is HB 841 and you can track its progress here; it has been assigned to the House Governmental Affairs Committee.

(See all our previous coverage on our East Cobb Cityhood page.)

If the bill passes the full legislature, there will be a referendum in November for voters living in the proposed city limits to decide whether a City of East Cobb will be created.

The reapportionment wheels have already been cranked up for redrawing Cobb school board posts.

The board has a 4-3 Republican majority, and in December voted along party lines to recommend a map that would maintain that advantage.

Charisse Davis, Cobb Board of Edcucation — *Cobb school board member Charisse Davis*

It would redraw the current Post 6, which includes the Walton and Wheeler clusters, into the Smyrna-Vinings-Cumberland area, and reduce East Cobb representation to Post 5 and part of Post 4.

Post 6 Democratic incumbent and current Post 2 Democratic incumbent Jaha Howard would be put together in the school board’s recommended map.

But the Cobb delegation has a two-member Democratic advantage, and a draft map that’s been circulating since then would keep Post 6 very similar to what it is now, and keep Davis and Howard in separate posts.

She vocally opposed the school board’s recommended map, as has Amy Henry, a parent of four students in the Wheeler cluster who has announced her candidacy as Republican for Post 6 later this year.

Davis has not announced whether she’s seeking re-election; Howard has declared an intent to run for Georgia school superintendent.

Cobb lawmakers also will be redrawing lines for the four county commission districts. Currently there are three Democrats (including chairwoman Lisa Cupid, who was elected countywide) and two Republicans.

Both of the GOP incumbents are up for re-election in 2022, including JoAnn Birrell of District 3 in Northeast Cobb.

In a November special session, the legislature redrew Congressional and legislative lines that will take effect after the 2022 elections (you can view the adopted maps here).

Links to East Cobb-area lawmakers are included below. You can see what legislation they’re sponsoring, how they vote, see maps of their districts and find contact and information.

State Rep. Mary Frances Williams (D-37)

State Rep. Sharon Cooper (R-43)

State Rep. Don Parsons (R-44)

State Rep. Matt Dollar (R-45)

State Rep. John Carson (R-46)

State Sen. Kay Kirkpatrick (R-32)

East Cobb Cityhood group to resume public sessions in January

November 30, 2021 1:12 PM by Wendy Parker

The East Cobb Cityhood group held a virtual information session in mid-November about the results of a financial feasibility study, which is required by state law for cityhood legislation to be considered.

That session, which included questions about the decision to add police and fire services that were not originally proposed, is the last of calendar year 2021.

Cindy Cooperman, a spokeswoman for the group, told East Cobb News that more sessions for people living in the proposed city boundaries will be taking place starting in January.

She said those events will cater to neighborhoods and community groups interested in learning more.

“We are available upon request if your neighborhood is interested in having us speak to the group. We can be contacted at info@eastcobbcityhood.com or connect directly with any of the committee members listed on our website.”

January marks the start of the 2022 Georgia General Assembly, when the East Cobb Cityhood legislation, House Bill 841, will be taken up (you can read it here).

Sponsored by East Cobb Republican House members Matt Dollar and Sharon Cooper, the bill is one of four cityhood initiatives in Cobb County, along with Lost Mountain, Vinings and Mableton.

Unlike the 2019 East Cobb cityhood campaign, none of the current effort’s events have been in-person, due to COVID-19 concerns.

Those 2019 town halls turned out large, sometimes hostile crowds at churches and schools, and in a November 2019 forum before the East Cobb Business Association between the cityhood group and opponents from the East Cobb Alliance, a citizens group formed to fight the initiative.

There also was a lack of support from Cobb elected officials about cityhood, including State Sen. Kay Kirkpatrick of East Cobb, who said she received negative feedback.

The East Cobb Alliance has posted updates about the 2021 effort (including links to some of our posts), but has been otherwise quiet.

Mindy Seger, an Alliance member who participated in the ECBA forum in 2019, told East Cobb News Monday that “a new cityhood is not any better poised to provide the same level of service for police and fire than the last effort.”

She noted that proposed fire services include two fire stations. “It’s a very small department of only two stations with the reduced footprint,” she said. “I’m not convinced my out of pocket costs at the end of the day won’t be higher.”

The financial feasibility study released earlier this month and conducted by Georgia State University researchers concludes a City of East Cobb, even with police and fire services, would run a $3 million annual surplus.

The other proposed services are planning and zoning and code enforcement.

East Cobb Cityhood straw poll

The revived Committee for East Cobb Cityhood has been conducting a straw poll since the new effort was lanched in March, indicating incrementally growing support for the idea of cityhood.

“The results show growing support for cityhood and a large group of undecided residents,” Cooperman said in response to our questions, some coming from readers, about who was polled.

“Many questions submitted by residents indicate an interest to learn more about how the new city would operate, the map boundaries and financial impact. The committee is committed to answering questions and providing the detail residents need to make an informed decision.”

We also asked how the survey was conducted, and she said that participants in virtual town halls submitted questions in advance.

The number of respondents during the surveys (conducted during those virtual town halls on April 14, May 20 and Nov. 17), ranged from 96, to 169, according to Cooperman.

When asked whether they were in favor of “East Cobb becoming a city with local representation and local control?” the respondents were asked to indicate whether they “Strongly Support, Somewhat Support, Neither Support nor Oppose, Somewhat Oppose, Strongly Oppose” incorporation.

East Cobb Cityhood leaders explain public safety proposals

November 20, 2021 6:21 PMNovember 18, 2021 2:43 PM by Wendy Parker

Cobb tag offices reopening — *The East Cobb Government Service Center is being suggested as the city hall for the proposed City of East Cobb, which would have police and fire services.*

After initially proposing what’s called a “city light” set of services—planning and zoning, code enforcement and parks and recreation—leaders behind a movement to create a city of East Cobb said they added public safety based on plenty of public feedback.

After getting comments from citizens in recent months, they said that they “unilaterally wanted police and fire to be included,” said Craig Chapin, chairman of the Committee for East Cobb Cityhood.

He and other committee members conducted a virtual information session Wednesday after the release of a financial feasibility study was released last week.

(You can watch the full cityhood information session by clicking here; it lasts roughly an hour.)

That study, conducted by the Center for State and Local Finance at Georgia State University, concluded that the proposed city of 50,000 was financially viable, even with public safety, and would have a $3 million annual surplus.

State Rep. Matt Dollar and State Rep. Sharon Cooper, both East Cobb Republicans, have filed a bill for the 2022 legislature that if passed would call for a Nov. 2022 referendum on whether to create a city.

While police and fire were not mentioned in earlier virtual town halls held by the East Cobb cityhood group, Chapin said the decision was made to include those services in the study to give a future East Cobb mayor and city council a financial outline.

He also said “we wanted to be as transparent as possible” before a referendum would be held.

The main source of revenue for the City of East Cobb would be the existing 2.86 mills in property taxes Cobb citizens pay for fire services, roughly $15 million.

No new property taxes would be imposed to fund city operations, which are estimated to cost $24.4 million a year.

The current proposal calls for planning and zoning and code enforcement services, along with public safety.

Chapin said cityhood leaders also heard from officials in Milton and Johns Creek, which eventually added public safety, and cited a recent survey by the Atlanta Regional Commission indicating crime as the top concern in the metro area for the first time.

That includes 27 percent of respondents in Cobb County placing crime at the top of their list.

The cityhood group is proposing to conduct city government services out of the East Cobb Government Service Center on Lower Roswell Road, which it would purchase from Cobb County.

It’s the location for Precinct 4 of the Cobb Police Department and Station 21 of the Cobb Fire Department, as well as a Cobb tag office and other existing office and community meeting space.

The city also would purchase Cobb Fire Station 15 on Oak Lane, off Johnson Ferry Road.

For now, parks and recreation are on the back burner. The GSU study includes some financial projections contained in appendix.

Chapin said that “there are not a lot of revenues and there is a lot of expense” in providing those services, which would include East Cobb Park, Fullers Park, Hyde Farm, Mt. Bethel Park and the Wright Environmental Education Center.

The study estimated annual expenses of $2.5 million, and Chapin said the issue is complicated by the expiration of a parks memorandum of understanding with the county in 2025.

East Cobb cityhood polll

Cityhood leaders also updated a continuing “strawman” poll they’ve been conducting since April, indicating that 43 percent of respondents are in favor of a city, with 44 percent undecided and 14 percent opposed.

Issues of planning and zoning are behind the revived cityhood effort. The 2018-19 campaign for cityhood centered on public safety, but Cindy Cooperman, a spokeswoman for the cityhood committee, said development issues are “becoming a hotter and hotter topic.”

During the information session they referred to recent zoning cases in the county and critical news articles and columns about them, as well as a proposal to create a Unified Development Code in Cobb.

“We’re giving people the ability to vote for local control,” Dollar said.

The proposed City of East Cobb map is centered along the Johnson Ferry Road corridor, much smaller than the first cityhood map, which included a population of around 100,000.

When Dollar was asked about that, he explained that it was also based on public feedback, and to have a more condensed municipality.

The lines were created to include whole census tracts, and since the new map was first issued, he said the only addition was apartment complexes along Columns Drive.

(You can click here to view the map, which is also shown at the bottom.)

“I don’t anticipate any more changes,” Dollar said, adding that “adding any large chunks would change the outcome of the feasibility study.”

Neighborhoods wishing to become part of a city, should it be created, could do so through existing annexation processes.

Some questions for the cityhood leaders also pertained to schools.

Former Cobb school board member Scott Sweeney said that a City of East Cobb would have no bearing on the Cobb County School District since new cities are barred by law from creating school districts.

A city also would have no impact on school attendance zones, since those are drawn administratively by district officials.

And a new city of East Cobb also would not affect homeowners 62 and older who claim an exemption from paying Cobb school property taxes.

Dollar said the cityhood bill (you can read it here) is likely to be taken up in January or February by the Georgia General Assembly.

For a larger view of the proposed City of East Cobb map, click here.

Revised East Cobb city map

East Cobb Cityhood town hall to include legislation sponsors

November 17, 2021 6:18 PMNovember 16, 2021 9:13 PM by Wendy Parker

East Cobb Cityhood leaders — *State Reps. Sharon Cooper and Matt Dollar during an East Cobb Cityhood virtual town hall this spring.*

The two East Cobb lawmakers who’ve sponsored a cityhood bill for the 2022 legislature will be featured on a virtual information session Wednesday.

State Reps. Matt Dollar and Sharon Cooper, both Republicans, will discuss the results of a feasibility study that’s required for the bill to be considered.

The information session starts at 5:30 and the public can sign up by clicking here. You can also include questions you want answered, as there will not be direct interaction with the participants.

Researchers at Georgia State University concluded in their report that a proposed City of East Cobb, with around 50,000 residents centered along the Johnson Ferry Road corridor, is financially feasible.

But Dollar, Cooper and Cityhood representatives scheduled to appear on the information session will most likely be questioned above all about a surprising development in the Cityhood initiative.

That’s the inclusion of police and fire services (new cities must provide a minimum of three) which were evaluated in the GSU study.

East Cobb News contacted Dollar and the Committee for East Cobb Cityhood to provide more details before the Wednesday session about those changes.

Cindy Cooperman, a cityhood spokeswoman, said that “after reviewing service options and community feedback, public safety was added to the scope of the study in the October timeframe. This addition is very favorable from both a public quality of life and an economic standpoint for the residents of East Cobb.”

The bill Dollar and Cooper submitted in March, near the end of the 2021 legislative session, proposed planning and zoning, code enforcement and parks and recreation services.

Road maintenance was added in July, when the feasibility study was commissioned.

During three virtual town halls over the spring and summer, police and fire services were not discussed.

The initial East Cobb cityhood effort in 2018-19 included police and fire services, but the bill was eventually abandoned before the 2020 legislative session.

The revived effort was modeled on what’s called “city light” services, which typically don’t involve expensive public safety services and the imposition of new taxes.

The proposed cities of Lost Mountain and Vinings, whose financial studies also were released recently, focus on zoning and development and do not include public safety.

In the East Cobb study, parks and recreation services were pushed back to an appendix and road maintenance services were given a “snapshot” assessment to “assist a city council in the future to negotiate with the county,” Cooperman said.

The recent GSU study includes transferring the current Cobb County Fire Fund, with a 2.86 millage rate, and that would be the proposed city’s largest source of revenues.

The report also concludes that the city of East Cobb would have a $3 million annual budget surplus.

The city would purchase two existing Cobb fire stations, but there’s no funding for leasing facilities for city government.

Cooperman said that the East Cobb Government Service Center on Lower Roswell Road “would work perfectly for the city hall.”

It’s the location for Precinct 4 of the Cobb Police Department and Station 21 of the Cobb Fire Department, as well as a Cobb tag office and other existing office and community meeting space.

“Should East Cobb become a city it would have access to this facility for its office space and equipment needs,” Cooperman said, adding that “the elected council ultimately has responsibility for the final decision.”

The cityhood bill, if passed by the legislature, would establish a November 2022 referendum for voters in the proposed City of East Cobb to decide whether to incorporate.

East Cobb Cityhood study declares financial feasibility

November 12, 2021 7:29 PMNovember 12, 2021 2:49 PM by Wendy Parker

East Cobb candidates forum cityhood — *State Rep. Matt Dollar is co-sponsoring another East Cobb Cityhood bill to be considered during the 2022 legislature.*

The Committee for East Cobb Cityhood has released a feasibility study declaring financial viability without imposing new taxes.

The group’s press release can be found here; a link to the full report, which was compiled by researchers at Georgia State University, can be found here.

A major change in the focus of the report is the addition of police and fire services to the financial analysis.

Police and fire services were included in the initial 2019 Cityhood effort, although legislation filed for consideration in 2020 was abandoned.

The proposed city introduced this year would contain a population of 50,406, around half from the 2019 bill.

The new boundaries would include the Johnson Ferry Road corridor, running west to Old Canton Road and including most of the Walton High School attendance zone and some of the area around Pope High School (click here to view map).

Areas of East Cobb closer to the city of Marietta, comprising most of the Wheeler High School zone, were taken out.

The revived Cityhood effort, which was announced in March, included planning and zoning, code enforcement and parks and recreation services. Road maintenance was later added.

The Cityhood committee said Friday that police and fire were added back into the feasibility study based on public feedback and that parks and recreation were pushed back to the appendix to be considered on contingency, along with road maintenance.

Researchers from the GSU Center for State and Local Finance made comparisons to similar-sized cities—Brookhaven, Dunwoody, Johns Creek, Marietta and Smyrna—to help craft their report.

The study estimated annual revenues of $27.7 million and estimated annual expenses of $24.65 million for a budget surplus of $3 million annually (see chart below).

East Cobb Cityhood study financial analysis 2021

The single-largest revenue source would be existing property taxes ($15 million), and public safety services would be the largest expense ($14.3 million).

The existing property taxes would be the 2.86 mills that make up the current Cobb County Fire Fund, and that would be transferred to a new City of East Cobb.

Under the proposed city, that would become the primary revenue source, collecting around $12 million a year.

Other taxes include around $1 million in real property taxes, as well as utility and franchise fees and alcohol taxes.

The City of East Cobb would purchase two existing Cobb County Fire Department stations that are within the proposed city boundaries (they’re not identified in the report but they are No. 20 at the East Cobb Government Service Center on Lower Roswell Road, and No. 15 on Oak Lane near Johnson Ferry Road).

The study did not indicate how big a police force or fire department would be staffed, in terms of number of employees.

EC Cityhood 2021 study revenue estimates

EC Cityhood 2021 study expense estimates

The study estimated around 50 total employees would be on staff citywide, but the report didn’t detail a breakdown.

The Georgia State researchers estimated startup costs of $984,000, and their report indicated no expenses for facility leases.

In fact, there’s no mention of a a City of East Cobb government having a physical location, other than public safety services.

As we noted earlier this week, two other Cityhood efforts in Cobb County—for proposed cities of Vinings and Lost Mountain, in West Cobb, also have commissioned studies concluding that they would be financially viable.

The Lost Mountain proposal does not call for a city government facility to be owned or leased, but for existing community space to be rented for meetings and other public events.

But Lost Mountain and Vinings are not proposing public safety services.

The East Cobb Cityhood study was to have been released this coming Monday.

There will be an information session next Wednesday, Nov. 17, at 5:30 p.m. with state Rep. Matt Dollar, state Rep. Sharon Cooper, co-sponsors of the East Cobb Cityhood legislation to be considered in 2022, and the East Cobb Cityhood Committee.

To sign up: https://register.gotowebinar.com/register/5293479304166286864.

Their bill, if passed by the legislature, would establish a November 2022 referendum for voters in the proposed City of East Cobb to decide whether to incorporate.

East Cobb Cityhood feasibility study to be released next week

November 9, 2021 11:18 AM by Wendy Parker

East Cobb Park summer end — *A proposed City of East Cobb would include parks and recreation in a “city lite” set of services.*

A financial feasibility study for the proposed City of East Cobb was to have been completed by Nov. 1, and the group leading the incorporation effort said the report will be made public next week.

Cindy Cooperman, a spokeswoman for the Committee for East Cobb Cityhood, told East Cobb News that the study would be released next Monday, Nov. 15 and will be made available on the group’s website.

The study was commissioned in July by the committee and was conducted by the Center for State and Local Finance at Georgia State University.

GSU researchers also conducted a feasibility study for the first East Cobb cityhood effort, and in late 2018 concluded that it was financially viable.

The initial effort called for police, fire and community development services.

The revived effort, announced in March, drastically reduced the proposed city of East Cobb boundaries and proposed planning and zoning, code enforcement, parks and recreation and roads and transportation services.

State Rep. Matt Dollar, the East Cobb Republican who sponsored both cityhood bills (the 2019 legislation was eventually abandoned), said in an April virtual town hall meeting that the “hope here is to be revenue neutral,” meaning no millage rate would need to be established to provide those services.

That was the conclusion of a feasibility study released last week for the proposed city of Lost Mountain in West Cobb.

That report, prepared by researchers at the University of Georgia, concluded that that city would raise enough revenues from existing taxes and fees to generate a surplus and wouldn’t have to levy property taxes.

West Cobb legislators are sponsoring a Lost Mountain cityhood bill that would create a city of around 70,000.

Like the renewed East Cobb cityhood effort, Lost Mountain supporters are emphasizing planning and zoning and preserving the suburban nature of the community.

Lost Mountain also would provide parks and recreation and sanitation services.

Preservation interests prompted a cityhood effort in Vinings, where a UGA feasibility study released in October concluded that proposed city of 7,000 was financially viable.

Cityhood bills for those three proposed cities as well as a second cityhood bill for a proposed city of Mableton are expected to be taken up in the 2022 Georgia legislature.

If passed, those bills would call for incorporation referendums in November 2022.

Dollar, who is not seeking re-election next year, has a co-sponsor in State Rep. Sharon Cooper, also an East Cobb Republican.

Cityhood bills also require a Senate sponsor. State Sen. Kay Kirkpatrick, an East Cobb Republican, told East Cobb News recently she would wait to comment on the new cityhood effort until after the feasibility study is released.

Cityhood news: Buckhead financial feasibility study released

September 15, 2021 12:22 PM by Wendy Parker

*For a larger version of the proposed Buckhead city map, **click here**.*

While a financial feasibility study for a proposed City of East Cobb is expected to be finished in November, a similar study conducted for a group pushing for cityhood in Buckhead was released on Tuesday.

That study, conducted by Valdosta State University, shows a budget surplus of $113 million, even with police and fire services.

The overall budget would be $203 million, according to the study, which is summarized here and can be read in full here.

Those behind the Buckhead breakaway have cited rising crime and pressure on public safety services in the City of Atlanta, and the proposed city would have more patrol officers than what are currently staffed in the Buckhead area.

The proposed City of Buckhead would have a population of just over 100,000 and cover what’s now Atlanta to roughly the I-75/I-85 split.

The other proposed services are public works, parks and recreation and community development.

From the Buckhead.com site is an analysis of the study, and there are a few things about the Buckhead effort worth noting.

First, none of the legislators who have co-sponsored the bill are from the proposed city area, which is required under state law. They’re North Fulton and Gwinnett Republicans, and thus far no Atlanta lawmakers have signed on.

Secondly, the study was done at a small-town South Georgia university that normally limits is work to that part of the state, certainly not a big city.

The Buckhead cityhood group approached the University of Georgia, which declined to do the study. Georgia State University is conducting the East Cobb feasibility study, as it did for the previous East Cobb cityhood effort in 2018.

The website for the pro-cityhood Buckhead City Committee can be found here; a group against cityhood is the Committee for a United Atlanta.

Like the four cityhood efforts in Cobb County, Buckhead legislation filed this year would call for a November 2022 referendum, if that bill is passed by the Georgia legislature next year.

In addition to the renewed East Cobb effort, some Mableton citizens have revived their cityhood ambitions under the South Cobb Alliance. Their impetus has been community redevelopment.

New organizations have been formed to create a City of Vinings and a City of Lost Mountain in West Cobb, which, like the new East Cobb effort, are focused on zoning and development issues.

Feasibility studies for those three proposed Cobb cities also are still underway.

East Cobb Cityhood town hall: ‘Government is a difficult business’

September 1, 2021 12:39 PM by Wendy Parker

Peachtree Corners city manager Brian Johnson runs the daily operations of one of Georgia’s newest cities. Brian Johnson, Peachtree Corners city manager

The municipality in Gwinnett County of 43,000 came into existence in 2012, and he arrived five years ago.

He’s also a veteran of local government and has been involved in other cityhood movements in Georgia.

During a virtual town hall meeting of the East Cobb Cityhood Committee last week, he repeatedly touted the local control benefits of incorporation, noting that Peachtree Corners is similar to East Cobb—a portion of a sprawling, growing county.

Like Cobb, Gwinnett has a five-member county commission, with four district commissioners representing roughly 250,000 people.

That’s more than Cobb, where commissioners’ district include a little less than 200,000 people, a major driving point for the East Cobb Cityhood effort.

“No one individual can represent that many people,” he said at the East Cobb group’s third virtual town hall in recent months.

He noted that even when Peachtree Corners citizens don’t agree with decisions made by their city government, “they feel more comfortable that it was made at the local level.”

The Peachtree Corners City Council is non-partisan with seven elected members. East Cobb Cityhood legislation calls for six non-partisan council members, with one of them chosen by colleagues every two years to serve as mayor.

“Potholes could care less what party you’re affiliated with,” Johnson said. “Local government, city government, is the purest form of service delivery that exists because of that very reason.”

Peachtree Corners is similar to East Cobb in other respects, with an affluent, educated population. The city also provides similar services to what the East Cobb group is proposing—code enforcement planning and zoning.

And like the current East Cobb legislation that’s pending before the 2022 Georgia legislature, Peachtree Corners does not have public safety services. Gwinnett County police and fire continue to serve that municipality.

But Johnson also spelled out the challenges that new cities face. Peachtree Corners opted to provide trash pick-up with one vendor, which he said has led to complaints by some citizens who wanted a choice.

And he also said there are some people who opposed cityhood and other citizens who at times speak out when there are problems, often vocally.

“We’re not perfect, and we hear that every day,” Johnson said. “Government is a difficult business, and we’re invariably going to miss the mark.”

Before Johnson spoke, East Cobb Cityhood Committee member Sarah Haas stressed in a slide that a city of East Cobb would “not be another layer of government” but would be in charge of services transferred from the county.

In addition to code enforcement and planning and zoning, the proposed services are parks and recreation and road maintenance.

You can watch the entire video by clicking here.

East Cobb Cityhood group commissions feasibility study

July 3, 2021 2:07 PMJune 28, 2021 2:06 PM by Wendy Parker

East Cobb Cityhood feasibility study — *The East Cobb Cityhood group has added road maintenance and construction as a proposed service, along with zoning and planning, code enforcement and parks.*

The group that revived the East Cobb Cityhood effort earlier this year announced Monday it has commissioned a new financial feasibility study to be conducted by Georgia State University.

The group also said it is proposing a fourth service, road and construction maintenance, to be evaluated during the study.

GSU’s Center for State and Local Finance is to conduct the study, which is expected to be completed by Nov. 1, according to information released by the Cityhood group Monday.

The Cityhood group said $10,000 has been paid upfront to initiate the study and it is raising funds for the remaining $10,000 that will be due upon completion.

When asked by East Cobb News about who’s footed the bill thus far, the Cityhood group responded via e-mail that those funds “are being raised by supporters here in the East Cobb Community.” According to a donation page, less than $8,000 of a goal of $25,000 has been pledged.

State representatives Matt Dollar and Sharon Cooper, both East Cobb Republicans, submitted cityhood legislation near the end of the 2021 session, that, if passed by the legislature next year, would call for a November 2022 referendum by voters living in the proposed new municipality.

The proposed services that were mentioned in the bill are planning and zoning, code enforcement and parks and recreation.

Citing a state law regarding ownership and control of county right of way, the Cityhood group explained the addition of road projects by saying that “unless the municipality and the county agree otherwise by joint resolution, new cities forming in Georgia are required to assume these services.”

In Georgia, new cities must provide at least three services, and cityhood legislation requires proponents to conduct a financial feasibility study.

Dollar’s also sponsored a City of East Cobb bill in 2019 that would have included police, fire and community development services.

But the Cityhood group abandoned that effort after a series of town hall meetings in late 2019, after community opposition surfaced.

The initial proposed City of East Cobb would have had a population of more than 100,000.

The new boundaries are much smaller, comprising most of the Johnson Ferry Road corridor west to Old Canton Road, with an estimated population of 55,000.

While some parties in the initial Cityhood group are still on board, the revamped effort features some new leadership that conducted virtual town hall meetings this spring.

The East Cobb group said it will likely hold another virtual information session in August.

Three other Cityhood bills have been filed by Cobb County lawmakers, including new efforts in Vinings and in West Cobb for a proposed City of Lost Mountain.

Another bill for Mableton Cityhood also was filed this year, just as in 2019.

In 2018-19, only a handful of individuals identified themselves as being part of the East Cobb Cityhood effort, and declined to reveal how an initial financial feasibility study conducted by GSU was paid for, at a cost of nearly $30,000.

That study, released in late 2018, declared that the proposed City of East Cobb, with the proposed public safety and community development services, was financially viable.

An independent group of local finance experts gathered by the Cityhood group conducted a separate review, and in mid-2019 recommended that police services not be part of the city to start.

The initial Cityhood group also spent tens of thousands of dollars on high-powered legislative lobbyists, but didn’t provide the funding sources.

The East Cobb Educational Research Committee, Inc., which was formed in early 2019, is the non-profit that is continuing as the sponsoring group of the Cityhood effort.

According to the Georgia Secretary of State’s Office, Craig Chapin is the CEO, Sarah Haas is the Secretary and Scott Hausman is the Chief Financial Officer.

Their profiles and related information can be found here.

‘Sense of pride’ emphasized at East Cobb Cityhood town hall

May 25, 2021 1:45 PM by Wendy Parker

East Cobb Cityhood town hall

The group advocating for East Cobb Cityhood held another virtual town hall meeting last Thursday with Milton Mayor Joe Lockwood as the featured guest.

During the hour-long session, which included pre-screened questions from the public, Lockwood emphasized the “local control” message that East Cobb Cityhood proponents have been pressing.

You can watch a replay of the town hall by clicking here.

Milton became a city in North Fulton in 2006 and has 39,000 residents. Lockwood said that like some of the sentiment in East Cobb, there was vocal opposition to cityhood at the time.

“A lot of people just didn’t want [a new] government,” he said. “It was ‘leave us alone.’ But once we started making improvements, it was interesting to see people starting to expect more.”

Lockwood is serving his third consecutive term as mayor and is in his final term in that capacity due to term limits.

He said what he’s most proud of in Milton is “a sense of belonging and community” that has developed since cityhood.

“There’s a sense of pride, of more people getting involved” in civic affairs and community life,” Lockwood said.

Milton provides more services than the proposed city of East Cobb, including police and fire that were part of the initial East Cobb cityhood effort in 2019.

Lockwood said when it comes to zoning and planning, “people want things to be the same.” He said Milton has effectively limited density to maintain a suburban and in some cases rural feel to an affluent community that’s similar to East Cobb.

Density and urban-style development are growing issues in Cobb County, especially with East Cobb redevelopment projects at Sprayberry Crossing and in the Johnson Ferry-Shallowford area that have drawn community support and opposition.

The JOSH redevelopment involving East Cobb Church would fall within the city limits of East Cobb, which includes less than half of the 2019 map and would have a population around 55,000.

The revived East Cobb Cityhood effort is focused on planning and zoning [along with code enforcement and parks and recreation] in the wake those and other development issues in the county.

Craig Chapin, the cityhood group’s head, said during the town hall that some of the pushback agains denser development “isn’t about how things were in Cobb County. You’re looking at a community and wondering what the future will look like.”

During the town hall, the cityhood group showed results of recent polling on cityhood issues reflected in the slides below. More details can be found on the cityhood website.

EC cityhood town hall 5.20.21

East Cobb Cityhood group to hold town hall with Milton mayor

May 14, 2021 4:25 PM by Wendy Parker

Milton Mayor Joe Lockwood, East Cobb Cityhood town hall — *Milton Mayor Joe Lockwood*

The East Cobb Cityhood Committee is holding its second virtual town hall meeting next week, with Milton Mayor Joe Lockwood as the featured guest.

The town hall is next Thursday, May 20, starting at 6 p.m., and you can register by clicking here. You can read more about Lockwood by clicking here.

The event will focus on the proposed services for the proposed city of East Cobb—planning and zoning, code enforcement and parks and recreation.

There will be a Q and A session and participants can submit questions when they sign up.

The City of Milton was formed out of part of unincorporated North Fulton in 2006 and has 39,000 residents.

During 2019, East Cobb Cityhood leaders often referred to Milton as a model for what it was proposing at the time—primarily police and fire services—in a community with similar levels of affluence and demographics.

Milton also provides public works, community development (zoning and code enforcement), and parks and recreation.

The previous East Cobb Cityhood effort also pointed to Milton for its steady millage rate, which has been slightly lowered in each of the last two years.

The revived East Cobb group this week posted a “case study” about Milton’s tax surplus and financial status, as well as its provision of services (and another for Peachtree Corners, which became a city in Gwinnett County in 2017 and has a zero millage rate).

Lockwood was re-elected in 2020 to his fourth and final two-year term as Mayor of Milton.

New East Cobb Cityhood committee leadership team detailed

May 8, 2021 9:19 PMMay 8, 2021 5:19 PM by Wendy Parker

Scott Sweeney, Cobb school board, Cobb school calendar — *Scott Sweeney.*

The reconstituted East Cobb Cityhood effort includes some holdover members from the 2019 campaign and new members who have joined in since a new cityhood bill was filed near the end of the 2021 Georgia legislative session.

On Friday Cityhood group released further details about those individuals—some of whom have previously been identified.

You can read all about them by clicking here.

The chairman is Craig Chapin, a technology entrepreneur who was raised in the Walton High School cluster. He took part in an April virtual town hall meeting held by the Cityhood group that featured the bills two co-sponsors, State Reps. Matt Dollar and Sharon Cooper.

Other newcomers include former Cobb school board member Scott Sweeney, who is currently chairman of the Georgia Board of Education, and who’s been front and center since the renewed Cityhood pushed was announced in late March.

Mitch Rhoden is the CEO of Futren Hospitality, which oversees Indian Hills, and is a former chairman of the Cobb Chamber of Commerce. He was named the 2020 East Cobb Citizen of the Year.

Amy Henry moved to East Cobb two years ago and is a sales professional, fitness instructor, nutritionist, and mother of four children in the Walton cluster. Henry was involved in an effort to get Cobb schools to go to in-person instruction last fall, and more recently, she urged the school district to end its mask mandate.

Two people involved in the 2019 effort remain, including Jerry Quan, a former captain in the Cobb Police Department who was in charge of Precinct 4 in East Cobb. He’s currently a resource officer for the Cobb County School District Police Department, assigned to Lassiter High School.

Joe Gavalis is a a retired federal agent and the original Cityhood group president. He’s a longtime resident of the Chattahoochee Plantation area and a member of the Cobb Neighborhood Safety Commission and the Cobb Elder Abuse Task Force.

Gavalis was reluctant to make public appearances during that 2019 Cityhood effort, which began in late 2018. He stayed in the background during several town hall meetings, and it was nearly a year before that Cityhood committee voluntarily revealed its full listing of those involved.

In late 2018, Gavalis was interviewed by East Cobb News by e-mail, but deflected on a number of questions, including the identity of Cityhood leaders.

He asked several prominent East Cobb citizens to serve on an advisory board to examine a financial feasibility study. When one of them asked who else was involved in the Cityhood effort, Gavalis declined to reveal them and that individual quit, citing a lack of transparency.

In its release on Friday, the Citybood group included a photo of Gavalis receiving an award from State Sen. Kay Kirkpatrick of East Cobb upon being named the “Distinguished Older Georgian 2021” by the legislature.

The Cityhood bill filed by Dollar (read our Q and A with him here) and to be taken up in 2022 needs a local sponsor in the State Senate. Kirkpatrick, who represents the proposed East Cobb city, did not co-sponsor the initial bill, saying she received plenty of negative feedback.

The current Cityhood group sought public feedback in the form of an online survey. The April town hall took selected public questions on Cityhood topics, but didn’t provide for direct interaction with citizens.

East Cobb Cityhood leaders stress message of ‘local control’

April 15, 2021 3:20 PM by Wendy Parker

In their first interaction with the public, leaders of the revived East Cobb Cityhood movement on Wednesday stressed the importance of local control, especially when it comes to zoning and development matters.

During a virtual town hall meeting, cityhood legislation sponsors and members of the East Cobb Cityhood Committee took pre-screened questions from the public and sent out a survey for further feedback.

The committee also released biographical details about the cityhood committee members.

“It’s really about self-determination,” said State Rep. Matt Dollar, who introduced a cityhood bill before the end of the 2021 session. “If people in the cities of Marietta and Smyrna have that right, then the citizens of East Cobb should have that right as well.”

Much of the conversation revolved around the pro-cityhood theme of “preservation” of what’s been established in East Cobb—single family homes, limited density and quality-of-life amenities—as other areas of the county are becoming more urbanized and feature mixed-use developments.

“If people want density, they can go to the Cumberland area or Smyrna,” Dollar said. “People in East Cobb live here because they want the suburban lifestyle. They don’t want density.”

Former Cobb school board member Scott Sweeney, a member of the cityhood committee, added that it’s important for East Cobbers to protect “what’s in our back yard.”

The legislation sponsored by Dollar and State Rep. Sharon Cooper—both East Cobb Republicans—is vastly different from a 2019 bill he introduced and that she was lukewarm to support.

Cooper, who said last October she thought the cityhood issue was dead, said that some other Cobb cityhood bills introduced this year—in Lost Mountain and Vinings—also have been spurred by concerns over density.

The five-member Cobb Board of Commissioners, which represents nearly 800,000 people, is currently grasping with major redevelopment cases in East Cobb, including the Johnson Ferry-Shallowford and Sprayberry Crossing areas, that have drawn community opposition.

A city of East Cobb, Cooper argued, “would be people from our neighborhoods, people we live with, making those zoning decisions.”

The new effort scales down the size of the proposed city of East Cobb from more than 100,000 to about 55,000, mainly along the Johnson Ferry Road corridor.

Dollar said feeback he received from 2019 indicated that the initial boundaries were too big, and didn’t lend themselves for a clear community identity.

The new bill calls for a six-member city council, with a mayor and vice mayor to be chosen every other year by the council.

While the 2019 East Cobb cityhood bill would have called for police and fire services, the new legislation is what’s called “city light” and includes planning and zoning, code enforcement and parks and recreation.

Dollar said the “hope here is to be revenue neutral,” meaning no millage rate would need to be established.

“It’s a very stable tax base with light services,” he said. “It is not an expensive endeavor.”

Still, some of the questions addressed at the town hall were over whether a new city would create another layer of government.

Dollar disagreed, saying it was a “shift” in selected services.

The other proposed services, code enforcement and parks and recreation, weren’t discussed much.

There was a mention of the former in reference to the Tokyo Valentino adult retail store that opened on Johnson Ferry Road last summer, and that now tied up in the courts as Cobb County is trying to shut it down.

Dollar said adding parks and recreation “seemed like a good fit,” noting that they’re services offered in the newer cities of Milton and Brookhaven.

The cityhood leaders also said Wednesday that a new financial feasibility study conducted by researchers at Georgia State University will cost an estimated $22,000 and will be ready by July.

Dollar said that what’s happening now is just the beginning of a process, that there’s plenty of time before the 2022 legislative session. The Georgia General Assembly would have to pass the cityhood bill before it would come up for a local referendum next November.

“What I ask people, whether you’re for [cityhood] or against it, is just to keep an open mind,” Dollar said.

Anyone interested in completing the cityhood survey can do so by clicking here.

Q & A: Rep. Matt Dollar, sponsor of East Cobb Cityhood bill

April 5, 2021 11:06 AM by Wendy Parker

East Cobb candidates forum cityhood

Late last week East Cobb News conducted an interview with State Rep. Matt Dollar, an East Cobb Republican who for the second time is sponsoring a cityhood bill for a portion of East Cobb.

His bill will be taken up in the 2022 session of the Georgia General Assembly, and if it passes the legislature, a referendum would be held in November 2022 of registered voters within the proposed city boundaries on whether to create a City of East Cobb.

(You can read through the full text of HB 841 by clicking here.)

He said this renewed initiative is stronger than the 2019 effort, which East Cobb Cityhood leaders later abandoned after several town hall meetings and a public forum that included an opposition group.

(You can read previous stories on our Cityhood resource page.)

There are numerous changes from the 2019 bill, from services (planning and zoning, code enforcement and parks and recreation) to the form of government (weak mayor-city council) to the size a City of East Cobb (around 55,000).

The revamped East Cobb Cityhood group is having a virtual town hall with its leaders and Dollar on April 14.

Before answering our questions, Dollar prefaced his remarks:

“One of the biggest things I’m addressing right now for people with questions—most think this is the same ballot initiative as last time.

“Based on feedback from the last two years, there is a new map, a new city-lite model, and new governance framework. There is a new group leading the effort, committed to educating the voters, and leaving no questions unanswered.

“People want to know if this will raise taxes. The feasibility study will be completed in the next few months. I am very confident it will come back as being tax neutral to homeowners.

“The cost to cover the limited services of code enforcement, parks, and zoning, will be very minimal. And our tax base is extremely strong.

“Additionally, moving forward the council cannot raise the tax rate (millage rate) without a vote and approval of majority of registered voters in the city. This is a much higher threshold than just a simple majority of those that vote.

“From the map, to transparency, to even the ballot question—the new effort and bill address every major concern that was previously voiced.”

What follows is from an e-mail exchange between Dollar and East Cobb News that’s been lightly edited for style.

ECN: Why are the city boundaries so different from two years ago? This looks like most of the Walton attendance zone with areas west—including most of the Wheeler attendance zone—taken out. This doesn’t impact the schools but some readers have been wondering.

Dollar: The map is a result of two years of feedback and input from the community. People wanted a more cohesive map, and many felt the proposed city was too large.

This map doesn’t go as far south, west, or north as the last proposed map. The eastern border is still the same, the county line.

When I asked people “where is East Cobb?” the area most mentioned was the Johnson Ferry corridor. This map starts at Johnson Ferry where it crosses the river, and stops at the top end of Johnson Ferry at Shallowford Road. Johnson Ferry runs almost exactly down the center of the map. And I find this very interesting. If you look on Google Maps, the label “East Cobb” sits on the intersection of Johnson Ferry and Roswell Road. That intersection is located in the direct center of the proposed map.

This map is very compact, cohesive, with clean boundaries.

Why the change from a mayor-council form of government that was in the 2019 bill to the six-member council format with a mayor chosen by a majority vote?

I think the objective of cityhood is to keep East Cobb as unchanged as possible. With the authority spread out over a city council and a weak mayor position, it’s set up so a single person cannot come in with a “Vision For East Cobb.” We have seen what can happen with that—right over in Sandy Springs. People believe the “vision” of East Cobb should be what it already is.

To help ensure this, all actions of the council will require a super-majority vote. So for any action to be taken, it must have very broad support. Support from council members, who I believe will run on policies opposed to high density residential development, and over commercial development.

This idea came from feedback, and is based on the way the Cobb School Board is set up.

The Lost Mountain cityhood initiative in west Cobb is also following this same model.

What’s behind having three districts with two members each and one at-large instead of six districts? If I recall the 2019 bill had six districts.

This is actually not accurate. There will be just the six members (two from each district) and all would be elected at-large.

Because this proposed map is much smaller (about half the size of the map two years ago), six districts would mean each one would be extremely small. But the number of districts is not overly important, because the six posts will not be running just in a specific district, but will be elected citywide. This will make them accountable to everyone. And importantly, having three districts ensures there is representation from across the city.

Compensation for council members will be low, $8,000 a year—in line with other city-lite models like Peachtree Corners.

All six members would be elected city-wide. The six members will elect one among them to serve as mayor, for a two-year term. The role of mayor is mostly ceremonial. And very importantly, all actions taken by the council must be a super-majority vote. The idea is to keep East Cobb the same, and for any council action to happen, it must be a very good idea with strong consensus. And a very weak mayor position helps ensure that no one person will have a lot of say over our community.

When will there be a district map available?

The federal government will send population data from the 2020 Census to states in August or September. Districts can be drawn at that time.

When were you approached about filing another cityhood bill? At an East Cobb Business Association candidates forum last October you sounded like you were done with this. Did something change or were you still interested in pursuing a cityhood bill this year?

During this session I was contacted by a number of people asking if I was going to introduce another referendum bill. A new group of people decided they wanted the opportunity to vote. I gave them the feedback I’d received over the last two years, the positive and the not so positive. And the result is the new, simpler map, and extremely city-lite framework. Since then, several people have contacted me who originally did not support cityhood, who really like this plan.

They feel having local control over what gets done in our community (we have none now), while not increasing taxes is a good thing.

You also said at that forum that you thought the cityhood group didn’t do a good job selling its proposal. Do you feel differently about this, and are you more confident taking this legislation into the 2022 session?

I don’t think the first group working on this quite new what they were getting into. For everyone involved, this was their first time working on anything like this. Also, this was a brand new idea for everyone here, and new ideas are hard at first.

The citizen group leading this referendum effort is a different collection of people than the previous. I think they learned lessons from the initiative started three years ago. The new condensed map, and entirely new city-lite model are all evidence to that. I also think having watched the process last time has provided them with better ideas and understanding how to educate the community.

They are very committed to being open, transparent, and leaving no question unanswered.

East Cobb Cityhood group to hold virtual town hall April 14

April 3, 2021 10:16 AMApril 3, 2021 8:05 AM by Wendy Parker

Submitted information:

The East Cobb Cityhood Committee is hosting a virtual town hall to provide information to the residents of East Cobb. People who live within the boundary of the proposed new city are invited to attend. This will be a live session with Rep. Matt Dollar and ECC committee members.

Please, register in advance to reserve a spot in the virtual town hall. You can submit questions about cityhood during the registration process. There will also be an opportunity to submit questions during the live session.

Date: April 14, 2021

Time: 6:00pm ET

Location: REGISTER HERE

If you are not available at this date and time, you will be able to view the recording of this webinar. It will be posted shortly after the live session on the website.

East Cobb Cityhood
http://www.eastcobbga.com/

Anti-East Cobb Cityhood group calls renewed effort ‘Jaws 2’

April 2, 2021 10:25 AM by Wendy Parker

A week after a new push for East Cobb Cityhood was launched, a group that organized against the first effort in 2019 is again expressing opposition.

In an e-mail sent out Thursday night, the East Cobb Alliance said the new cityhood effort, which includes state legislation filed on Monday, is a “process [that] appears to be putting the cart before the horse.”

That was a reference to the cityhood group not having a financial feasibility study prepared before the bill was filed, as was the case in 2019.

The Committee for East Cobb Cityhood, which includes some individuals from two years ago, said it will be commissioning a study, which is required by law.

“How can one decide a city is financially feasible enough to justify a legislative action to file a bill to form a proposed city…when no feasibility study has been completed to see if the numbers will work?,” said the East Cobb Alliance message.

“What if the feasibility study comes back and it’s not financially feasible? Wouldn’t that be embarrassing?”

In 2019, advocates for cityhood in Mableton had legislation filed before a feasibility study was conducted; like the East Cobb bill it was eventually abandoned and has not been resurrected.

The East Cobb Alliance formed during 2019, after cityhood leaders began holding town hall meetings, and participated in an issues forum on the matter in November of that year, before cityhood leaders abandoned their effort.

There are also proposed new cities of Lost Mountain and Vinings with bills filed this year in the legislature that also will have feasibility studies done.

The East Cobb Alliance has nearly 1,000 followers for its Facebook page, where it has been announcing updates, as well as a petition to oppose the new cityhood effort.

East Cobb Alliance members have been against cityhood for several reasons, claiming it will add an extra layer of government that will cost citizens more in taxes.

In the Thursday e-mail, the East Cobb Alliance labeled the new cityhood effort as “Jaws 2,” making a reference to the popular movie series: “Those land sharks who put forth the Proposed City of East Cobb two years ago are back at it again, infesting the waters of East Cobb with their ‘this layer of government we’re adding is so paper-thin, you will hardly notice it,’ yet again!”

The new cityhood bill calls for “city light” services—planning and zoning, code enforcement and parks and recreation, instead of police and fire, the main services proposed two years ago.

The East Cobb Alliance message claims that “once a city forms, though, a city council and a mayor can do whatever they want including adding police, fire, a development authority (yeah, like we need another one of those in Cobb County), and whatever else a small group of elected politicians decide they want to do in secret on behalf of their friends and family.”

The East Cobb Alliance is inviting citizens to fill out an online survey to express their thoughts about the new cityhood movement, and says it will actively fight against the latest initiative.

State Rep. Matt Dollar’s bill, if passed by the legislature next year, would call for a November 2022 referendum and would include a smaller area of East Cobb than his 2019 legislation.

The proposed City of East Cobb would have around 55,000 residents and includes much of the Walton High School attendance zone.

Dropped from the 2019 proposed map are areas around Wheeler High School, as well as some of the Pope and Lassiter clusters.

East Cobb Cityhood bill calls for Nov. 2022 referendum

April 5, 2021 6:44 PMMarch 30, 2021 2:27 PM by Wendy Parker

Here’s the first look at the new East Cobb Cityhood bill filed Monday by State Rep. Matt Dollar (you can read through it here).

As we reported on Thursday, this had to be done before the Georgia legislative session ends on Wednesday because cityhood bills must follow a two-year process.

Should the legislature pass the cityhood bill next year, there will be a Nov. 2022 referendum by eligible voters in the proposed City of East Cobb, which has been scaled down from the 2019 boundaries.

Here are the main components of how a City of East Cobb, with a proposed population of around 55,000, would work:

It would provide zoning and planning, code enforcement and parks and recreation services in what proponents are calling a preservation effort;
The East Cobb City Council would have six elected members from three posts, which would have two members each. One member from each post must be elected city-wide;
A special election would be held in March 2023 to elect council members;
A mayor would then be chosen by a council majority to serve a two-year term and could serve up to two consecutive terms;
There would be a city manager and a city clerk, an outsourced city attorney and a municipal court;
Property taxes would be capped at 1 mill, but the city would collect other revenues such as franchise fees, occupation and business taxes, licensing, permits, assessments and other fees;
Starting Dec. 1, 2023, the city would begin collecting taxes, fees and other revenues at the start of a transition period from county government that ends on Dec. 31, 2025.

What’s not in the bill are council district maps.

*State Rep. Sharon Cooper said cityhood was a “dead issue” but is co-sponsoring a new bill.*

The new city boundaries (you can view the map here) include areas south of Shallowford Road and east of Murdock Road and Old Canton Road, in much of the Walton High School attendance zone.

The 2019 proposed map included areas in the Wheeler High School cluster and was being expanded to include more of the Pope and Lassiter clusters when the cityhood group abandoned its effort.

Those areas have been removed; the 2019 bill called for police and fire services that are not part of the new legislation.

Three other cityhood bills have been filed by Cobb legislators in the 2021 session, including two new ones, for a City of Lost Mountain in West Cobb and a City of Vinings.

In 2019 a bill was filed for a City of Mableton and that was also re-introduced this year.

Dollar has a co-sponsor this time, something he didn’t have in 2019, in fellow East Cobb Republican State Rep. Sharon Cooper. She said at the time she was collecting information like other citizens; during a campaign forum late last year she said as far as she was concerned the cityhood matter is “a dead issue.”

The bill still needs a Senate sponsor, and State Sen. Kay Kirkpatrick, an East Cobb Republican, has been reluctant to add her name because of what she says has been a lot of negative response from constituents.

The bill is expected to be assigned to the House Governmental Affairs Committee, just like the 2019 legislation, where it will be taken up at the start of the 2022 legislative session.

The revamped East Cobb Cityhood group has said it will be conducting a new feasibility study, another requirement for a cityhood bill, but that process has not yet begun.

East Cobb Cityhood effort revived

East Cobb cityhood effort revived; new services proposed

March 26, 2021 12:13 PMMarch 25, 2021 7:50 PM by Wendy Parker

Another effort to create a city out of East Cobb is being revived by the state lawmaker who introduced a bill in 2019.

But a group called the Committee for East Cobb Cityhood is proposing what it calls a “city lite” set of services.

State Rep. Matt Dollar will be proposing legislation to create a city of East Cobb not only with different services, but some new boundaries.

That bill has not yet been introduced, but Cindy Cooperman, a volunteer for the cityhood committee, told East Cobb News that Dollar will be doing so before the Georgia legislative session ends next week.

In the previous legislation in 2019, the proposed services were police, fire and community development.

For this legislation, the proposed services are zoning, code enforcement and parks and recreation.

Cooperman said the group includes some of the same individuals as the previous cityhood effort, including David Birdwell, Joe Gavalis, Owen Brown and Jerry Quan. Newcomers include former Cobb Board of Education member Scott Sweeney and Mitch Rhoden, CEO of Futren Hospitality, a real estate developer that oversees Indian Hills Country Club.

The group has a new website and will be conducting a new feasibility study, which is required for cityhood legislation.

The previous map included most of Cobb Commission District 2 in unincorporated areas of East Cobb, and was being expanded to include more than 100,000 people.

The proposed new map would include areas south of Shallowford Road and east of Old Canton Road and encompasses a population of 55,000.

The new bill, map and services reflect public feedback during the 2019 cityhood effort, which included several town halls and a debate, she said.

“East Cobb is a thriving suburban area. It is at risk of over-development as we have seen in neighboring communities,” states a message on the cityhood group’s homepage. “We want to preserve all the great parts of East Cobb and grow the community engagement and people, not grow the tax base.”

The touted benefits of cityhood are community control over land-use planning, preventing forced annexation and increasing home values.

East Cobb cityhood, the committee said in a release, “has the benefit of addressing residents’ primary concerns to preserve the positive attributes of East Cobb while protecting it from over-development, encroachment from urban sprawl, and the containment of unmanageable increases in traffic congestion. East Cobb residents are largely satisfied with Cobb County’s other core services.”

More FAQs on the new website can be found here.

The renewed East Cobb effort comes on the heels of legislation proposed to form a city of Lost Mountain in West Cobb, also with “city lite” services focused around land use and development.

But Cooperman said the West Cobb movement wasn’t what prompted another attempt to incorporate East Cobb. There’s “a lot of the same rationale” as the 2019 effort, but said the reconstituted cityhood committee will be seeking more public feedback and engagement.

“East Cobb residents can expect to be engaged in the process. Their feedback from 2019 is incorporated into the refreshed plans,” Sweeney was quoted as saying in the release. “We are committed to community engagement and transparency in the process to explore the merits and feasibility of forming a city.”

The initial cityhood leaders did not divulge the names of some of those involved and didn’t face the public before Dollar’s bill had been filed. They raised money to hire legislative lobbyists, but never revealed the funding sources.

After holding two contentious town hall meetings in the spring and fall of 2019 and a debate with a group in opposition, the cityhood group announced at the end of that year it would not pursue legislation.

Cityhood bills in Georgia must be introduced in the first year of a two-year legislative cycle before being considered in the second. The bills call for referendum to be voted on by voters within a proposed city boundary.

That legislation also needs a Senate sponsor. In 2019, State Sen. Kay Kirkpatrick said she received plenty of negative feedback from citizens about cityhood, and other state and county elected officials also expressed opposition.

Cooperman said the engagement process this time around will involve contacting homeowners associations and other community groups.

“There’s going to be community engagement every step of the way,” she said.

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