East Cobb Government Archives

Census Bureau canvassing includes Cobb through mid-October

August 10, 2019 1:20 PM by Wendy Parker

The following information is being shared by Cobb government agencies and Cobb Police about 2020 Census Bureau canvassing that recently got underway around the country:

If you’ve seen people walking around your neighborhood with a shoulder bag, phone, laptop, and/or a badge, you might think they’re solicitors but they might actually be census takers. Between August 4th and October 18th, census takers will be canvassing neighborhoods gathering information, verifying addresses, and collecting other data in preparation for the 2020 Census.

Here’s a two minute video that describes what exactly the census takers are doing and how you can identify them: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tOSl4sc3Ts4.

There are also these two links https://2020census.gov/en/census-takers.html?# and 2020CENSUS.GOV that have interactive maps and more information for you to check out the census process.

Here are some frequently asked questions about the census process:

1) Why does the Census Bureau do this? You might see census takers in your neighborhood for a few different reasons:

They are verifying addresses in preparation for the census;

They are collecting responses to the census or another survey;

They are dropping off census materials;

They are conducting quality checks on the census. Census takers who verify addresses are called address canvassers. They help ensure an accurate and complete count by verifying address lists across a wide area of physical geography, housing structures, and residence types. Part of this effort involves census takers on the ground noting where houses, apartments, shelters, and other residences are located. Census takers will attempt to knock on every door in the neighborhood they are canvassing.

2) How can I verify the identity of a census worker? If you are visited by someone from the U.S. Census Bureau, here are some tips to assure the validity of the field representative:

Census takers must present an ID badge that includes a photograph of the field representative, a Department of Commerce watermark, and an expiration date;

Note that census workers may be carrying a Census Bureau phone or a laptop as well as a bag with a Census Bureau logo;

If you still have questions, call 800-923-8282 to speak with a local Census Bureau representative.

3) How can I avoid being visited at home by Census workers? The best way to avoid being visited at home is to fill out your 2020 Census online, by phone, or by mail. Households will receive an invitation to begin participating in the census by April 1, 2020.

We hope this information will alleviate any concern that might be generated from unknown people on your property or knocking on your door.

As always, if you’re concerned about suspicious activity, the police department is here to help. But we are aware of the census takers and we want you to be aware, too!

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Ott to hold town hall meeting on Sterigenics lab emissions

August 6, 2019 1:15 PM by Wendy Parker

Sterigenics town hall meeting

This isn’t specific to East Cobb, but there’s been a lot of interest since the news first broke: the toxic emissions coming from a medical device sterilization lab in Smyrna have prompted Cobb commissioner Bob Ott to hold a town hall meeting on the subject later this month.

It’s scheduled for 7 p.m. Monday, Aug. 19 at the Cobb Civic Center (548 S. Marietta Parkway), which ought to be big enough to accommodate many of those who couldn’t get into a previous public meeting last week held by legislators from the area.

Since then, Cobb public officials have called for the Sterigenics Atlanta lab to be shut down pending independent testing. Late Friday, the Georgia Environmental Protection Division approved a plan to reduce those emissions.

The substance is called ethylene oxide, an invisible, odorless toxin that’s used to sterilize around half of all medical products that require it. It’s also been linked to higher cancer rates in areas near facilities that emanate the gas.

But according to Georgia Health News and WebMD, which initially reported about the Sterigenics case, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency didn’t notify the state of three ethylene oxide hotspots it detected with higher cancer risks in Georgia for more than a year.

The Smyrna area near the Sterigenics lab is one of those hotspots (essentially they’re census tracts). Some nearby residents also have been protesting at the Sterigenics lab.

Ott said at what he’s calling his “community meeting” that federal EPA officials and others from the Georgia EPD and the Centers for Disease Control will be on hand.

He’s expected to introduce an agenda item at the commission’s Aug. 13 meeting but hasn’t specified what that might be.

More links about the Sterigenics case can be found here.

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Mabry Road water main replacement to begin in August

July 26, 2019 2:09 PM by Wendy Parker

Mabry Road water main replacement

If you live along the Mabry Road area, or use it, brace yourselves for the next eight months. The long-awaited water main replacement project is beginning in early August.

It’s going to replace most of the existing aging line along Mabry, starting around 500 feet below Woodstock Road and all the way down to Shallowford Road, except for a small stretch of Mabry between Loch Highland Parkway and Outpost Court (as noted by the red star; see the map inset below).

A new line has already gone in there, and it will soon be connected by replacement lines totalling 13,600 feet. An eight-inch pipe will run from Shallowford to Loch Highland Parkway, and a new six-inch line will be installed from Huntridge Drive to 4540 Mabry Road.

Commissioner Bob Ott’s office sent out word Friday that construction south of the dam at Loch Highland will be on the west side of Mabry, in the shoulder and turn lanes.

North of the dam, the work will be on the east side under the sidewalk. At times, that sidewalk will be closed as the new lines are installed.

Mabry Road water main replacement

No pipes will be laid in the travel lanes along Mabry, but there will be occasional lane closures. Those generally will take place Monday-Friday from 9-4 or as otherwise publicized.

Ott’s office also said there may be some brief water outages in subdivision along or served by the Mabry lines and that he will put out notices and have signs in the area with details when that happens.

The work is tentatively scheduled for completion by the end of February 2020.

The $2.575 million project (fact sheet here) is being funded out of Cobb Water System Agency revenues. The contractor is Wade Coots Co. of Hiram.

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Cobb commissioners adopt FY 2020 budget; Ott casts opposing vote

July 29, 2019 1:23 PMJuly 23, 2019 9:38 PM by Wendy Parker

For the second year in a row, Cobb commissioners are divided on the county budget. By a 3-2 vote, they adopted a $475 million fiscal year 2020 general fund spending plan on Tuesday that holds the line on the millage rate but takes in $21 million more in revenue.

The budget includes a pay raise for county employees (and a bigger one for many public safety employees), eliminates non-profit spending and reduces transfer revenues from the county water department.

(Here’s the budget proposal that was largely unchanged upon adoption.)

While East Cobb’s two commissioners voted against last year’s budget, they split their votes this time around. Bob Ott of District 2 once again voted against the new budget, referring to long-term problems over public safety staffing, pensions and transportation in prepared remarks.

“I am deeply concerned that nothing is being done to address these issues,” Ott said. “I cannot in good conscience vote for this budget.”

Last year, he was joined by District 3’s JoAnn Birrell, who said she couldn’t support the FY 2019 budget because the property tax hike of 1.7 mills didn’t come with any significant spending cuts.

This year, she said, there have been some cuts. “Overall, this is a good budget,” she said in her prepared comments before the vote. “It’s not a perfect budget.”

JoAnn BIrrell, Mabry Park — *JoAnn Birrell.*

Birrell said that public safety “is our number one priority and it’s high time we do something about it.”

She voted for budget adoption this year with commissioner Lisa Cupid of South Cobb and chairman Mike Boyce of East Cobb, who said he was happy with what he called a compromise budget.

The extra revenue is due to growth in the Cobb tax digest, projected to be a record $39 billion for 2019.

County employees who get favorable performance reviews will be getting a four-percent pay increase. Likewise, police officers, firefighters and sheriff’s deputies—who received a one-time bonus this summer to address what many have called a “crisis” in public safety staffing, morale and retention issues—will be getting a seven-percent raise.

Membership fees to use county senior centers—a hot topic in last year’s budget—have been eliminated. An additional $400,000 for the public library system will be used to meet what county spokesman Ross Cavitt said were “critical needs,” including its materials collections.

“This year was all about increased compensation for public safety, and this budget delivers it,” Boyce said moments before calling the question.

Also voting against the budget was Keli Gambrill, newly elected from North Cobb, who questioned the amount of contingency funds in the budget, among other concerns. In his comments, Ott urged county budget officials to indicate the original source of spending when bringing items up for contingency funding.

More emphatically, he said that 95 percent of Cobb DOT funding comes from SPLOST receipts, and worries about how “devastating” it would be for road maintenance and repair should a sales-tax referendum ever be defeated. The next likely SPLOST vote could take place in 2020.

“Opening the libraries an extra day does no good” if the roads patrons depend on to get there are in disrepair, Ott said.

He also noted that county pension obligations continue to mount. In 1997, 95 percent of those obligations were funded, but that figure is only 52 percent today.

While he supports better pay for public safety, Ott also is concerned this year’s seven-percent raise may make it difficult to implement a step-and-grade compensation system that could result next year.

“I want to see that this is going to be worked on starting tomorrow,” Ott said.

Although board members may appear to be on seemingly different tracks about the budget, Boyce praised his colleagues, including those who voted against the budget.

“This board is honest to a fault,” he said before the vote. “How much is that of value to you?”

The commissioners also set the millage rates for the various county budget funds:

General Fund, 8.46 mills;
Fire Fund, 2.86 mills;
Debt Service (Bond Fund), 0.13 mills;
Cumberland Special Services District II, 2.45 mills;
Six Flags Special Service District, 3.50 mills.

The FY 2020 budget takes effect Oct. 1.

Condemned East Cobb apartments being used for Cobb fire experiments

July 22, 2019 12:05 PM by Wendy Parker

Arlington Park apartments, Cobb fire experiments

If you’re in the vicinity of the Windy Hill-Terrell-Mill-Powers Ferry area this week and see smoke, please note that the chances are it’s part of a live fire experiment being conducted by the Cobb Fire and Emergency Services Department.

The live burns will take place at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. every day through Friday at the Arlington Park at Wildwood Apartments, 1972 Kimberly Village Lane (noted by the blue star).

The apartments have been condemned for the construction of the Windy Hill-Terrell Mill connector.

Cobb fire and other nearby fire departments will be working with the Underwriters Firefighter Safety Research Institute on the experiments, with the county saying the results “will be used to improve firefighting tactics, fire ground safety, fire dynamics knowledge, and to improve firefighter standard operating procedures.”

The county followed up with this message this morning:

“It is not an invitation to watch the live burn. The event is not open to the public. It is a heads up to area residents and to prevent additional calls to our busy E-911 center.”

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Ebenezer Road park master plan meeting to solicit public input

July 15, 2019 3:42 PMJuly 15, 2019 10:17 AM by Wendy Parker

Ebenezer Road park preview

A second round of public meetings concerning the development of new Cobb parks properties begins this week and continues into August.

The only property purchased in East Cobb with funding from the 2008 Parks bond program is on Ebenezer Road (above).

A meeting seeking public input to guide that master plan takes place on Wednesday, Aug. 7, in the sanctuary of the Noonday Baptist Church (4121 Canton Road), from 6:30-8 p.m.

Cobb Parks previously hosted a series of public input meetings to discuss planning for the future of new park properties purchased through the 2008 PARKS Bond program.

Although there is currently no funding for the development of these properties, public input is being sought in the planning for future development once funding is identified.

Comments and information from the first meeting involving the proposed Ebenezer Road Park in February can be found below:

The schedule for other Cobb Parks master plan meetings is as follows:

District 1: Anderson property — Thursday, July 18. West Cobb Senior Center, 4915 Dallas Highway, Powder Springs

District 1: Price property — Wednesday, July 31. West Cobb Senior Center, 4915 Dallas Highway, Powder Springs

District 1: Kemp property — Monday, Aug. 5. West Cobb Senior Center, 4915 Dallas Highway, Powder Springs

District 4: Henderson property — Thursday, Aug. 8. South Cobb Community Center, 620 Lions Club Drive, Mableton

District 4: Old Westside property — Monday, Aug. 12. Ron Anderson Recreation Center, 3820 Macedonia Road, Powder Springs.

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Citizens make initial comments on proposed Cobb 2020 budget

July 9, 2019 6:21 PM by Wendy Parker

Mary Frances Williams, Georgia House District 37 winner — *State Rep. Mary Frances Williams*

A few Cobb citizens addressed county commissioners Tuesday in the first of three required public hearings on the proposed Cobb fiscal year 2020 budget and millage rate.

The $475.8 million proposed for general fund spending is nearly six percent over the current FY 2019 budget of $454 million.

An overview of the budget proposal can be found here; a more detailed line-item budget proposal is at this link.

The overall budget proposal, which includes fire and E911, debt service and other categories outside the general fund, comes to $998.9 million, up from the current $966 million.

After several weeks of pressure from public safety employees and citizens, the budget proposal includes a seven-percent pay increase to boost salaries and benefits as well as retention issues.

It’s part of what commission chairman Mike Boyce has said is the beginning of a longer-term process toward step and grade raises and other incentives for police officers, firefighters and sheriff’s deputies.

proposed Cobb 2020 budget

No millage rate increase is proposed, but the anticipated tax digest is growing by an assumed 3.4 percent, to a record $39 billion.

Therefore, the county has to advertise the current millage rate as a tax increase since no rollback to the current year’s tax digest total of $36.7 billion.

Even with additional coffers for FY 2020, the proposal includes using $18.4 million in contingency (or reserve) funds to balance the budget.

That flustered Pamela Reardon, a real estate agent in East Cobb. After last year’s tax increase, she told commissioners, “you told me we would have plenty of money. And now we don’t have any money. What happened?”

She apologized for suggesting in such harsh terms that the contingency “looks like it’s being used like a slush fund.”

Reardon also said she thought a seven-percent raise all at once seems excessive. “I’m not opposed to raises, but who decided that?” she said.

Hearings slated for proposed FY 2020 Cobb millage rate

July 2, 2019 2:05 PMJuly 2, 2019 1:15 PM by Wendy Parker

Cobb budget town hall, Mike Boyce, Cobb public safety bonus, Cobb millage rate

Cobb Commission Chairman Mike Boyce isn’t proposing a millage rate increase for fiscal year 2020 like he did a year ago. But growth in the county’s tax digest means public hearings will be necessary specifically for the millage rate.

That’s because under state law, local governments and school boards that don’t assess a “rollback” millage rate to counter that tax revenue increase are in effect imposing a property tax increase, and are required to hold public hearings.

Last week Cobb Tax Assessor Steven White declared that the 2019 Cobb tax digest will be a record $39 billion, surpassing last year’s total of $36.2 billion.

The county announced Tuesday that those public hearings will take place on the same dates and at the same Cobb Board of Commissioners meetings in which FY 2020 budget hearings have been scheduled:

Tuesday, July 9, 9 a.m.;
Tuesday, July 16, 6:30 p.m.;
Tuesday, July 23, 2019, 7 p.m.

That last meeting is also slated for final budget adoption. Last week Boyce outlined his $474.8 million budget proposal that he will formally introduce Monday at 1:30 p.m.

The property tax “increase” amounts to 4.52 percent from last year’s general fund revenues.

The Cobb Board of Education also holds millage rate hearings in similar situations. It hasn’t upped the school millage rate of 18.9 mills in years, but tax revenue growth has meant it also has had to hold the same hearings.

This year that tax revenue increase for Cobb schools is 4.88 percent. A recent history of the schools millage rate levy can be found here.

Next Wednesday, the school board will hold its first public hearing on the tax digest at 11 a.m. at the Cobb County School District headquarters, 514 Glover St., Marietta. Additional hearings are in the same location on July 18 at 12 p.m. and 6:30 p.m., with millage rate adoption scheduled for the same day at 7 p.m.

The Cobb schools fiscal year 2020 began on Monday.

The proposed FY 2020 Cobb government millage rates are as follows:

General Fund, 8.46 mills;
Fire Fund, 2.86 mills;
Debt Service (Bond Fund), 0.13 mills;
Cumberland Special Services District II, 2.45 mills;
Six Flags Special Service District, 3.50 mills.

Citizens can speak on the budget and millage rate proposals at the meetings listed above. They will be held in the second floor board meeting room of the Cobb government building, 100 Cherokee St., downtown Marietta.

Here’s more from the Cobb Tax Commissioners Office on the county’s millage rate history, and the millage rates compared to the six cities in the county.

Cobb 2020 budget proposal is $474.8M with public safety raises

June 24, 2019 8:45 PM by Wendy Parker

Cobb commissioners on Monday heard an overview of a fiscal year 2020 budget proposal that comes in at $474.8 million and includes a seven-percent salary increase for certified and sworn public safety employees.

Other county employees would receive a pay hike of four percent, according to the briefing that took place at an afternoon work session.

Those raises would cost more than $12 million. Also included in the outline is a proposal for the county to contribute to a supplemental public safety pension plan, which will be an item on Tuesday night’s commissioners’ regular meeting agenda for approval (Meeting agenda can be found here).

Another part of the “retention and recruitment” plan to address public safety concerns includes offering a $5,000 bonus for certified officers (those who have been trained and are experienced elsewhere).

Cobb maintains AAA bond rating from financial rating agencies

June 14, 2019 4:29 PMJune 14, 2019 9:25 AM by Wendy Parker

After Cobb commissioners approved taking out $64 million in short-term loans, chairman Mike Boyce announced this week that the county government has maintained its AAA bond rating for a 23rd consecutive year.

That’s the highest financial rating possible issued by Moody’s Investor’s Service and Fitch Ratings. According to a county release, Moody’s upgraded its financial outlook for Cobb from “negative” to “stable,” citing last year’s budget vote for its change:

“Following a tax rate increase in fiscal 2018, the county reported a sizable surplus, strengthening reserves to a sound level,” the report states. “The county’s debt and pension burdens are manageable and fixed costs are low.”

The ratings allow the county to save money when borrowing, such as it has just done. The Cobb government fiscal year ends on Sept. 30, but property taxes are not collected until later in the fall.

In the meantime, the county borrows against property tax collections with the short-term loans, called TANs (tax anticipation notes) to fund government operations. The loans are repaid with those tax revenues.

Boyce said in a statement that “I’m especially grateful for [the rating agencies’] patience as we worked to address various fiscal issues last year and the ratings reflected that work.”

He also thanked Cobb taxpayers who supported his millage increase in 2018 (opposed by East Cobb commissioners Bob Ott and JoAnn Birrell), saying that “it has provided a sound foundation for the county to continue to provide the high quality of services people in Cobb County have come to expect from their government.”

Boyce will formally present his fiscal year 2020 budget next month.

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Cobb commissioners to consider $64M in short-term loans as budget season nears

June 11, 2019 1:32 PMJune 10, 2019 2:16 PM by Wendy Parker

Cobb budget town hall, Mike Boyce, Cobb public safety bonus, Cobb short-term loans

On Tuesday Cobb commissioners will be asked to approve taking out $64 million in short-term loans.

It’s become a regular proceeding for both the county government and the Cobb school board. The Tax Anticipation Notes (TANs) allow governing bodies to take out the loans, which are payable at the end of a calendar year, for a variety of reasons.

UPDATED: Commissioners approved the request by a 4-0 vote.

The Cobb Board of Education took out $90 million in TANs in December to get a head start on construction projects in the new Cobb Ed-V SPLOST collection period.

In the case of Cobb government, the short-term loans bridge a spending gap until the new fiscal year begins on Oct. 1. Cobb property taxes are collected in the fall of each year.

Last year Cobb commissioners took out $90 million in TANs, which are low-interest obligation notes and are subject to a bidding process.

This year, the county says it won’t know exactly how much the savings will be until the end of June, when the loans are formally taken out. Cobb finance director Bill Volckmann estimates that figure range from $300,000 to $400,000.

Here’s some background on the TANs proposal, and the resolution the commissioners will be asked to approve.

The short-term loan action comes right before the formal fiscal year 2020 budget proposal comes before the commissioners.

Chairman Mike Boyce will recommend his budget on July 8 at 1:30 p.m. Three public hearings will follow, with adoption scheduled for July 23. The hearings will be on July 9, 16, and 23.

In March Boyce held town hall meetings around the county to gain input on his proposed budget outline of $440.6 million.

That includes an across-the-board pay increase, more Sunday library hours and a reduction in transfer funds from the Cobb water system, all without a millage increase.

He also wants a bigger raise for public safety employees, who’ve been showing up in droves to demand additional compensation, retention and other measures to improve what some have called a crisis.

Last month commissioners approved a one-time bonus, at Boyce’s request, for some Cobb police officers, firefighters and sheriff’s deputies that will take effect in August.

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Lower Roswell rezoning-annexation update: Cobb-Marietta mediation hits a snag

June 1, 2019 12:34 PM by Wendy Parker

Lower Roswell rezoning-annexation

An update to the story we published Thursday about mediation talks between Cobb County and the City of Marietta about a disputed annexation-rezoning case on Lower Roswell Road and the Loop:

That mediation, scheduled for next Wednesday, has been called off. Also, Cobb commissioner Bob Ott, who was to have represented the county and was scheduled to meet Monday with a small group of nearby residents opposed to the proposal, has opened the meeting to the public in a town hall format.

That word comes from Robin Moody (in photo), a leader of a group of Sewell Manor neighbors who are working to reduce the density and demand other changes from Traton Homes.

The prominent Cobb residential developer wants to build 37 townhomes and 15 single-family homes on 7.48 acres, which the neighbors say is too dense and would add to traffic headaches they already experience.

Some have called it a “Stack-A-Shack” proposal for how close the residences will be built on the property that abuts Sewell Manor.

(Read the revised case file here for Z-2019-04.)

In a message sent Friday to her neighbors and citizens in nearby communities, Moody said the City of Marietta wanted to change mediation from being overseen by retired Cobb Superior Court Judge James Bodiford to going before another, unspecified judge.

Ott declined, since that change would require approval of the other county commissioners, and he is planning to bring the matter up with his colleagues on June 11.

A Georgia local government law called HB 489 (passed in 1997) allows counties to formally object to annexation and rezoning cases in certain high-density conditions, and sets up terms for arbitration or mediation to settle disputes.

Moody noted the time provided for public comment at commissioners’ meetings and added:

“We are grateful that Cobb County will now hear the viewpoints (at least how Ott explains it) that the community has been voicing since January of this year.”

The Sewell Manor residents live in 1950s-built single-family homes with a density of less than two units an acre. Traton’s proposal is 6.95 units an acre, higher than a threshold of four units an acre as specified in HB 489.

Although the Marietta Planning Commission has recommended denial, the Marietta City Council has never voted on the Traton proposal. It has been pulled twice over the last two months.

Ott’s town hall meeting will be 7 p.m. Monday at the Sewell Mill Library (2051 Lower Roswell Road). Moody said citizens from more than a dozen nearby subdivisions have signed petitions opposed to proposed development.

One-time bonus proposed for Cobb public safety employees

May 21, 2019 5:13 PM by Wendy Parker

Those pushing for better pay, benefits and retention for Cobb public safety workers haven’t been optimistic their issues will be addressed before the fiscal year 2020 budget takes effect in October.

They’ve been lobbying Cobb commissioners for weeks to take some immediate steps, and on Tuesday the county chairman’s office announced a proposal for a one-time bonus for police, firefighters and sheriff’s deputies to be voted on next week.

The bonuses come to more than $2.7 million in all, with the money coming from the county’s general fund and fire fund budgets, according to figures provided by Cobb government spokesman Ross Cavitt.

The bonus, which would be a flat amount of $1,475 per person, “is the first of a multi-phase approach” to addressing public safety salary and retention matters, Chairman Mike Boyce said in a statement, adding that commissioners “will be considering other measures in the weeks ahead.”

He didn’t specify what those may be. The next commission meeting is a week from today, on May 28.

The bonus is considered a merit-based payment, and will go to employees in the police, fire and sheriff’s departments who scored satisfactory or higher job performance ratings last year.

Cavitt said the current county budget for police and fire should accommodate the bonuses, but that the sheriff’s department would need an additional $694,964.

The police and sheriff’s departments are funded through the county’s general fund. Cavitt said the raises for police personnel comes to $1,004,844.

The firefighters bonuses would come from a surplus in personnel services funds and would cost $1,048,253, Cavitt said.

Susan Hampton of East Cobb, a citizen leading the effort for better pay, has been handing out flyers (see above and below) detailing what she and other citizens and public safety staffers have been calling a crisis.

Earlier this spring Boyce said he would be asking commissioners for a three-percent merit-based pay raise for all county employees, and another two percent for public safety.

Hampton has said that’s not enough, saying that a “five-percent pay raise will not make Cobb competitive” with other jurisdictions in metro Atlanta.

She says the money is there to address staffing shortages and pay and retention problems now, due to the growth in the county tax digest.

The Cobb Fraternal Order of Police has asked for a 10-percent pay raise.

The proposed bonuses come shortly after former Cobb Police Chief Mike Register was named the county’s public safety director.

In the county release, Register issued a statement saying that “I’m optimistic there are more options being considered by the Board of Commissioners who I believe are committed to addressing the ongoing problem.”

Vintage Lower Roswell Road home torn down at Woodlawn Drive

May 16, 2019 1:23 PMMay 14, 2019 10:24 AM by Wendy Parker

1930s Lower Roswell Road home — *A photo of the former Wilce Frasier home taken over the winter, as the land was put up for sale. (ECN file)*

One of the older buildings in East Cobb stands no more. A home more than 100 years old and located at 4658 Lower Roswell Road, at Woodlawn Drive, has been demolished by Cobb County government, which has had plans for several years to rework the intersection.

The demolition of the home and two smaller structures behind it took place following an expedited decision granted by Cobb commissioners on April 30 to County Manager Rob Hosack, at a cost of $18,625.

A low bid for the demolition work was awarded to Tucker Grading & Hauling, with the funds coming from the 2011 Cobb SPLOST account, according to a memo to Hosack from Cobb DOT Director Erica Parish and dated Tuesday.

The demolition was necessary, according to the memo, because the properties were in poor condition and trespassing had been taking place there.

On Tuesday, commissioners “ratified” the decision to tear down the buildings by a 4-0 vote. Commissioner Bob Ott of East Cobb was absent. The memo was included as an agenda item.

The home had been vacant since Jan. 2018, when the homeowner, Wilce Frasier Jr., died at the age of 93. According to deed records with the Cobb County Superior Court Clerk’s office, Frasier had lived in the home since the early 1960s.

A family member, Lisa Frasier McCalvin, said the home dates from the late 1800s: “Wilce grew up in this house with his brothers and sisters . . . . it never left our family . . . . the memories I have of playing in that house are some of my fondest from my childhood.”

Wilce Frasier’s obituary noted that he was a Navy veteran during World War II and worked at Lockheed-Georgia for 30 years, and that he is buried at the Mt. Bethel church cemetery just around the corner on Johnson Ferry Road.

(After we posted this story, a reader passed along a link to a slideshow remembrance of Frasier.)

His heirs had been in negotiations with Cobb DOT regarding right-of-way for the intersection improvements. The 0.9 acres owned by Frasier, put up for sale over the winter, has been sold. It had been marketed for possible commercial use.

The intersection project is part of Lower Roswell Road improvements stretching from Woodlawn, across Johnson Ferry Road and to Davidson Road and is part of the 2011 SPLOST.

A contract for the project was approved in 2012 but the county still needs to make more right-of-way acquisitions.

The improvements at Lower Roswell and Woodlawn will include installing a median and additional turn lanes at a clogged intersection.

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East Cobb cityhood group talks budget, taxes at Powers Ferry civic forum

May 10, 2019 1:03 PMMay 9, 2019 7:13 PM by Wendy Parker

David Birdwell, East Cobb Cityhood group — *“We think we have time to get feedback and do this thing right,” said David Birdwell of East Cobb Cityhood group. (ECN photo)*

In their third public appearance, leaders of an East Cobb cityhood group announced Wednesday they had formed a finance committee to put in motion a working budget proposal.

David Birdwell and Rob Eble, the spokesman for the cityhood steering committee, said the panel is made up of financial experts, including corporate CFOs.

They wouldn’t identify those with the financial committee for now, but Eble said after a Powers Ferry Corridor Alliance meeting at Brumby Elementary School that one of the individuals has some public budgeting experience.

The committee also will be scrutinizing a financial feasibility study conducted for the cityhood group by researchers at Georgia State University (read it here).

“They’re going to go line-by-line through that feasibility study,” Eble said, to ensure it’s accurate and “to try and create a budget.”

The feasibility study concluded that a City of East Cobb providing police, fire and community development services (including planning and zoning), and based on a population of 96,000, would have projected revenues of $49.8 million, and expenses totalling $45.6 million (see chart from the study in graphic below).

That’s with a property tax rate levied at 2.96 mills, the same paid by homeowners in unincorporated Cobb now for fire services.

Revising the map?

The feasibility study was requirement for a cityhood bill to be filed in the recent Georgia legislative session, which includes a proposed city charter and a proposed map that is likely to change.

(View the interactive city map here)

The cityhood group also was scheduled to meet Thursday with officials at the state reapportionment office about the possibility of changing the boundary lines.

Birdwell and Eble both characterized the meeting as seeking out “scenarios” for moving the lines beyond the current boundaries, roughly the East Cobb portion of commissioner Bob Ott’s District 2, to include more of the Pope and Lassiter attendance zones.

The proposed city does not include any of the Sprayberry or Kell clusters.

Both said they didn’t know how the final lines might be drawn, as that is a function of the legislature as it considers the cityhood bill next year.

Birdwell did reiterate the cityhood group’s insistence that those living in a City of East Cobb wouldn’t be paying higher tax rates than they are now.

Changing the city lines would mean changing all those financial numbers, and Birdwell said that “if it’s a real material change, we’ll figure out a way to do the feasibility study to satisfy the [legislative] process.”

Skepticism remains

One citizen trying to keep an open mind is Connie Day, a member of the PFCA board who lives near Brumby in the Stratford neighborhood.

While she said she appreciates the cityhood group for addressing “what’s on peoples’ minds” about the issue, she wonders what the impact will be on taxes.

When asked if she thought the city could be run at or below the current county millage rate, Day laughed for a second, then said, “the skeptic in me says it’s going to be a challenge.”

Day said her property tax assessment has gone up by 20 percent, so she’s already paying more in taxes anyway. That’s not her only question.

“If feels like another layer of government,” she said. “I’m not dissatisfied with the level of services I’m getting now. Right now, I’m not feeling the pain point” that might persuade her to support cityhood (a referendum would take place if the legislature passes the cityhood bill next year).

Also listening to the cityhood group’s presentation Wednesday was Cobb Commission Chairman Mike Boyce, who has noted previously that all six Cobb municipalities have higher tax millage rates than the county.

He said he was encouraged to hear about the budget proposal, so “we can get a real comparison.”

Eble said the budget committee’s work could be done in another 60 days or so.

The cityhood group is planning another town hall in mid-June.

More East Cobb News Cityhood Coverage

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East Cobb cityhood leaders to speak at Powers Ferry community meeting

May 7, 2019 3:43 PMMay 6, 2019 12:52 PM by Wendy Parker

On Wednesday East Cobb cityhood leaders will address a meeting of the Powers Ferry Corridor Alliance.

The meeting starts at 7 p.m. at Brumby Elementary School (815 Terrell Mill Road). The PFCA, formerly known as the Terrell Mill Community Association, is a civic group, which has occasional community meetings.

Also scheduled to speak are Cobb Commission Chairman Mike Boyce and Cobb Commissioner Bob Ott, with topics including county police staffing issues and a transit update.

Other updates include what’s happening in the Powers Ferry corridor, including the MarketPlace Terrell Mill and Restaurant Row redevelopment projects.

Part of the Powers Ferry corridor would be included in the proposed City of East Cobb, down to around the intersection at Terrell Mill Road.

Below that, the Powers Ferry area is included in the Cumberland Community Improvement District, which is not included in the proposed city limits.

Last week, the cityhood group held a town hall meeting of its own at Walton High School (see links below).

Mabry Park opening the culmination of ‘imagine a place’ dreams

May 3, 2019 1:25 PM by Wendy Parker

Mabry Park opening

Thirteen years after the idea of a passive park in Northeast Cobb first came about, Thursday’s Mabry Park opening astonished even those who most avidly worked to make that dream come true.

The Friends of Mabry Park, a group of citizens pushing for a park, have long called their campaign “Imagine a Place.”

Many of them, along with members of the Mabry family, turned out for the ribbon-cutting and opening festivities, and some were blown away by what they saw.

“Wow. Just wow,” said Cobb commissioner JoAnn Birrell, who has shepherded the Mabry Park idea from the start, and it was one with many stops and starts.

“It was my baby,” she said, her voice breaking a little, “and I’m proud of it today.

“The brilliant tagline, ‘Imagine a Place.’ Here we are. I never it imagined it would look this wonderful, but it is. . . . . I’ve never seen a more beautiful park than Mabry.”

The 26 acres of former Mabry farm land on Wesley Chapel Road, near Sandy Plains Road, still has a rural feel.

The long road leading from Wesley Chapel to the new county park is lined with wooden fencing, as horses graze nearby.

A pond in the middle of the park glistens, with the late-afternoon sun rendering the surface mirror-like.

Kids shout and chatter from swings and the playground. Dogs bark, geese honk and frogs croak.

“Hearing the geese on one side, and the kids on the other, there’s no better serenade to open a park,” said Cobb Commissioner Bob Ott, whose District 2 includes Mabry Park.

Mabry Park Opening

Peter Hortman, the current president of the Friends of Mabry Park, also got choked up talking about what for him has been a 10-year journey to this day.

“We couldn’t have gotten here without the community,” he said, rattling off names of other park advocates and asking for a show of hands from those in the Mabry family (about 20 hands went up).

“To the Mabry family,” Hortman said, “what a legacy.”

Hania Whitfield, a former Friends of Mabry Park board member and a resident of nearby Loch Highland, has regularly visited East Cobb Park and Laurel Park in Marietta. She said when she first moved to the county, she heard from neighbors that there were plenty of parks in Cobb, “but most of them had ballfields.”

Mabry Park, she said, “is more than I ever expected.”

Passive parks have been in greater demand in recent years from citizens, Cobb parks and recreation director Jimmy Gisi noted.

He said when the parks department was formed in the 1960s there was a “tremendous” need for athletic fields, to accommodate the growing legions of youth sports leagues.

“The new emphasis that we’ve heard of loud and clear from across the county is a want and a need for more passive parks.”

The county has conducted public input meetings for parks the last two years, and Gisi said “the one resonating message” is that “people are wanting more trails, more passive parkland.”

Of the six recent green space purchases by the county with proceeds from the 2008 Cobb parks bond, all of them—including 18 acres on Ebenezer Road—will have trails and passive green space as part of their master plans that are in development.

“All these amenities you will have right here, in your own backyard, at Mabry Park,” he said.

Mabry Park Opening

Mabry Park goes beyond that, in keeping with the farm history of the land. In 2004, the state designated Mabry Farm as a “centennial farm,” meaning it had been a working farm for more than 100 years.

Across the road on Wesley Chapel, a new subdivision is going up on another portion of the Mabry Farm, and the 1915 homestead was razed in early 2018 to make way.

To preserve the farm feel of the park, and to protect its natural surroundings, the county has installed modern technologies.

“You will find that the ecofeatures and attention to nature in this park will second to none,” said Cobb County Manager Rob Hosack, noting that Mabry has only a small amount of impervious surfacing at the parking lot. A retention pond was located near the lake to handle stormwater runoff.

Mabry Park cost $2.85 million to build. The county bought the future park land for $4.3 million in 2008, but the recession put a halt to any further construction plans. A master plan was completed in 2011, and final approval was delayed in late 2017 due to issues over funding.

The park construction was paid for with 2016 SPLOST money, but operating costs (around $105,000 a year) come from the county’s general fund.

Like East Cobb Park, the future building out of Mabry Park will come about based on community desires, including treehouses, another bridge over the lake and holding events there.

“The Friends of Mabry Park doesn’t end today,” Hortman said. “It has a life long beyond today. There’s a lot left to be done.”

For now, there’s plenty to enjoy, and savor: a playground, community garden and picnic pavilion, as well as 1.2 miles of trails.

“I can’t wait to come back here this weekend and walk every bit of it,” Whitfield said. “They’ve not only made this park functional, they’ve made it picturesque.”

Mabry Park Opening

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East Cobb City map: Defining and redrawing the lines

May 5, 2019 6:13 PMMay 2, 2019 5:18 PM by Wendy Parker

From the moment East Cobb Cityhood proponents issued a proposed map last December, questions abounded from the public: Who drew this East Cobb city map? Why isn’t my neighborhood in it?

Perhaps the biggest silent question that could have been implied is this one: What does it mean to be in East Cobb?

Advocates for a new city say one of the objectives is to help create a better sense of community identity. That certainly could be a by-product in an area that’s been building out in sprawling, unincorporated suburban fashion for nearly 50 years.

But how the City of East Cobb proposal now before the legislature, and that could go to voters in a referendum next year, finally comes to fruition depends on how those municipal boundaries may ultimately be decided.

The map that’s been drawn up is the East Cobb portion of Bob Ott’s Cobb Commission District 2, at least in unincorporated Cobb and excluding the Cumberland Community Improvement District.

That drew suspicions about Ott’s possible involvement in the cityhood effort (which he denies).

But it’s a city heavy with the Walton and Wheeler attendance zones, a little of Pope and Lassiter and none from Sprayberry and Kell.

How can that be called East Cobb?

The cityhood bill filed near the end of the 2019 legislative session includes that map, and leaders of the group insist that the map, and everything in the bill, including a proposed city charter, is subject to change.

In fact, at a town hall meeting they held Monday, they confirmed that changing the proposed boundaries is in the works, and could cross Sandy Plains Road, out toward Shallowford and Trickum Roads.

“The lines will change,” said David Birdwell, a member of the cityhood group, said at the Walton meeting. “It depends on how far we go.”

The feasibility study conducted for the cityhood group according to the present lines would include a population of 96,000, which would make East Cobb the second-largest city in metro Atlanta.

The Cityhood group also released an interactive map this week that lets readers find out whether they’re in the presently proposed boundaries.

(FWIW the coverage area of East Cobb News is most everything east of I-75 and I-575, including most of the ZIP codes of 30062, 30066, 30067, 30068 and the Cobb portion of 30075. That’s a population of around 200,000; view demographic details here.)

Subject to change

Cityhood leaders have said that some boundaries had to be submitted with the bill. The legislation also calls for a six-member city council and specified census blocks and voting precincts.

Those too are a rough draft and are likely to be changed; a few of the voting precincts indicated in the bill are either non-existent or misnumbered.

Five of the six council districts would include some or a good bit of the Walton attendance zone (it’s the third-largest high school in Cobb).

It’s uncertain for now how that school zone dynamic would change in an expanded proposed city.

Birdwell said that an amendment to the feasibility study could be requested if those lines do change, so a new study (and its budgeting and finance assumptions) may not be necessary before the legislature would take up the bill in 2020.

“It’s their discretion to make the final call,” said Karen Hallacy, another member of the cityhood group.

The legislative process

Kay Kirkpatrick, East Cobb city map — *State Sen. Kay Kirkpatrick*

Even though East Cobb cityhood is considered local legislation (lawmakers in the proposed new city have to sponsor it), a bill would be voted on by both houses in the Georgia General Assembly.

State. Rep. Matt Dollar (R-East Cobb) is the House sponsor. State Rep. Sharon Cooper, also of East Cobb, said she hasn’t decided about cityhood and didn’t sign on as a sponsor.

“The meeting was very informative,” she said after the Monday town hall. “This community wants input, and I think it clarifies a lot of misconceptions. I’m like any other citizen, just getting input.”

The bill doesn’t need the support of the Cobb delegation. State Sen. Kay Kirkpatrick, an East Cobb Republican, would need to sponsor the bill if it crosses over from the House, but for now she remains non-committal about cityhood.

“I’m trying to keep an open mind until the end of the year,” she said after the town hall. “The bill has a tough road ahead of it,” as any bill does. Some recent cityood bills and referenda also have been defeated.

By time an East Cobb bill might cross over, Kirkpatrick said, “I’ll have a better idea whether East Cobb wants to be a city.

“I’ve gotten a lot of negative feedback, but then people hear about the police and the idea of more local control,” she said. “I’ll bet they [cityhood leaders] picked up some support tonight.”

East Cobb News Cityhood Coverage

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Citizens take part in helping map Cobb’s transportation future

April 29, 2019 10:51 AM by Wendy Parker

With Crayolas, magic markers and a wide variety of maps as their canvas, citizens are getting a chance to state their preferences for how they’d like to get around the county, and elsewhere, as part of Cobb’s transportation future.

For Stephen Ake of East Cobb, his issues are on several levels, and in multiple places. He took part in a public meeting at the East Cobb Library, and they continue this week and into May.

The project is called Cobb Forward, and the more formal designation is the Cobb Transportation Plan, which is updated every five years.

Current and future trends

They were treated to a vast array of data about Cobb population growth, home prices, education and employment patterns and future land use projections.

The information was so voluminous that some complained about it not being posted online (that’s supposed to happen soon) for them to view in advance.

All the numbers and analysis will be used to build on the 2040 Cobb Comprehensive Plan, and it’s the first CTP to incorporate a broad base of information, including technology (i.e. autonomous vehicles), land use and other factors besides roads and transit.

While Cobb’s population reached 750,000 last year, that growth is slowing a bit, up just one percent between 2017-18.

Cobb’s minority population continues to rise, in terms of number and percentage, to more than 330,000, or around 42 percent of all Cobb citizens.

How Cobb residents get around matters too, with around 125,000 people who both live and work in the county, with 60 percent of residents leaving to go to work. There are an estimated 300,000 jobs in Cobb.

What’s also playing into the future transportation dynamic are growing desires for walking and biking options.

Wish lists

At a table with several other citizens, Ake placed a green pin at a spot on the map along Delk Road, near his workplace, that he thinks ought to have a raised median for safety reasons. “What they’re doing on Sandy Plains now [near Sprayberry High School] they ought to do it there, too.”

Other citizens told members of the consulting firm staff they liked the idea of more roundabouts (such as one at Lower Roswell and Little Willeo Road) and the diverging diamond on Windy Hill Road over I-75.

Transit in East Cobb is rare, with the only CobbLinc bus route traveling along Powers Ferry Road. Some expressed an interest in high-speed rail along I-75, a possible bus route from Johnson Ferry into Sandy Springs, and transit to the Marietta Square.

As for trails, completing the Noonday Creek Trail is something Ake said he’d like to see (such an option is recommended in the 2018 Cobb DOT Greenways and Trails Master Plan.)

Funding for that possibility, as well as what may come out of the Cobb Forward meetings, is another issue.

For now, the project consultants working for Cobb DOT are simply taking in the feedback, with the pledge that “everything is on the table,” before coming up with a list of feasible projects.

An online survey can be completed here through the end of May. You’ll be asked to list priorities for a number of transportation-related issues, how to allocate transportation funding and mark up maps on your own wish list.

After the town halls, a needs assessment will be conducted later this year, with recommendations made next year and final approval slated for 2021.

Cobb's transportation future

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East Cobb cityhood town hall to mark community ‘reset’

April 27, 2019 1:45 PMApril 27, 2019 7:33 AM by Wendy Parker

The leaders of an effort to create a City of East Cobb will be holding their own town hall meeting for the first time on Monday, vowing to foster a dialogue with the public about an incorporation process that has stumbled out of the gate.

The town hall meeting starts at 7 p.m. in the auditorium of Walton High School (1590 Bill Murdock Road). A panel discussion moderated by Cynthia Rozzo, publisher of the EAST COBBER magazine, will include Committee for Cityhood in East Cobb members David Birdwell, Rob Eble and Karen Hallacy.

The town hall also will include members of a cityhood effort in Mableton, which like East Cobb has had local legislation introduced to be considered next year.

Last month, Birdwell faced an occasionally rowdy audience at Cobb commissioner Bob Ott’s town hall meeting. It was the first public encounter for the cityhood group, which formed last fall, commissioned a financial feasibility study and hired a lobbyist in the General Assembly with cityhood experience.

The group didn’t say much publicly until last month’s town hall, and the cityhood legislation, sponsored by State Rep. Matt Dollar, was filed the following day.

Related Coverage

Eble told East Cobb News Friday there’s still a lot of information he has to obtain and digest after he joined the group in January, but pledged that he and the others are committed to a “reset” in communicating with the community.

“I wouldn’t vote on it today,” he said, referring to a referendum tentatively eyed for the 2020 Georgia primary next spring if the cityhood bill passes.

There’s still so much to examine, he said, and more feedback from the public to solicit.

Rob Eble, East Cobb cityhood — *Rob Eble*

He’s a life-long East Cobber, and a Walton graduate, who took a look at the feasibility study, which concluded a city could be created without a tax increase, and thinks it’s worth considering.

“It’s all about the process, and shaping it the way the community wants it,” Eble said.

Since last month’s town hall, he said the group has heard from plenty of East Cobb residents about the study—which he expects to be discussed extensively on Monday—as well as the proposed city boundaries.

For now, the map is the unincorporated East Cobb portion of Ott’s commission district (map here), and would include a population of around 96,000.

The legislation calls for a mayor to be elected citywide and a six-member city council, whose districts have yet to be drawn.

Eble said he’s heard from citizens who live in areas of East Cobb outside of the map, and they wonder why they’re not in it.

He added that the map is subject to change, and that doing so “is under discussion. We want to hear from people.”

Skepticism has abounded since the cityhood effort was revealed, most of all why this is happening in an area where no serious municipal push has been made before.

A member of citizens ad hoc group asked to look at the feasibility study quit in protest of what he called a lack of transparency.

Eble insisted that “nobody is trying to push anything down anybody’s throat.

“Nobody’s trying to prosper off this,” Eble said. “We believe that local citizens of East Cobb are much better equipped to have a say about what happens in their backyards.”

Both the East Cobb and Mableton cityhood groups have said they want more responsive local control over government services than what is provided by Cobb, which has a county-elected chairman and four district members who represent more than 185,000 people each.

The proposed East Cobb city services are police, fire and community development, including planning and zoning.

Eble said the town hall format on Monday will include presentations and questions from the audience, to be submitted on note cards.

The cityhood group also will be appearing at a meeting next month of the Powers Ferry Corridor Alliance. Eble said other meetings are in the works with homeowners groups and civic and business associations. Cityhood representatives also be at next weekend’s Taste of East Cobb event.

“This is education,” Eble said. “There is an opportunity to create a community here.”

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Revising the map?

Skepticism remains

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Subject to change

The legislative process

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Current and future trends

Wish lists

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