The Cobb Board of Commissioners will be asked on Tuesday to approve $105,574 in additional funding to help pay for expenses related to the 2021 World Series.
Commissioners had approved $350,000 for traffic, security and overtime for public safety personnel for the three World Series games played at Truist Park in late October.
But according to an agenda item for Tuesday’s meeting, additional security was needed for a fan watch party at Truist Park for Game 6 on Oct. 31, as Braves clinched the World Series in Houston.
More overtime also was needed for the Braves’ festivities on Nov. 5 that included a parade along Cobb Parkway and a celebration and concert at the ball park featuring recording artists Big Boi and Ludacris.
The agenda item states that nearly $303,000 was spent for police overtime, $51,000 for Fire Department overtime, $47,503 for Cobb Sheriff’s Office overtime, $22,735 for E911 overtime and $21,911 for road maintenance overtime.
The requested funding would come from the county government’s fund balance, just as the original $305,000 approved right before the start of the World Series.
The meeting starts at 9 a.m. Tuesday in the second floor board room of the Cobb government building (100 Cherokee St., downtown Marietta), and the full agenda can be found here.
The hearing also will be live-streamed on the county’s website, cable TV channel (Channel 24 on Comcast) and Youtube page. Visit cobbcounty.org/CobbTV for other streaming options.
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For a larger view of the map to be submitted to the state reapportionment office, click here.
After having three representatives on the Cobb Board of Education in recent decades, the East Cobb area may be down to two for the next decade, starting with the 2022 elections.
A proposed map that’s being recommended by the board’s four-Republican majority would take Post 6 completely out of East Cobb.
That seat is held by Democrat Charisse Davis, who lives in the Cumberland-Vinings area, which would form the new heart of Post 6.
The current Post 6 includes the Walton and Wheeler clusters.
The school board voted 4-3 Thursday along partisan lines to submit a map proposed by GOP chairman Randy Scamihorn (see inset of East Cobb area above) to the state reapportionment office.
Cobb school board member Charisse Davis
In that map, Walton and Wheeler clusters would be included in Post 5, currently represented by Republican David Banks, whose new post also would maintain Pope High School.
Republican David Chastain represents Post 4, which would have the Kell, Lassiter and Sprayberry clusters. He’s up for re-election next year.
The Cobb legislative delegation will be drawing lines for Cobb school board, Cobb commission and municipal elected bodies in January; the school board’s proposal is only advisory.
The map was drawn by attorneys at Taylor English, a Cumberland-area firm that was paid $200,000 by the Cobb County School District.
Scamihorn said the map he proposed met all the criteria, including adjusting to shifts in population.
Davis, who said the map is not “fair and competitive,” made a motion to keep the current post boundaries. But that vote failed along partisan lines.
She and fellow Democrat Tre’ Hutchins had proposed their own maps, which they later withdrew.
“I will be losing two of the three high schools that I currently represent,” Davis said. “It is not a fair map.”
A declared candidate for the Post 6 seat also wants to keep the post maps the way they are.
Amy Henry, Cobb Board of Education candidate, Post 6
Amy Henry, a Republican who has four children in the Walton High School cluster, said she understands the need to shift lines to accommodate population changes, but Post 6 should remain largely as-is,” according to a statement issued by her campaign.
“She is prepared to run and win in a competitive post,” the statement said. “Early support for her campaign since the announcement has been strong and she looks forward to seeing how the Cobb legislative delegation weighs in on the final maps.”
Davis and fellow first-term Democrat Jaha Howard, who are both up for re-election in 2022, would be drawn together in Post 6; he’s declared his intent to run for Georgia School Superintendent.
Scamihorn noted that Davis and Howard—who have battled the Republican majority repeatedly on a variety of topics—live so close together.
Scamihorn said he’s losing 40 percent of his Post 1 seat in northwest Cobb, and reminded his colleagues that he didn’t draw the map.
“The dice rolled where it rolled,” he said.
But Democrats weren’t buying any of that.
Jackie Bettadapur, an East Cobb resident whose two sons graduated from Walton, said during a public comment session at Thursday’s work session that “by stonewalling and shutting down the three minority members” the Republican majority has “cancelled the voices of nearly half of Cobb’s constituents.”
Bettadapur is the chairwoman of the Cobb Democratic Party, but did not identify herself as such during her comments, which accused the GOP of pushing “a political agenda and not the best interests of our county.”
Should the board’s recommended map be adopted, current Post 6 voters living in the Walton and Wheeler clusters would not have a school board election on their ballot for six years.
Banks, a Republican and current board vice chairman, was re-elected last year to serve a fourth term.
Bettadapur warned the board not to assign “Wheeler and Walton high school representation to a board member that trafficks in quack science, conspiracy theories and the old Southern Lost Cause politics of segregation and racism.”
Critics of the Republican-approved map also complained about the process for making them public and the short time for citizens to offer comment.
The proposed maps were added to the agenda late Wednesday and were voted on at the work session Thursday afternoon.
The state reapportionment office will review the recommended map and could request technical changes that may require more action by the school board before Cobb legislators draw the final lines.
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State Sen. Kay Kirkpatrick, a Republican from East Cobb, has announced her 2022 campaign for re-election to the Georgia State Senate in District 32.
Kirkpatrick, a retired orthopedic surgeon, has held the seat since 2017. Her campaign website can be found by clicking here.
She is the Chairwoman of the Senate Veterans and Military committee and also serves on the Health and Human Services, Insurance, Judiciary and Appropriations committees and represents Dobbins Air Reserve Base on the Georgia Joint Defense Commission.
In her announcement, Kirkpatrick said that “I am proud of my track record of service since 2017″ and that “I will continue to work tirelessly to support lower taxes, election integrity, public safety, life, families and businesses.”
District 32 has mostly covered East Cobb and a portion of Sandy Springs, but last month the Georgia legislature redrew the lines to include some of northeast Cobb and parts of Cherokee County, including a part of Woodstock (see map below).
In a social media posting after reapportionment ended Kirkpatrick said that “I am looking forward to representing Cherokee County and Marietta City in addition to East Cobb. I will work hard to get to know my new constituents.”
Last weekend she participated in the Woodstock Christmas parade with the Young Republicans of Cherokee.
Kirkpatrick, who was a President of Resurgens Orthopaedics, included in her legislative accomplishments her work for free-market solutions to health care in Georgia.
“I fight for patients as they navigate our very complex healthcare system. As a conservative, I believe in a limited role for government, increased involvement by parents in their kids’ education, and lower taxes,” she said. “I look forward to working hard to represent the citizens in Cherokee and Cobb counties in the Senate and continuing to pass good legislation.”
Qualifying for the 2022 elections begins in March; primaries are scheduled for May.
For a more detailed view, click here. Source: Georgia Legislative and Congressional Reapportionment Office.
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A group of students and others advocating to change the name of Wheeler High School in East Cobb will take part in a panel discussion on the Confederate Symbols movement sponsored by the Southern Poverty Law Center.
The forum, entitled “Public Art and the Politics of Remembering Georgia’s Confederate Past,” will take place next Thursday, Dec. 16, starting at 7 p.m.
The event, whose sponsors include the City of Atlanta and local artist Lisa Tuttle, is free and open to the public and you can RSVP by clicking here.
Starting Monday, members of the public can submit questions in advance at the registration link. The SPLC said a complete agenda will be announced before the forum.
The Wheeler Name Change Group organized in 2020, following the death of Georgie Floyd that sparked nationwide protests about racial and social justice.
Wheeler, which opened in 1965, is named after Confederate Civil War general Joseph Wheeler, who later was readmitted to the U.S. Army and served in Congress. He’s one of a handful of Confederate veterans buried at Arlington National Cemetery and has a statue in his honor at Statuary Hall in the U.S. Capitol.
An online petition was started to push for the Wheeler name change, and received several thousand signatures, including Democratic Cobb Board of Education member Charisse Davis, whose Post 6 includes the Wheeler cluster.
The name change group said that their research has shown that the Cobb school board purposely named the high school located on Holt Road after Wheeler, who wasn’t from the area, in defiance of integration.
Wheeler is the only school in the Cobb County School District named after a Confederate figure. Name-change advocates said it’s not a fitting name for one of the most diverse schools in the district.
They have held online town hall meetings and spoken during public comment periods at Cobb school board meetings, but the board has not formally considered the name change proposal.
Group members have complained that a board policy limiting how agenda items may be added has prevented that from happening, and that their e-mails to board members have gone largely unanswered.
In late 2020 the board’s Republican majority voted to dissolve a newly formed committee to consider school name changes, prompting cries from board Democrats that it was an act of “systemic racism.”
On Thursday the Cobb school board voted along party lines to recommend new elected boundaries that would take the Walton and Wheeler clusters out of Post 6 and place them into Post 5, represented by Republican David Banks.
The SPLC forum topics next Thursday include “Correcting history is not the same as erasing it,” data on Confederate symbols remaining in public spaces in Georgia and legislation aimed at helping the state “break up” with the Confederacy.
Other panelists include the following:
Lisa Tuttle, artist, Postcolonial Karma exhibition at Gallery 72
Kevin Sipp, City of Atlanta Mayor’s Office of Cultural Affairs
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Cobb County government said Friday that Pete Shaw Road is closed between Wieuca Court and Indian Town Road in Northeast Cobb due to downed power lines.
That’s located off Steinhauer Road near Lassiter High School, and the county alert said the cause stems from a car crash.
“It may take several hours for crews to repair and reopen the roadway,” said the county message, which went out shortly after 2 p.m. Friday.
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The map proposed by board chairman Randy Scamihorn. For a more detailed view, click here.
UPDATED:
The school board voted 4-3 along party lines Thursday to submit the map proposed by Scamihorn to the state legislative reapportionment office.
The four Republicans voted in favor and the three Democratic members voted against.
A motion by Davis to keep the current lines failed 3-4, along the same party divide.
Original Report:
A reapportionment map to be proposed by the outgoing Cobb Board of Education chairman on Thursday is designed to maintain the board’s slender Republican majority.
Two others proposed by Democratic members attempt to prevent the GOP from building on that advantage.
The maps are included in the school board’s agenda for its December work session starting at 2 p.m. Thursday (previous ECN post here).
The GOP holds a 4-3 edge on a Cobb school board that has been deeply divided along partisan lines for the last two years, after Republicans held a comfortable 6-1 margin before that.
The proposal by Republican chairman Randy Scamihorn of Post 1 of northwest Cobb (see map at top) was added late Wednesday, and was crafted by Taylor English Duma LLP, a law firm based in the Cumberland area and which was hired to draw a new map for the Cobb legislative delegation to consider in January.
Democrats hold a one-member majority in the Cobb delegation, which also will decide new district lines for the Cobb Board of Commissioners, the six Cobb municipal council districts and Marietta school board boundaries.
The proposed Cobb school board maps are purely advisory.
In Scamihorn’s map, the East Cobb area of Post 6 that includes the Walton and Wheeler clusters would be shifted entirely to Post 5, represented by Post 5 Republican member David Banks, the board’s current vice chairman, who was re-elected in 2020.
That new post would also include the campus of Pope High School and some of the Lassiter High School attendance zone that Banks has represented since 2009.
He won a third term in November by fewer than 3,000 votes.
The new Post 6 that Democrat Charisse Davis has represented since 2019 would move to the Smyrna-Cumberland-Vinings area under the chairman’s proposal.
She lives near Teasley Elementary School, and that post would also include the residence of current board member Jaha Howard, another first-term Democrat who was elected to serve in Post 2, which includes the Campbell and Osborne clusters.
Davis has not made public whether she’s seeking re-election. Amy Henry, a parent of four children in the Walton cluster, has announced her candidacy as a Republican.
But Davis also has proposed a map that would keep some of East Cobb in Post 6 (see below).
That includes most of the Wheeler cluster and some of the Walton cluster; Davis and Howard also would both be drawn into Post 6 and a new board member would come from Post 2.
Howard has declared his intention to run for Georgia school superintendent.
Under Scamihorn’s proposal, the clockwise shift in the new lines would push Post 3 into the McEachern High School cluster. That’s currently in Post 7, where GOP incumbent Brad Wheeler barely won re-election last year.
The realigned Post 7 would include the Hillgrove, Harrison and Kennesaw Mountain high school clusters.
Scamihorn, who was was re-elected last year, would just barely fit into the new Post 1, made up of the Allatoona and North Cobb high school clusters.
Scamihorn’s proposed Post 4 would continue to include the Kell and Sprayberry clusters, and well as part of the Lassiter cluster.
Republican David Chastain, who has held that seat since 2014, has said he will be seeking a third term.
The only other candidate who has announced for Post 4 is Democrat Austin Heller, a Kennesaw State University student.
Davis’ map would keep most of the Kell and Sprayberry clusters in Post 4, and Post 5 would include the Lassiter, Pope and Walton campuses.
Her map would place Chastain and Scamihorn in Post 1, prompting a new board member to come from Post 4.
Post 3 board member Tre’ Hutchins, a Democrat in his first year in office, also has a map proposal that will be discussed Thursday afternoon (see below).
His Post 6 would retain some of the Wheeler and Walton clusters, but it would call for a new board member.
That’s because he’s proposing a Post 2 with Davis and Howard drawn together.
The South Cobb-area post Hutchins represents would include the Pebblebook, South Cobb and McEachern high school clusters.
For a detailed view of the Hutchins map, click here.
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The following East Cobb food scores for the week of Dec. 6 have been compiled by the Cobb & Douglas Department of Public Health. Click the link under each listing for inspection details:
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Charlice Byrd, a Republican who represents Cherokee County in the Georgia House of Representatives, announced her candidacy for the Georgia Senate District 32 seat.
That’s a newly drawn seat that has contained most of East Cobb but will include Woodstock and part of Cherokee County following reapportionment.
Kay Kirkpatrick, an East Cobb Republican, has held that office since 2017.
Byrd was in the legislature from 2005-2013, and was a paid staffer for the Donald Trump presidential campaign in 2016. She won her old seat District 20 back in the 2020 elections.
She said she’s running for the state senate because “if the Democrats win in 2022, they will have control of both our State and our Nation. Our local communities are next in line. We cannot afford to let the Stacey Abrams Liberals and Joe Biden RINOs control our destiny, drain our bank accounts and trample our freedoms.”
Byrd is a former president of the Cherokee Republican Women’s Club and served on the Executive Committee for the Georgia Republican Party.
As a lawmaker, she worked on reforms in the Georgia foster care system and on election security issues. She and her husband live in Woodstock and they attend the First Baptist Church of Woodstock.
For a more detailed view, click here. Source: Georgia Legislative and Congressional Reapportionment Office.
Georgia Senate reapportionment sliced up East Cobb into four districts. District 32 stretches up to southern and western Cherokee County.
District 56, currently represented by Republican John Albers of North Fulton, will include northeast Cobb.
District 6, which will cut into southern areas of East Cobb, will have a new senator, as incumbent Sen. Jen Jordan is running for Georgia Attorney General.
Some areas of East Marietta will remain in District 33, represented by Democratic Sen. Michael Rhett.
In her announcement, Byrd did not reference Kirkpatrick, who has indicated she will be running for re-election in 2022. Last weekend she participated in the Woodstock Christmas parade with the Young Republicans of Cherokee.
In a social media posting after reapportionment ended Kirkpatrick said that “I am looking forward to representing Cherokee County and Marietta City in addition to East Cobb. I will work hard to get to know my new constituents.”
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A reader recently asked us about the delayed reopening of the Willeo Creek Bridge, which we reported in September was being pushed back to Dec. 20.
We checked with Cobb County government, which told us this morning that there’s another, equally substantial delay, and that the contractor wasn’t going to be able to meet the new deadline.
Instead, the estimated reopening timetable is in March 2022. Here’s what county spokesman Ross Cavitt passed along in response to our inquiry:
“Baldwin Paving Company, Inc., the contractor for the Willeo Road over Willeo Creek project, will be unable to reopen the bridge to traffic on December 20, 2021 as the county previously expected. The county is pursuing every option to expedite this project, including leveraging fines for the delays. The contractor provided a revised date of March 2022 to reopen the bridge to traffic.”
No reasons for the latest delay were elaborated; previously the contractor cited weather and “unexpected conditions” under the bridge for needing additional time.
As we’ve noted previously, the best detour option if you need to get to that area of Roswell is the same—head east on Roswell Road, then south on Willeo Road.
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Current Cobb Board of Education posts have been in effect since 2012; for a larger view click here.
The Cobb Board of Education is expected to be presented with proposed reapportionment maps at its December work session on Thursday afternoon.
The board is meeting in public at a 2 p.m. work session and a 7 p.m. business session Thursday at the Cobb County School District Central Office (514 Glover St., Marietta).
There will be public comment periods at the start of both meetings, but speakers must sign up in advance by clicking here.
Each public comment session is limited to 30 minutes, and individual speakers have a maximum of two minutes.
The agendas for both meetings can be found here; the work session technically begins at 1 p.m., but members will convene, go into an executive session and return for a public work session at 2 p.m.
Another executive session will take place between the public meetings.
The three board business items listed on the work session agenda are all related to reapportionment but don’t have much detailed information.
In August, the board voted along partisan lines to hire Taylor English Duma LLP, a law firm based in the Cumberland area, to redraw the seven school board districts, or posts, following the release of the 2020 census.
(PLEASE NOTE: These boundaries have no bearing on specific school attendance zones, which are drawn administratively by the Cobb County School District staff.)
Reapportionment for elected political subdivisions is required every 10 years. The Cobb legislative delegation will be redrawing the Cobb and Marietta school boards and Cobb Board of Commissioners districts in January, as well as city council wards in the county’s six cities.
Cobb school board chairman Randy Scamihorn, part of the four-member Republican majority, brought the measure to present the legislative delegation with a map proposal. His board business item for Thursday says only that it will be for “Redistricting/Reapportionment Presentation (for potential action).”
Before that, board member Tre’ Hutchins will present a reapportionment item. He is a first-term Democrat from Post 3 in South Cobb.
Charisse Davis, a Democrat from Post 6, which includes the Walton and Wheeler clusters, also will present a board business item labeled “Redistricting/Reapportionment Update.”
Her seat is one of three school board posts that will be up for the 2022 elections.
She’s completing her first term, and currently her post includes part of the Smyrna-Vinings area, where she lives.
Davis has not indicated if she will be seeking re-election. In October, Amy Henry, a parent in the Walton High School cluster, declared her intent to run for Post 6 as a Republican.
Also up for re-election in 2022 is Post 4 Republican David Chastain (Kell and Sprayberry clusters) who has indicated he will be seeking another term.
The board also will be presented with a request to take out $100 million in short-term loans to finance construction projects.
The money would be repaid at the end of 2022 with collections from the school district’s Special Local Option Sales Tax, and the board wouldn’t adopt a formal resolution until January.
Among the major projects slated to begin construction next year is the rebuild of Eastvalley Elementary School on the former campus of East Cobb Middle School on Holt Road.
At the work session, the board will receive a presentation about the Cobb Teaching and Learning System online portal.
At the Thursday evening meeting, two state champion sports teams from East Cobb high schools—Walton volleyball and Lassiter softball—will be recognized by the board.
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After opening its first GreenWise organic supermarket in Georgia to much fanfare last June, Publix is closing that location—at the Sandy Plains MarketPlace—this weekend.
The last day of business will be Saturday for the East Cobb GreenWise store (3460 Sandy Plains Road).
A reader who went to the store Monday said he hadn’t seen an official notice until then, following a report last month in Tomorrow’s News Today, an Atlanta retail, restaurant and hospitality news site.
East Cobb News sent a message to GreenWise, which provided the following response:
“It has been GreenWise Market’s privilege to serve the Marietta community.
“As you can imagine, closing one of our stores is never an easy decision to make, and there are a number of factors considered when making that decision.
“Please know, all associates at this location will be offered to relocate to nearby Publix stores if they so desire. We sincerely apologize for any disappointment this may cause, but we thank you for welcoming us into your community.”
East Cobb News also has contacted Orkin and Associates, the shopping center owner, for comment.
The GreenWise store, with more than 25,000 square feet of space in a standalone building, has been the anchor for Sandy Plains Marketplace, which opened in late 2019 on the site of the former campus of Mountain View Elementary School.
There are nine GreenWise stores still operating—eight in Florida, the home base for Publix, and another near Birmingham, Ala.
Publix recently opened its seventh supermarket in East Cobb in the East Cobb Crossing Shopping Center, next to Dick’s Sporting Goods on Roswell Road at Johnson Ferry Road.
The first Publix store in Georgia opened just across the street from GreenWise at Highland Plaza Shopping Center, at Sandy Plains and Shallowford roads.
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A developer wants to turn an older homesite on Trickum Road with an ample backyard and wooded area into a 10-home subdivision.
An application by Lot One Homes would convert 4.33 acres across from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints into a new residential community along a very slender stretch of property owned by The Edna E. Miller Revocable Trust.
The case will be heard Tuesday by the Cobb Planning Commission, which is conducting its final hearing until February.
The Lot One Homes application is seeking RA-5 zoning for the lot, which in its current R-20 category would allow up to seven homes (you can read the filing here).
The request for 10 detached homes calls for a density of 2.3 units per acre, and the Cobb Zoning Office has recommended approval for a limit of 2.1 units an acre, as well as other conditions.
This isn’t the first time this piece of land has gone before the county for rezoning. Garvis Sams, a noted Cobb zoning attorney representing Lot One Homes, wrote in a Nov. 23 stipulation letter that the property was included in a larger assemblage in 2006 for 22 homes in a case that was rejected and later was subject to litigation.
But the developer didn’t close on the land, which has remained R-20, Sams said.
The land is located above the Hillcrest Oaks subdivision along Sandy Plains Road that’s zoned RA-4, a higher density.
The Lot One Homes request calls for homes along one residential street, with the homes ranging between 2,650 and 3,150 square feet and possibly more, bordered by 10-15 feet landscaping buffers and guest parking spaces.
At the back of the development would be a home on a cul-de-sac, with a detention pond and a stormwater management area.
Sams said in his letter his client has been discussing the case with the East Cobb Civic Association, which has said it is in support of the application per the stipulation letter and other stipulations.
The case is Z-85 and it’s scheduled to be heard close to the end of the hearing, under new business.
The hearing starts at 9 a.m. in the second floor board room of the Cobb government building (100 Cherokee St., downtown Marietta).
COVID-19 protocols are being followed, including mandatory masks and a limit on in-person attendance due to social-distancing.
The hearing also will be live-streamed on the county’s website, cable TV channel (Channel 24 on Comcast) and Youtube page. Visit cobbcounty.org/CobbTV for other streaming options.
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Town Center at Cobb is holding an American Red Cross blood drive Dec. 20-22 to address what’s being termed “an extraordinary blood shortage” during the holiday season.
The blood drive will take place from 12-5 p.m. each day at the mall’s upper level wing near JC Penney (400 Ernest Barrett Parkway).
The Red Cross is following FBA blood donation eligibility guidance for donors who’ve been vaccinated for COVID-19. For more information visit redcrossblood.org.
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Citing unnamed sources, Politico reported that Perdue has been actively recruited to seek the Republican nomination from sitting GOP Gov. Brian Kemp by former President Donald Trump.
The story comes several days after Democrat Stacey Abrams, who barely lost to Kemp in the 2018 governor’s race, announced she was launching another bid for the office.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution also reported that Perdue would be announcing, saying that he “has told allies he was motivated to join the race because he fears Kemp can’t defeat the Democrat again.”
Perdue, who lost his Senate seat earlier this year, had considered running in 2022 against Democratic U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock, who is completing the term won in 2016 by the now-retired Johnny Isakson.
Trump narrowly lost Georgia in the 2020 presidential race, and was critical of Kemp for not working to overturn the election results.
Kemp has come under fire from some Georgia Republicans for that and other reasons.
In October, the Cobb County Republican Party passed a resolution censuring Kemp, over immigration and COVID-19 passports and not over issues directly related to Trump or the elections.
That action prompted the resignation of former chairman Jason Shepherd from the county committee. The Cobb Young Republicans then denounced the censure.
Former Democratic legislator Vernon Jones, a declared Republican gubernatorial candidate, has been trying to court Trump supporters with his criticisms of Kemp.
The former president held a rally in September in Perry, Ga., suggesting support for Abrams.
“Having her, I think, might be better than having your existing governor, if you want to know what I think,” he said.
Kemp recently received an endorsement from the Georgia Chamber of Commerce.
Trump’s complaints about the election results being “rigged” in Georgia diminished Republican interest in the January U.S. Senate runoffs.
Perdue and Kelly Loeffler, who had been appointed by Kemp to succeed Isakson until the 2020 elections, were unseated by Democrats Jon Ossoff and Warnock, respectively.
Trump also is backing Herschel Walker, the former University of Georgia football star, who is running as a Republican for the U.S. Senate seat held by Warnock.
There’s also a GOP primary forming that includes Georgia Agriculture Secretary Gary Black.
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The Johnson Ferry-Shallowford Master Plan, adopted in 2020, reflects community desires to maintain a distinct suburban feel.
A controversial proposal to create a Unified Development Code in Cobb County will be further introduced to the public on Wednesday in the first of several town hall meetings to take place over the next few months.
The Wednesday virtual meeting, which will be presented by Cobb Commission Chairwoman Lisa Cupid, starts at 6:30 p.m., and will be live-streamed on the county government’s YouTube channel.
Citizens wishing to ask questions in advance can do so by e-mailing comments@cobbcounty.org.
In October, Cobb commissioners approved a contract for consulting services to establish a UDC, which incorporates zoning, planning and land-use with design, landscaping, architectural and other guidelines.
That’s the first word that got out to the public that a UDC process was being developed. Other metro Atlanta jurisdictions with UDC codes include Atlanta and DeKalb, and most recently, the city of Roswell, whose code went into effect in 2014.
The Cobb Community Development Agency said on an information page that the changes are needed to “streamline these documents into one combined document that would be more easily accessible to the public, designers, and County staff reviewers.”
At a recent commission meeting, county community development director Jessica Guinn said Cobb’s zoning ordinance is more than 50 years old, and that a more comprehensive process is needed that periodic updates.
But some leading civic leaders have been vocal in opposition, including Vinings resident Ron Sifen, who said the county hasn’t explained exactly what needs to be updated.
Another critic is East Cobb resident Jan Barton, who wrote a letter to the editor to the MDJ in November declaring the UDC a “war” on the suburbs.
The Committee for Cityhood in East Cobb, which is proposing planning and zoning services, republished the letter on its website. Two other cityhood movements in Cobb, in Vinings and west Cobb, also have emerged this year out of concerns over high-density development in the county.
Those concerns also were raised earlier this year during protracted zoning cases in the East Cobb area, over the redevelopment of the Sprayberry Crossing shopping center and the East Cobb Church mixed-use case at Johnson Ferry and Shallowford Roads.
(The East Cobb Church project, which includes high-density housing that were opposed by some nearby residents, is on property that would be included in the proposed city of East Cobb.)
In a video posted last week on the county’s website, Guinn told Cobb government public information officer Ross Cavitt that “what you see in your neighborhood is going to pretty much be the same.”
Cobb is currently conducting a five-year update the county’s 2040 Comprehensive Plan, which will be one of the main documents used during the UDC process.
Other community meetings on the UDC have been scheduled through March, including a Jan. 24 meeting at the Mlountain View Regional Library from 6-8 p.m.
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
Let East Cobb News know what events and activities your organization is having for the public in the community for the holidays.
Pass along your details to: editor@eastcobbnews.com, and please observe the following guidelines to ensure we get everything properly and can post it promptly.
Send the body of your announcement, calendar item or news release IN TEXT FORM ONLY in the text field of your e-mail template. Reformatting text from PDF, JPG and doc files takes us longer to prepare your message for publication.
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The Walton High School football team has reached the semifinals of the Georgia High School Association Class 7A state playoffs.
The Raiders, who are ranked No. 6 this week, will play at No. 3 Milton Friday, and Peachtree TV is showing the game live in the metro Atlanta area.
That means a later start than usual, with kickoff slated for 8 p.m.
Last week, the Raiders defeated Brookwood by a 52-35 score and are 9-3, while Milton is 12-1.
This is the first time in 10 years that Walton has reached at least the semifinals. In 2011, the Raiders went all the way to the state championship game before losing to Grayson.
No. 7 Grayson, the defending state champion this year, is participating in the other semifinal game on Friday, facing Gwinnett rival Collins Hill, which is ranked No. 1.
The winners of Friday’s games will meet for the state Class 7A championship next Saturday at Center Parc Stadium (formerly Turner Field) in downtown Atlanta.
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The first full weekend of the Christmas and Hanukkah seasons feels almost back to normal.
In the East Cobb area, many of the events that were cancelled or modified in 2020 are returning, almost like they were before the COVID-19 pandemic.
Among them is Holiday Lights at East Cobb Park, which will feature a tribute to Johnny Johnson, the late East Cobb jewelry store owner and civic leader who served for many years as Santa Claus at that event.
Holiday Lights went virtual last year, but the public is welcome on Sunday, starting at 5 p.m., with music, refreshments and the tree lighting at the back of the park (3322 Roswell Road) near the concert stage.
Two cancelled events that have long been East Cobb traditions are back as they were: the 40th annual Apple Annie Arts & Craft Show at the Catholic Church of St. Ann (4905 Roswell Road) on Saturday and Sunday; and the Johnson Ferry Christmas Party on Saturday. More details about both from our post earlier this week.
The longstanding Bethlehem Walk at Mountain View United Methodist Church (2300 Jamerson Road) went virtual last year, but is resuming its interactive Nativity re-enactment Saturday and Sunday (7-9 p.m.) for in-person visitors.
A full slate of holiday events at The Avenue East Cobb began with a Menorah lighting Monday, and this weekend includes Santa events and this Friday and next, caroling with the Dickerson Middle School chorus. Here’s our previous post on all that’s going on for the rest of the holidays.
Also starting on Friday, and continuing through Jan. 6, is one of East Cobb’s most dazzling neighborhood holiday lights displays, at the Fox residence (2994 Clary Hill Court), in the Clary Lakes subdivision. They’ve coordinated thousands of moving parts into a musically-coordinated show that you can listen to on your car radio as you drive by. The display can be seen daily from 6-10 p.m.
After being held as a self-guided tour last year, the Marietta Pilgrimage Tour returns for viewings on Saturday (9-8) and Sunday (10-5) of five homes in the Kennesaw Avenue Historic District:
The Cox-Brown-Parker House, 109 Maple Avenue
Magnolia Cottage, 103 Maple Avenue
Northcutt-James-Ferrer House, 97 Maple Avenue
Gentry House, 76 Maple Avenue
Mayes-Crissey-Clements House, 140 Stewart Avenue.
The tour is organized by the Marietta Welcome Center and Cobb Landmarks & Historical Society; tickets are $25 in advance (and can be purchased at the tour website by clicking the above link) and $30 on the day of the tour. Advance tickets can be picked up at the Marietta Welcome Center (4 Depot St.) or William Root House (80 N. Marietta Parkway) through Sunday. They won’t be available at the homes.
Guests and volunteers must wear masks while visiting the tour homes and while riding the tour shuttle bus. Masks will be provided for those who do not have them. The Pilgrimage gala has been cancelled for 2021.
Let East Cobb News know what events and activities your organization is having for the public in the community for the holidays.
Pass along your details to: editor@eastcobbnews.com, and please observe the following guidelines to ensure we get everything properly and can post it promptly.
Send the body of your announcement, calendar item or news release IN TEXT FORM ONLY in the text field of your e-mail template. Reformatting text from PDF, JPG and doc files takes us longer to prepare your message for publication.
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We’ve posted about this over the last few years and are happy to share this extraordinary Christmas holiday lights display again:
The Fox family of East Cobb is once again having its animated display featuring thousands of lights and that are synchronized to music.
The display starts on Friday and continues daily from 6-10 p.m. through Jan. 6, and is open to the public for drive-by viewing and listening of Christmas favorites (88.3FM). We’ve included a video clip from a previous year to give you an idea at the bottom of this post.
The address is 2994 Clary Hill Court, Roswell, in the Clary Lakes subdivision, and is accessible via McPherson Road, just north of Post Oak Tritt Road.
Here’s this year’s playlist:
1. Amazing Grace-Yule
2. Christmas Canon-Trans-Siberian Orchestra
3. Christmas Eve Sarajevo-Trans-Siberian Orchestra
9. Miracle on 34th Street Overture-Bruce Broughton
10. Linus and Lucy-Vince Guaraldi
11. Queen of the Winter Night-Trans-Siberian Orchestra
12. Sleigh Ride-The Ronettes
13. Wizard in Winter-Trans-Siberian Orchestra
14. Candy Cane Lane-Sia
15. Jingle Bells-Trans-Siberian Orchestra
Karen Fox said the display is similar to previous years, and includes not one, but two snow machines, leaping arches, an animated skating pond and a frozen display.
This is the 14th year of the display, and Fox said the family is once again asking for donations to be made to Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta and Holy Transfiguration Greek Orthodox Church.
The display also is entered in the Cobb EMC light contest, and you can vote by clicking here.
Updates for the display, including a special visit from Santa Claus, will be provided on its Facebook page.
Let East Cobb News know what events and activities your organization is having for the public in the community for the holidays.
Pass along your details to: editor@eastcobbnews.com, and please observe the following guidelines to ensure we get everything properly and can post it promptly.
Send the body of your announcement, calendar item or news release IN TEXT FORM ONLY in the text field of your e-mail template. Reformatting text from PDF, JPG and doc files takes us longer to prepare your message for publication.
We accept PDFs as an accompaniment to your item. Images are fine too, but we prefer those to be JPG files (more than jpeg and png). PLEASE DO NOT send photos inside a PDF or text or any other kind of file. Of course, send us links that are relevant to your message so we can direct people to your website.
Get Our Free E-Mail Newsletter!
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
