About a year and a half after getting a site plan change approved by the county, Valvoline Instant Oil Change is beginning to break ground for a new facility on the former site of a Chevron gas station at Roswell Road and Johnson Ferry Road.
Crews have been digging up what’s left of the Chevron pavement in the northwest corner of one of East Cobb’s busiest intersections and we noticed this sign for the first time on Friday.
As we reported last year, Valvoline needed to run a site plan amendment by Cobb commissioners to convert the 0.95-acre tract into a three-bay oil change facility totalling 2,088 square feet.
Plans call for a landscaping plan and 15 parking spaces, and access will be right-in and right-out only on Roswell Road westbound.
The Chevron station that opened in the 1970s closed in late 2020, and was demolished in early 2021. The property has sat largely untouched ever since.
The Valvoline filings and county property tax records indicate that the two parcels making up the 0.95 acres have a combined appraised value of $822,240.
The owner one of those tracts, Ruth McLaughlin, the former Chevron owner, also owns 0.71 acres directly behind it that’s valued at $1.24 million.
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A year after breaking away from Mt. Bethel Church, Grace Resurrection Methodist Church held a special “homecoming” celebration last weekend.
The independent congregation meets at the former location of the now-closed Lutheran Church of the Incarnation (1200 Indian Hills Parkway) and is led by Rev. Randy Mickler, who was the senior pastor at Mt. Bethel for 29 years.
During a special service last Sunday, Grace Resurrection members dedicated commemorative items, children filled a time capsule with mementos and had a church picnic lunch to mark their first year.
“These folks have worked so hard over the past year to create this church,” Mickler said in a release issued by the church, referring to a mostly volunteer initiative. “It warms our hearts to see everyone celebrating and connecting.”
Among those taking part in the festivities was a 106-year-old member who handed that day’s newspaper to a 10-year-old girl to put in the time capsule box.
Grace Resurrection started with 30 members who left Mt. Bethel after that congregation’s dispute with the United Methodist Church’s North Georgia Conference, and that ultimately resulted in a $13.1 million settlement (see previous ECN coverage here).
Since opening, Grace Resurrection has added mission programs, a music ministry, small groups, service projects, Sunday Schools, and children’s moments.
Services are composed of very familiar hymns and follow the traditional liturgy, but the congregation is focused on the future. “We welcome everyone. Three generations can often be seen in our pews,” said Rev. Charlie Marus, associate pastor.
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Get your oompa on! Oktoberfest returns to Holy Trinity Lutheran Church Saturday for the first time since 2019.
It’s starting to feel like fall, as a number of fall-oriented events are taking place across East Cobb this weekend.
The East Cobb office of Harry Norman Realtors is having its second annual Fall Festival on Friday from 4-7 (4651 Olde Towne Parkway) that’s a fundraiser for their non-profits, the Orange Duffel Bag Initiative and Canine Assistants.
Admission is $15 and features a pumpkin patch with supplies for decorating, face painting, games, vendors and artisans, a food truck (not included in the ticket price) and a raffle in which a lucky winner takes home half of the money raised.
Due to the COVID-19 response, it’s been four years since Holy Trinity Lutheran Church held its Oktoberfest celebration.
The German cultural festival returns Saturday from 10-6 on the grounds of the church (2922 Sandy Plains Road) with many of the same features: Music, food, a vendor fair, kids’ games and other activities, including a petting zoo.
Admission is $3, $7, $20 or equal cans of food to benefit MUST Ministries, and overflow parking will be available at the adjacent U.S. Post Office after 1 p.m.
On Sunday, the Good Mews Animal Foundation (3805 Robinson Road) is holding its annual Vaccination Clinic and Outdoor Market from 10-4 to support its programs caring for and placing homeless cats.
Vaccinations, microchipping and nail trimming services are available for dogs and cats (but you must sign up for an appointment by clicking here). The market takes place from 10-3 and includes a book sale, board games and puzzles, as well as gently-used pet merchandise.
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Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
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!
Toll Southeast wants to build more than 100 homes on nearly 20 acres on Sandy Plains Road at Ross Road that includes Little Noonday Creek.
The Cobb Planning Commission heard three major rezoning cases in the Northeast Cobb area on Tuesday, and decided to delay making a recommendation on all of them.
All three were continued to the November zoning calendar.
Among them is a proposal to build a 105-home single-family detached subdivision on Sandy Plains Road near Kincaid Elementary School in an area that’s a flood plain.
The nearly 20-acre site on Ross Road is includes Little Noonday Creek, and the site plan reflects that nothing would be built on a sliver of the property to the west.
But the applicant, Toll Southeast LP Company, is also asking for variances that would substantially reduce the minimum lot size, set and front setbacks and width between homes and increase the impervious surface maximum to 70 percent.
The new homes would be built adjacent to another subdivision near the Scufflegrit Road intersection, and Toll’s attorney, Kevin Moore, noted that nearby subdivisions in Cobb and Marietta city limits have similar or less dense zoning categories.
“We’re simply asking to be treated equally by what has been approved by this county and the city that you legally have to acknowledge,” Moore said.
But Laurie Wood, who lives in the nearby St. Charles Place subdivision, said the land is in a wetlands, and that the Toll development design does not include a deceleration lane, unlike other communities along Sandy Plains Road.
A traffic study done earlier this year does not factor in other subdivisions under construction for a total of 90 homes.
Planning Commissioner Deborah Dance, who represents District 3, wants to see a more detailed traffic study, and said she’s concerned about the variances.
Quick Trip wants to build on a former Rite Aid site, but nearby businesses are objecting.
A few minutes before that, she asked for a continuance for a proposed Quick Trip gas station and convenience store at the intersection of Canton Road and Jamerson Road.
It’s on a 1.6-acre site that was formerly a Rite Aid pharmacy, and next to a retail center that includes Vespucci’s Italian Kitchen, a Planet Smoothie and Ray’s Donuts. (case filings here).
The shopping center’s attorney and Vespucci’s owner told planning commissioners the shared entry and parking lot on Canton Road would adversely affect their businesses.
“This represents an existential threat to these businesses,” attorney Lawton Jordan said. “These are small neighborhood businesses.”
He said a traffic study showed there would be three times as much traffic coming the Quick Trip than the pharmacy “that’s going to have a negative effect” on his clients.
Carol Brown of the Canton Road Neighbors civic group said there are 11 gas stations in a five-mile radius along Canton Road, and two are within walking distance.
“The neighborhoods love these restaurants,” she said of efforts to recruit more “destination” businesses to a corridor saturated with automotive enterprises.
But Moore said 75 percent of the access to the Quick Trip would be along Jamerson Road.
“We love the local businesses they have, but we think this can work very well,” Moore said. He said that long-term vacancies such as the empty Rite Aid building “is devastating to a community.”
Nearby residents are opposed to warehouse/distribution buildings in a proposed mixed-use development at Chastain Road and I-575.
Another request would level one of the largest remaining wooded tracts in the area for a mixed-use development with townhomes, senior apartments, retail and distribution warehouses off Chastain Road.
A request by SDP Acquisitions LLC has been delayed before, but after nearly an hour of presentations and questions, the Planning Commission voted to wait for a traffic study and for the developer to meet with community leaders concerned about the proposed industrial buildings.
SDP has proposed 145 townhomes, 220 apartments for 55 and over residents and nearly 30,000 square feet of retail space fronting Chastain Road near I-575.
Citizens opposed to the project have no problem with that, but objected to plans to build three large buildings totalling 425,000 square feet along ChastainMeadows Parkway for what SDP attorney Kevin Moore described as office space (case filing here).
But Tullan Avard of the Bells Ferry Civic Association said the site plan is too intense for the property, and the distribution warehouse usage that’s proposed doesn’t fit the office category that’s being sought.
They’re to be operated 24/7, she said, and each building will have 30 loading docks, unlike other office/service facilities in the area.
“There would be almost a million—a million—square feet of speculative industrial space on nearly 60 mostly impervious acres,” Avard said. “Warehouses are not permitted under the OS office-services category” that’s in the county’s future land-use map for the property.
Dance said that the proposed uses “as shown are appropriate,” but said more time to work out traffic and other details.
All three cases were held by 4-0 votes, with Planning Commission Chairman Stephen Vault absent.
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The following East Cobb residential real estate sales were compiled from agency reports. They include the subdivision name and high school attendance zone in parenthesis:
Sept. 11
4120 Riverlook Parkway Unit 204, 30067 (Willows by the River, Walton): $318,000
162 Vintage Club Circle, 30066 (Vintage Club Condos, Sprayberry): $430,000
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The Cobb Animal Services Department recently threw a retirement party for one of its longest-serving employees.
Cindy Ganues retired in September after 45 years as an animal care specialist, and she was showered with gifts, a cake and the well wishes of her colleagues.
The Wheeler High School graduate also has been involved in animal rescue and wildlife rehabilitation work in Cobb, metro Atlanta and Georgia.
“Animal Care Specialist Cindy Ganues has spent 45 years of her life providing selfless treatment to the pets at Cobb County Animal Services,” Cobb Commissioner JoAnn Birrell said in her email newsletter Friday. “Her long tenure is truly remarkable. . . We congratulate Cindy on her retirement and wish her all the best in her next adventure.”
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The Junior League of Cobb-Marietta (“JLCM” or “The League”) will host its 29th annual Mistletoe Market, a premier two-night philanthropic shopping event to help raise funds for the JLCM, from November 9 through November 11 at the Cobb County Civic Center in Marietta. The JLCM is a nonprofit organization which serves women and children in Cobb County by advancing social activism-focused projects that benefit the local community. More than 60 local vendors will participate in this year’s charity holiday event.
“The League is excited to welcome back our many returning merchants and to be able to continue to grow the number of merchants year after year in support of our local community,” said Cristin Kennedy, JLCM’s 2023-24 VP of Fund Development. “This event is not only our League’s largest and most impactful fundraiser, but it’s a wonderful time to highlight local artists and small businesses. It most definitely is a win-win event.”
JLCM’s Mistletoe Market, which has been a holiday tradition in Cobb County, metro Atlanta, and across the Southeast for almost 30 years now will feature locally created, premium goods, and shoppers will have access to personalized gifts, holiday décor, jewelry and much more.
Tickets for the event’s special Premier Night and Market Days, which will be sold separately, are available at jlcm.org. Premier Night tickets are $25, and Market Days tickets are $8 in advance and $10 at the door. Dates and hours of operation listed below:
Premiere Night: Thursday, November 9, from 6-9 p.m.
Mistletoe Market Days:
Friday, November 10, from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Saturday, November 11, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Premiere Night access allows guests to be the first to shop our merchants. The first 100 guests will receive an exclusive shopping bag and all can enjoy light bites, beverages, and entertainment.
“Mistletoe Market is not just a reason to have fun while shopping for you or your loved ones,” said Tammy Thorpe, 2023-24 JLCM President. “It’s an event that truly makes a difference in our community. The public’s support of the market allows JLCM to meet the needs of our most vulnerable citizens.”
Proceeds from the 2022 Mistletoe Market helped JLCM supply kits containing household essentials and file organizers to teens in foster care who graduated in Spring of 2023, which positively impacted 15 deserving students. The League also provided period products to Cobb County women and girls in public schools and local community partners, as more than one in four women struggle to purchase period products due to lack of income according to the Alliance for Period Supplies.
The Junior League of Cobb-Marietta will continue to accept merchant applications for this year’s market. Interested artisans and businesses can email MistletoeMarket@jlcm.org for more information.
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Madison Argo, who recently began his second year as the director of Wheeler High School’s band program, has died.
A Cobb County School District spokeswoman confirmed the death, but provided no other details.
“We mourn along with the Wheeler High School community following the passing of the school’s band director,” she said in response to a request for information from East Cobb News.
“Our thoughts are with his family, friends, and all those who are grieving. School counselors will continue to be available to support students and staff during this difficult time.”
Cobb schools were out this week for fall break and the Wheeler marching band also has the week off since the Wildcats football team is idle.
Wheeler’s marching band recently was the only local high school to participate in the EAST COBBER parade.
Wheeler’s band program includes the Wildcat Pride marching band, three large ensemble classes, colorguard, drumline, jazz band, and pep band.
According to his official school biography, Argo came to Wheeler after holding a similar position at a high school in Texas. He also was an associate band director at Whitewater High School in Fayetteville.
Argo was a 2014 graduate of Auburn University, where he was the drum major, and earned a master’s in fine arts degree from Ball State University in 2021.
Argo also has performed with the Cobb Wind Symphony and Emory Wind Ensemble and was a member of various music education organizations.
He also on the music staff for the Macy’s Great American Marching Band in the annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.
The Wheeler PTSA issued a statement early Friday evening saying that Argo “made a positive impact on the lives of so many students and staff during his time at Wheeler, and he will be deeply missed.”
The Lassiter High School band program expressed condolences on its Facebook page.
“Madison was a diligent educator, passionate musician, and a friend to many,” the Lassiter message stated. “He will be missed dearly.”
The Ball State band program said on its Facebook page that Argo, who earned his master’s degree there in wind conducting while serving as a graduate assistant, was “a dedicated member of the BSU staff and a tremendous asset to the BSU Band program. Madison’s sense of humor and boundless energy was contagious.
“Madison’s spirit will live on through his students, colleagues, and friends.”
Auburn band director Corey Spurlin issued a statement on Instagram, saying “Madison’s integrity was beyond reproach and was one of the most outstanding students I have had the pleasure of working with during my tenure at Auburn. . . . He loved his family, his band students, music, wrestling, and Auburn. He was a truly great Auburn man, and he will be missed.”
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Commissioner Jerica Richardson listens as Cobb DOT director Drew Raessler outlines options of the proposed Cobb Mobility referendum. ECN photos.
As an open house period preceded a town hall on the proposed Cobb Mobility Referendum, some citizens who gathered at the Fullers Park Recreation Center Thursday weren’t happy with how the event was set up.
After an hour, Cobb Commissioner Jerica Richardson, Cobb DOT director Drew Raessler and other county, metro Atlanta and state transportation officials conducted a panel discussion and answered written questions from the crowd of about 50 people.
Some complained that there was no process for verbally questioning those at the front of the room, but after a while, a few citizens did anyway.
The Cobb Taxpayers Association, which opposes a transit tax of any duration, distributed two full pages of questions its leader, Lance Lamberton, says the county isn’t trying to answer.
Including the first question: “How much will the transit tax cost the average citizen on an annual basis?”
Lamberton was among the skeptics who question the need for a one-cent sales tax for transit and other transportation that Cobb DOT presented last month.
One option would be for 10 years that would collect $2.8 billion and the other is a 30-year tax that would collect $10.9 billion. The latter is endorsed by Cobb Commission Chairwoman Lisa Cupid, who said at a work session last month that would enable the county to get more federal matching funding.
Commissioners are expected to vote later this year on whether to call for a referendum in November 2024, but Richardson told East Cobb News before the town hall a date to formally consider that action hasn’t been discussed.
Thursday’s open house was the first of several to take place around the county through the end of October to gauge public response to the possibility of having a transit tax.
She said the feedback she’s received has been “a mixed bag” that presents a variety of issues and options, including accessibility, pedestrian safety, road resurfacing and paratransit and microtransit services.
The bulk of the proposal would be to create and expand what Cobb DOT calls “High-Capacity Transit” bus services, primarily in dense areas in the Cumberland and along Interstate 75 as well as around Town Center and the main Kennesaw State University campus.
The options include Bus Rapid Transit, which would operated in dedicated lanes, and Arterial Rapid Transit, which blends in with other vehicles.
The only current CobbLinc line that runs in East Cobb is along Powers Ferry Road.
There is a proposed 6.6-mile ART route that would run along Roswell Road from the proposed Marietta Transit Center near the Big Chicken to Johnson Ferry Road, with a projected cost between $125-$150 million.
That’s similar to a route that was previously operated by Cobb Community Transit (now CobbLinc), but was discontinued by commissioners during the recession. It had some of the lowest ridership numbers in the system.
“Ultimately, he voters have the right to say what their tax money will be used for,” Raessler said after highlighting the referendum presentation he made to commissioners in August (you can read it here).
That was a prelude to a question that has been on the minds of many as Cobb DOT prepares to put together a project list before the anticipated commissioners’ vote.
Why?
Raessler pointed to project population growth of 25 percent in Cobb County by 2050, to more than 1 million residents, and a 24-percent increase in the county’s number of employed people, to more than 500,000.
He said KSU students have expressed easier access to CobbLinc, the county’s existing bus service.
An expanded and blended system, Raessler said, is more flexible and affordable than rail, and can take some of the features of rail “to make it work better.”
“We’re in the transit environment that was envisioned 30 years ago,” said Brad Humphry, a mobility member of Richardson’s citizen “cabinet.”
“The opportunity is now to envision the transit system of the future.”
“We don’t want to be another Sandy Springs,” resident Virginia Choate said.
But several citizens spoke out adamantly against those transit options, saying they would lead to higher density in more suburban areas.
Richardson had said that there would be no proposed changes in density from the county’s future land use map to accommodate transit.
“We’re going to stay consistent with the Future Land Use Map,” she said.
Raessler said that bus service would indeed look different around the county because of varying levels of density that already exist.
“There will be a different look [with routes] connecting the KSU campuses and anything going into East Cobb,” he said.
But resident Virginia Choate said “we do not want to look like Sandy Springs. . . . Buses from the Big Chicken to East Cobb are not needed.”
Raessler emphasized that the need to expand transit now is to get ahead of the anticipated influence of new residents and workers.
“How can we accommodate that growth?” he said.
When Lamberton pressed him on this primary question—the cost the tax would cost the average household—Raessler said “it depends on the household.
“It is a sales tax and it depends on how much that individual is spending.”
Richardson admitted that she has issues with a sales tax that is regressive by nature and would hit those on the financial margins the hardest.
She suggested that perhaps state lawmakers could revisit the 2022 law allowing for local mobility referenda to create some exemptions from the tax in certain categories of sales.
Richardson said she’s inviting further public feedback on the issue and invites citizens to examine her mobility presentation.
Five more open houses are scheduled on the mobility referendum, including Saturday, Oct. 14, from 10 a.m to 12 p.m. at the Tim D. Lee Senior Center (3332 Sandy Plains Road).
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MUST Ministries has relocated its Marketplace store to East Cobb.
The Marietta-based non-profit’s retail store at Sandy Plains Village (4651 Woodstock Road) is in a soft opening phase, selling clothing, furniture, home goods, and more at a discount, with proceeds benefitting its programs.
A grand opening event will be on Nov. 1, from 4-6 p.m. at the store. The event includes refreshments, special discounts and a tour of the new facility.
The store sells donated items to assist MUST’s mission of helping those in need of housing and dealing with the effects of poverty. In July, MUST closed the Marketplace location at Cobb Parkway, and since then has been renovating the larger space at Sandy Plains Village.
The Marketplace is open from 10-5 Monday-Saturday and is holding a special sale through this Saturday of 20 percent off furniture items.
MUST announced that the new location is accepting non-food donations, something that couldn’t be done at the former site.
For large items such as furniture, call the MUST Marketplace 770-790-3900 in advance.
MUST’s donation center on Field Parkway in Marietta is remaining open and is open from 9-5 Monday-Saturday.
For more information on the Marketplace, click here. Updates are also being provided on the store’s Facebook page.
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Dr. Leia Dawson and her husband, Brandon Dawson, the business development officer for the AFC Urgent Care location in East Cobb. ECN photo and video.
There’s still some staff training and final checks to undergo, but the American Family Care Urgent Care location in East Cobb should be open by later this week.
That’s the estimate that Dr. Leia Dawson, the new clinic’s medical director, said after a ribbon-cutting celebration on Tuesday.
The 3,600-square-foot facility at Merchant’s Festival Shopping Center (1401 Johnson Ferry Road, Suite 390) is in the space of an urgent care facility that was bought out by Wellstar Health System.
It will provide a wide range of urgent and primary care walk-in services for adults and urgent care needs for minors, seven days a week.
Dawson, who’s headed a Floyd Urgent Care location in Rockmart and an AllCare location in Dallas, Ga., said AFC Urgent Care’s goal is simple.
“We want to ease some of the pressure off the ER,” said Dawson, who holds a Doctor of Osteopathy degree and is board-certified in family medicine.
“Our goal is to have you in and out in an hour.”
She said the time can depend upon the nature of an injury or service need.
AFC Urgent Care’s services include diagnostics tests with on-site equipment, including an X-ray machine, an on-site laboratory, occupational health exams and worker’s comp cases and “point of care” treatment for the flu, COVID and other illnesses.
AFC, based in Birmingham, has other Urgent Care locations in metro Atlanta, including near Town Center and in Roswell, among its 350 franchised locations around the country.
Dawson’s husband Brandon is the East Cobb clinic’s director of business development. They live in North Cobb with their two children.
AFC’s mission, according to Laura Bradbury, the company’s vice president of franchise operations, “is to bring health care to the community. That’s what makes us successful.”
Dawson noted a shortage of nurses and other medical personnel at facilities that has resulted in extended waiting and service times.
“It’s an economical option for people who don’t want to go to the hospital,” said Jack Norton, who’s doing media and public relations for the East Cobb facility.
The AFC Urgent Care location in East Cobb will include 14 staffers in addition to Dawson, including two nurse-practitioners. There also will be another medical doctor on call.
The location accepts most health insurance coverage. No appointments are needed.
Hours are fro 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday-Friday and from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday-Sunday.
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“Mr. Jimmy” Grier, at left, with Timber Ridge ES head custodian Thomas Fleming
A reader shared with us news that was sent out Wednesday to the Timber Ridge Elementary School community that one of its custodians, Jimmy Grier, has died.
Principal Shannon McGill e-mailed parents and staff to say that in his 10 years in the job, “Mr. Jimmy impacted many students and staff during his time at Timber Ridge. The Timber Ridge School community will greatly miss his presence.”
She urged parents to help their students with grieving and to contact school counselors if they desired.
A recent social media posting from the Timber Ridge PTA included a photo of Grier and head custodian Thomas Fleming (above) ahead of National Custodian Appreciation Day next week.
On Thursday, the Timber Ridge PTA posted this notice on its Facebook page:
As many of you know, Monday is national Custodian Appreciation Day, and so many beautiful cards and notes were written for Mr. Jimmy. We plan to send those cards to his family in a few weeks, so that they will know just how much we all loved him. The PTA will also make a memorial to Mr. Jimmy, and we will share that information with you as it becomes available.
Finally, not only do we plan to give Ms Theresa and Mr. Thomas all of the cards and notes you made, along with gift cards the PTA purchased, we would also like to encourage each of you to give them extra love in the days and weeks to come.
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A conceptual drawing of East Cobb Church, which is at least two years away from being constructed at Johnson Ferry Road and Shallowford Road.
After conducting Sunday afternoon services at Eastside Baptist Church since its inception in 2019, East Cobb Church is relocating to space for worship on Sunday mornings.
The congregation of North Point Ministries has announced that starting Nov. 12, it will be meeting at Fellowship Christian School in Roswell.
Specific times for the services and other activities are still to be determined.
“We recognize that meeting for church on Sunday afternoons is not optimal for most people in our community,” the church announced on its website, adding that Fellowship Christian—located at 10965 Woodstock Road—”is much closer to our property where we are building our permanent home.”
It’s been nearly two years since North Point was granted rezoning approval for the 33-acre site at Johnson Ferry and Shallowford Road for the church, retail and a residential development.
North Point sold roughly 20 acres of that assemblage to a residential developer, and in March, was granted a land disturbance permit for church construction.
East Cobb Church said that it is hoping to have a groundbreaking for the 125,000-square-foot church and parking lot “later in 2023” but was no more specific than that.
The first task on the North Point property has been dam reconstruction and relocating Waterfront Drive that has been underway since the spring.
The church project is expected to be completed in two years. Updates can be found by clicking here.
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Nick Simpson, who ran for Cobb Superior Court Clerk in 2020, is seeking the same office in 2024 under very different circumstances.
A Democrat who lives in Acworth, Simpson said he is running for the seat held by Democratic incumbent Connie Taylor and is holding listening sessions.
He said in a release Tuesday that he’s doing this in part “to discuss the need for transparency and accountability in light of current fiscal practices at the clerk’s office that have been highlighted in recent news reports.”
In addition to maintaining court records and providing passport services, the Superior Court Clerk also is the custodian of real estate records and is one of four county elected officials whose position is created by the Georgia Constitution.
Simpson, who graduated from North Cobb High School and attended Powers Ferry Elementary School and Daniell Middle School, is a former chief operating officer of the Cobb Superior Court Clerk’s office.
In his release Tuesday, Simpson said he “seeks to prepare the Clerk’s office to meet the demands of the future by addressing technological needs caused by the proliferation of cyber and property fraud, and the county’s strong population growth and real estate market.”
In announcing his 2024 campaign, Simpson said he supports the clerk having to transfer all fees from processing passport applications to the county treasury.
His other priorities include installing a in-house property fraud detection system to “detect incidents of fraud in real-time and not after a phony document has been sent to an outside party for review.”
Simpson was a coordinator for a family law information center in Fulton Superior Court and held government positions in New York before returning to Cobb.
He earned a bachelor’s degree from Howard University and a master’s degree in public administration from Columbia University.
Simpson also founded a consultancy to advise clients on implementing secure document control systems and procedures.
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The Cobb County Department of Emergency Communications (DEC) is now accepting responses for its Logan’s List database to identify those members of our community with special needs. The voluntary database allows Cobb DEC personnel to alert law enforcement or emergency responders that there are individuals in a home with special needs that could impede their ability to communicate with them. Signed into law in May 2021 by Georgia Governor Brian Kemp, Logan’s List was inspired by a Georgia teen with autism and other special needs.
“Our ultimate goal is to fulfill the needs of all members of our community; programs like this help us do just that,” says Cobb DEC Director Melissa Alterio. “Responders will be made aware of those mental, physical, or neurological conditions before arriving on scene so they can respond appropriately.”
Registering your family members for this database would help responders by letting them know they are non-verbal, how they best communicate, whether they are easily agitated, or whether sirens and flashing lights upset them. This information is essential to make sure those in public safety can best help those with special needs. The two-page form takes only a few minutes to complete and could help keep responders and citizens safe.
Cobb DEC’s implementation of this program comes after months of research and identifying how the team would gather and disseminate that information to responders. Once a person has completed the necessary form, the data will be available in the DEC Computer-Aided Dispatch system for telecommunicators, officers, and firefighters to see. The agency will keep a record of information in the database for six months and advise those added to the database to update any information and re-register every six months.
“We encourage those with a family member that may be special needs to please register your loved ones,” Alterio says.
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Walton’s overall SAT score of 1,255 was third in Georgia in 2023.
Students at Walton, Wheeler and Lassiter high schools had the highest overall test averages in the Cobb County School District for the Class of 2023, according to numbers released Monday by the Georgia Department of Education.
Walton’s “total mean score” was 1,255—the same as last year—and is the third-highest for a public school in Georgia.
Wheeler was in second at 1,184, but that was down 27 points from a 1,211 score in 2022. Lassiter was third at 1,183, a slight drop from 1,186 last year.
Pope students averaged a score of 1,179, compared to 1,178 last year, according to the state data.
The total mean score for Kell seniors was 1,063 and at Sprayberry it was 1,059.
The Scholastic Aptitude Test is administered every spring for seniors. They are tested on evidence-based reading and writing and math.
The Cobb school district said in a release that its districtwide figure is 1,104 out of a possible 1,600 points, the highest in metro Atlanta. That’s a bit lower than last year’s score of 1,111.
Cobb students posted a reading and writing mean score of 541 and a math mean score of 563, both slightly down from last year.
The release stated that the Walton, Wheeler and Lassiter students “outscored their national peers by 252 points, 181 points, and 180 points, respectively.”
The other Cobb schools with total mean scores above 1,100 are Kennesaw Mountain (1,127) and Harrison (1,121).
Walton’s overall score of 1,255 is the third-highest in Georgia, trailing only the Gwinnett School for Math, Science and Technology (1,393) and Northview High School in North Fulton (1,263).
Georgia’s overall SAT number of 1,045, is 42 points higher than the national average for public-school students of 1003, according to the state education department.
Gwinnett’s mean score is 1,091, Fulton’s is 1,085 and Marietta’s is 1,052.
“Our schools are focused on teaching and learning and helping each individual student succeed. That is why Cobb students continue to outscore their peers around the metro, state, and nation. I am thankful for the hard-working Cobb educators and engaged parents who help our students reach their full potential,” Cobb school board chairman Brad Wheeler said in the district release.
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The following East Cobb residential real estate sales were compiled from agency reports. They include the subdivision name and high school attendance zone in parenthesis:
Sept. 5
817 Barn Owl Road, 30068 (High Gates at Robinson Farm, Walton): $2.525 million
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Little ones get a close-up view of Saturday’s college football screenings at Avenue East Cobb. ECN photos.
The autumnal equinox—also known as the first day of fall—still felt very summer-like.
The day that the Sun moves north across the celestial equator—signalling the coming of autumn in the Northern Hemisphere—brought with it plenty of sunshine to the East Cobb are.
Temperatures hovered around 80 degrees Saturday, and the low humidity and a gentle breeze made outdoor activities irresistible on what’s also the first day of fall break in Cobb County.
Sparser weekend crowds than usual gathered at East Cobb park for walking, picnicking and relaxation, as Cobb schools will be out of session all next week.
The local forecast calls for more of the same over the next week—sunshine, mild temperatures and little to no chance of rain.
Highs from Sunday through Tuesday are expected to be in the mid 80s with lows in the high 50s.
Cooler weather and clouds will move in after that, with highs forecast around 80 through next weekend and lows in the low- to mid 60s.
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While Cobb students and teachers will be on fall break next week, some Cobb County School District employees will be busy moving desks, books and the other belongings of Eastvalley Elementary School to its new campus.
Cobb school district officials confirmed this week that the new campus, located on Holt Road, will be open for classes and other activities on Monday, Oct. 2.
A district spokeswoman told East Cobb News that there will be a formal ribbon-cutting on Oct. 16 but offered few other details about the resumption of classes at the new facility.
John Floresta, the district’s chief strategy and accountability officer, told East Cobb News Friday that “the new building is on schedule to begin classes after fall break.”
Eastvalley was to have begun the 2023-24 year at the new campus, but in May the district said that would be delayed due to supply chain issues.
At the start of the school year, Superintendent Chris Ragsdale said it was the district’s intent to meet that fall break deadline.
The $36.7 million Eastvalley campus is located across from Wheeler High School, on the former site of East Cobb Middle School.
Construction began in the spring of 2022 on a two-story building with 136,110 square feet and 61 classrooms, with an expected capacity of around 960 K-5 students.
It is replacing a more than 60-year-old facility on Lower Roswell Road that has been overcrowded for years, with more than 700 students occupying a campus designed for 400.
Parents have complained about aging trailers that have been used to handle the overcrowding.
The Eastvalley fall festival, organized by the school’s PTA and volunteer foundation, also is scheduled to take place at the new campus on Oct. 6.
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She suggested that perhaps state lawmakers could revisit the 2022 law allowing for local mobility referenda to create some exemptions from the tax in certain categories of sales.
