Khan Nguyen, a junior in the STEAM magnet program at Wheeler High School, received a perfect score on the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) in his first time taking the test.
His mother, Tuyet Anh, sent word of his accomplishment, along with the photo, and some additional information.
She says he took the SAT in May and got the score of 1,600. According to the Princeton Review, the average SAT score is 1,068, as of 2018.
His mother says Kyan, 15, is active in Wheeler’s math team, Science Olympiad and music outreach activities. He also works as a part-time tutor and also enjoys reading, playing the piano and playing soccer with his friends.
His one-on-one tutoring sessions, she reports, “have helped Kyan understand how different people have different strengths, and it is a real pleasure to see his peers succeed where they had struggled before.”
She adds that he’s interested in biotechnology and biomedical engineering and has a mild interest in business.
His college plans are to apply to a number of colleges, including Northwestern, Georgia Tech and Brown.
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A man who crossed Roswell Road near Powers Ferry Road Saturday night was struck by four vehicles and was killed, according to Marietta Police.
Police said in a message Monday afternoon that the victim’s name has not been released because next-of-kin are still being notified.
He was identified by police as a 38-year-old Hispanic male who exited the parking lot at the Mi Rancho restaurant (1495 Roswell Road) around 9:15 p.m. Saturday.
That’s near Williamson Bros. BBQ in the location of a former McDonald’s.
UPDATED:
Marietta Police said the victim was Ismael Bernardo Morales.
Police said the man crossed Roswell Road outside of a crosswalk and was struck by four vehicles. He was pronounced dead on the scene, according to police, who said all four motorists stayed on the scene and are cooperating with police.
Marietta Police are continuing to investigate the crash and are asking anyone with information to call Investigator Bedford at 770-794-5364.
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While the now-pulled trash service overhaul has gotten much of the attention, other proposed Cobb code amendments to be considered by Cobb commissioners have generated community opposition.
Richard Grome, East Cobb Civic Association
Among them are proposed regulations for short-term rentals, a matter that has come before commissioners twice before.
A final hearing on that and other code amendments is scheduled for Tuesday night, as is a vote by the Cobb Board of Commissioners.
Their meeting begins at 7 p.m. in the 2nd floor board room of the Cobb government building, 100 Cherokee St., in downtown Marietta.
The code amendment proposals cover a wide range of ordinances, including apartment inspections, smoking in public parks, and zoning.
The Cobb Community Development Agency hasn’t substantially changed proposed provisions for short-term rentals up to 30 days that would require a certificate for each rental through the Cobb Business License Division.
Each rental must have a designated agent available be contacted about parking, noise and other issues.
The regulations would allow up to one person for every 390 square feet and parking, building, health and sanitation regulations governing single-family zoning would also apply.
The rentals would be subject to hotel/motel taxes tourism fees and other local and state taxes.
Fines would be $500 for a first violation in first 12 months and $750 for a second violation in the same time span. A third violation would result in revocation of a certificate, and new applications for that property would be rejected for 12 months.
Cobb commissioners declined to approve the proposal in January and the opponents raised familiar concerns.
Richard Grome, president of the East Cobb Civic Association, asked commissioners at a Sept. 13 public hearing to hold the code amendment proposals.
The proposed regulations, he said, include “a great amount of ambiguous language and undefined terms, all of which are subject to interpretation.”
He asked whether a $55 license cost for a short-term rental would cover “all the work involved” in keeping four county agencies updated. Grome also asked who would be responsible for checking the maximum occupancy and if some properties could be grandfathered.
While recognizing the need for such a code, Grome said “work still needs to be done to tighten up the language and address certain specific issues.”
Jamie McCreary, a resident of the Weatherstone subdivision in East Cobb, also said that enforcement mechanisms “lack definition.”
He said the provision that short-term renters and agents are responsible for following, the health, sanitation and other regulations “sounds very fox and henhouse. In my opinion they’re always going to be in compliance if they’re the ones that get to say if they’re in compliance or not.”
McCreary said that notifications to be provided in the rentals of occupancy and parking limits “are good,” but he also questioned how that would be enforced.
He worried about the introduction of what he called “transient housing” in residential neighborhoods, and referenced a home next to his with 5,500 square feet that could allow up to 14 people.
“I’d like to see some control between families who are trying to make a little additional income to get by and make ends meet versus people who are setting up transient hoteling systems,” McCreary said.
The full agenda for Tuesday’s meeting can be found by clicking here.
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Drew Collins is learning the ropes of running a business that he and his father David, a horticulturalist, started four years ago.
On the first Saturday of the fall, Drew Collins moves about rows of native perennial plants aligned in a portion of a community park in his East Cobb neighborhood.
As customers browse nearly 200 species of plants—from Black-Eyed Susans to Yarrow “Peter Cottontails” and many others in between—the 14-year-old answers questions and helps place items on wagons.
What’s called “Drew’s Plant Sale” are the semi-annual fruits of his labor growing and tending to a sprawling nursery in the back yard of his home in Fox Hills, an enterprise that has expanded due to word-of-mouth referrals and making connections with local garden clubs.
While Drew has been around the plant world all his life—his father David is a long-time horticulturalist at Fernbank Science Center—the freshman at Fellowship Christian School in Roswell is gaining valuable experience as he earns money for college.
“Drew’s Plant Sale” includes descriptive information about each plant, including several varieties of the Canna Lily.
“It was something to do and it was pretty fun,” Drew explains about getting serious about plant-raising that started at the age of nine, with a few basic herbs.
His father saw something more, and they parlayed it into a local business venture.
For the last four years they have held sales in April and September; on Saturday, more than 1,500 plants were on display.
“I told him, ‘If we’re going to do this, let’s have some goals,’ ” David Collins said. First up was raising enough money from the initial sales to purchase a truck to transport the plants.
They started with 500 plants sold at their home, but two years ago required more room. The Fox Hills park comprises seven acres along Sope Creek where homes were demolished after the area was declared to be in a flood plain.
This year Drew grew more than 2,000 plants, and next year the aim is to double that. David Collins didn’t want to divulge dollar figures from the sales, but said that “we’re two-and-a-half years ahead” of where they thought they would be financially.
Drew is self-funding the business with proceeds from past sales, and has been making presentations to community groups, including the Sope Creek Garden Club.
The work is physically challenging. Setting up for the sale took several days, and David Collins said the biggest issue is that they’re running out of room in their backyard nursery, which includes a greenhouse for unsold plants.
While the teen is soft-spoken and shy, his father sees him growing in many ways in having to deal with the public.
In his years as an educator, David Collins sees young people struggling to communicate with others, especially adults. Giving teens the confidence during what for many of them is an awkward time in their lives is invaluable.
Drew hasn’t started thinking about where he might go to college, and for now he says he relishes learning and growing with every stage as his business develops.
“I don’t know if Drew will go into this” professionally, his father said. “But there are so many life lessons that he is learning from this.”
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4642 Jefferson Ridge Way, 30066 (The Enclave at Jefferson Ridge, Lassiter): Travis Newberry to Sean and Jamilah McCulley; $737,000
3910 Rock Mill Parkway, 30062 (Rock Mill, Lassiter): Veronica and James Shaffer to BAF 3 LLC; $323,000
3442 Winter Wood Trace, 30062 (Country Crossing, Pope): Jamilah Franklin to Andrea Unanka; $420,000
3012 St. Andrews Way, 30062 (Ashford Pines, Pope): Southern States Investments LLC and Carl and V.L. Evans to Thomas Neuman and Dagmara Szkaradec and J & I Properties LLC; $415,879
564 Parliament Street, 30066 (Downing Street of Town Center, Sprayberry): Jennifer Gibson to Jordan and Wesley Gibson; $390,000
521 Yorkshire Drive, 30068 (Country Place East, Wheeler): SSDNJ Investments Corp. to Krista Wain; $495,000
2473 Cedar Canyon Road, 30067 (Cedar Canyon, Wheeler): Courtney Newton to Norey Smith; $230,500
1718 Woodwalk Creek Unit 2, 30339 (Riverwalk at Wildwood, Wheeler): Darlene Bostic to Denika Thomas; $605,000
Sept. 7
5023 S. Ellipse Road, 30066 (Wimbledon Place, Walton): Piarias de Cleir to GCO Capital LLC; $300,000
3357 Clair Circle, 30066 (Shaw Woods, Sprayberry): Andrew and Jennifer Cartwright to Janet Laney, Diane Farmer and Hanson Farmer Jr.; $420,000
1591 Sprayberry Drive, 30066 (Sprayberry Heights, Sprayberry: Robert and Lynn Palazzo to Suhey Cuellar and Ricardo Alcantar; $420,000
1570 Meadowview Drive, 30062 (Hasty Meadows, Sprayberry): Fan Jinghong to SFROC Georgia LLC; $280,000
471 Old Canton Road, 30068 (Sope Creek Farms, Wheeler): John Sheahan to Sean and Lindsay Dalberg; $425,000
2056 Pawnee Drive, 30067 (Cayuga Forrest, Wheeler): Roger Schmidt to Evan Kellams; $336,000
Sept. 8
4519 Dartmoor Drive, 30067 (Fainview Farm, Walton): Sandra Brown to Tracy Trentadue and James Monacell; $632,500
4970 Heritage Trace Court, 30068 (Heritage Trace, Walton): Jessica Lee to Hoang Tran and Khuyet Thi Nguyen; $460,000
495 Nottingham Drive, 30066 (Canterbury North, Sprayberry): Byron Jay Curlee to James and Joann Moore Revocable Trust; $250,000
671 Dozier Drive, 30066 (Breezecrest, Sprayberry): Mary Ellen and James McNeel to Marshall and Rachel Knox; $286,000
2212 Concord Square, 30062 (Concord Square, Sprayberry): Georgia Home Rescue LLC to Megan Height; $475,000
330 Nibblewill Place Unit 25, 30066 (Barrett Creek Townhomes, Sprayberry): Ronak Padhiar to Stephanie and George Landa; $329,999
3331 Casteel Road, 30062 (Post Oak Square, Pope): Stephanie Fahringer to Daniel Casillas; $450,000
2291 Woods Field Lane, 30062 (Post Oak Square, Pope): Colleen Halvorson to Eleven Collective LLC; $420,000
1701 Grist Mill Road, 30062 (Barnes Mill Lake, Wheeler): Eric Smith and Rochonda Pearson to Raycar Group LLCl $281,000
Sept. 9
2001 Winsted Way, 30062 (Easthampton The Estates, Walton): Stuart Dermer to Steven Alan Williams; $820,000
915 Tisdale Trail, 30068 (The Reserve at Olde Towne, Walton): Pulte Home Co. LLC to Michelle Jurecevich; $722,837
907 Tisdale Trail, 30068 (The Reserve at Olde Towne, Walton): Pulte Home Co. LLC to The Sheri Rosenberg Living Trust; $662,258
895 Tisdale Trail, 30068 (The Reserve at Olde Towne, Walton): Pulte Home Co. LLC to Subbiah and Meenakshi Venkatachalam and Sivagami Alagappan; $716,272
664 Serramonte Drive, 30068 (Villas at Parkaire, Walton): Karla Warnick to Joel Perez; $330,000
2862 Landing Drive, 30066 (Windsor Oaks, Lassiter): Sherry Winchester to Samuel and Mary Clay; $725,000
1250 Little Acres Place, 30066 (Philmont Estates, Sprayberry): Cherecobb Holdings LLC to Acosta Construction Co.; $218,500
3478 Sabrina Court, 30066 (Swanson Heights, Lassiter): Cato Homes LLC to Purchasing Fund 2021 1 LLC; $495,000
3100 Susan Court, 30066 (Russell Plantation Estates, Sprayberry): Charity Fincher to Teresa Lamprey; $415,000
2727 Country Lane, 30062 (Chimney Springs, Pope): Jeremy Wisneski to Rachel and James Parham; $720,000
3346 Camelot Drive, 30062 (Camelot, Pope): Laura Daniel Khligh to Layne and James Gainey; $407,000
2346 Wilderness Way, 30066 (Wilderness Ridge, Sprayberry): Cyrus Alan Brooks to Delaruelle Brumskine; $395,000
3587 Liberty Lane, 30062 (Independence Square, Walton): Brian Peterman to Brian Levenson and Michelle Freesman; $525,000
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The following Cobb food scores for the week of Sept. 19 have been compiled by the Cobb & Douglas Department of Public Health. Click the link under each listing for inspection details:
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The East Cobb-based Aloha to Aging non-profit will have a fall festival and expo Oct. 16 to provide resources and awareness for aging care recipients and their caregivers.
The “Generation to Generation” event will be held from 2-6 p.m. at Covenant Presbyterian Church (2881 Canton Road). It’s free and open to the public and will include participant prize drawings and chances to buy “Split the Pot” raffle tickets.
Aloha to Aging, Inc., which was founded in 2009, has expanded its service provisions to include Cherokee, DeKalb, Fulton and Paulding counties.
Last year A2A served more than 3,000 people (including volunteers) with services that include a social day respite program for those over 55 who no longer drive but want socialization activities away from home, monthly support groups for those with Early Onset Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease and their caregivers and education and wellness programs to aid seniors and their family members.
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October’s just around the corner, and we’re starting to get word of Halloween-related events around the community for the public to enjoy.
Among the organizations taking part is the Mabry Middle Foundation, which will have a Haunted House event Oct. 22 that includes an immersive Halloween experience.
They’re calling it “The Fear Master’s Lab,” and it’s centered around the story of a professor driven MAD by his students and parents and just “wants payback for all the sleepless nights.”
According to the program promo, “things take a toxic turn though when he creates a laboratory specifically designed to extract people’s deepest and darkest fears and turn them into tools to haunt their nightmares.”
The event takes place from 7-10 p.m. at the Mabry Middle School campus (2700 Jims Road) and you can find more information and order tickets by clicking here.
According to a Foundation release, “The Fear Master’s Lab is aimed at providing a safe, local Halloween experience for area students while still providing the highest-level fright factor and entertainment. This event is the first of its kind for the East Cobb community.”
There also will be a pumpkin boutique selling professionally decorated pumpkins and a kids area (ages 10 and under) with games, crafts and other activities.
Proceeds from the ticket sales will be used by the foundation to support academic programs and facility improvements at the school.
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Three employees of schools in East Cobb were honored this week by the Cobb County School District.
They’re among the district’s classified employees of the year, which goes to those working in support staff positions: secretaries, custodians, nurses, food service staff, bus drivers, paraprofessionals, fleet maintenance and other categories.
The honors were announced during a luncheon this week at Roswell Street Baptist Church and are given at the elementary, middle and high school levels.
Just as was done last week with retired Cobb school district employees, the individuals were honored over the last two school years, since the event has been suspended for COVID-19 reasons.
District-level classified employees of the year from 2020-22 include Kathleen Riewerts (in the photo above), who is the Food and Nutrition Services manager at Daniell Middle School.
For the 2022-23 school year, school nurse Susan Murphy of Murdock Elementary School and Terri Robbins, the school secretary at Kell High School, were district-level winners.
They posed for the photos with their families and Cobb school superintendent Chris Ragsdale.
“I love Kell, especially because we have such a wonderful team, Robbins said in a Cobb school district release. “I have the best principal. It’s a job that I am happy to go to every single day. I look forward to it. It is just the team that makes the whole experience worthwhile.”
“I have a love for food. I come from a big Italian family, and I love to be able to share that with the children and teach them about nutrition and food and different tastes and stuff,” Riewerts said in the release.
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Cobb school board chairman David Chastain is accusing his November election challenger of “trying to score some cheap political points” in comments she made about a special review conducted last year by the Cobb County School District’s accrediting agency.
In a campaign e-mail sent Wednesday, Chastain accused Catherine Pozniak of being “a politically activist opponent” for her criticisms of the board regarding the special review.
Chastain, a Republican, is vying for his third term representing Post 4, which includes the Kell and Sprayberry clusters and a portion of the Lassiter attendance zone. Pozniak is a Democrat who graduated from Sprayberry and only recently returned to East Cobb after attending college, teaching and being a school administrator in other states.
Near the top of Chastain’s e-mail was a headline entitled “The Discredited COGNIA Report,” under which he said he was “very proud of the SUCCESSFUL and VIGOROUS defense of our school’s accreditation.
“Engaging in selfish political behavior, which puts our students at risk, is not the type of leader we need on our Cobb school board.”
In March, just before Cognia, the Alpharetta-based accrediting agency, reversed findings of its special review, Pozniak blamed the board’s Republican majority for “not having a clear plan for teaching and learning.”
In an interview with the Cobb County Courier, Pozniak said “I think it’s unfortunate the way the board leadership has approached this, which is to not talk about it at all. These are not unfixable problems and issues, and while they are avoiding the topic, they are also not coming to a solution.”
In his e-mail this week, Chastain included the first part of the first sentence and highlighted it in yellow, as well as her charge about the board “avoiding the topic.” He didn’t cite the specific source except to say “local media blogs.”
Under an italicized headline in red, “NEWS ALERT,” Chastain said “the problem for my politically activist opponent comes directly from the recanted accreditation report. . . . ‘there was no real issue.’ ”
That’s a quote from Cognia president Mark Elgart, who in announcing the reversal told the board that the agency’s special review team “did not adequately contextualize or incorporate factual evidence provided by the School District, drawing erroneous conclusions.”
The initial report, issued in November 2021, gave the district a year to make improvements in several areas. All of them were rescinded with the exception of board governance.
The Cobb school board has a 4-3 Republican majority, and the Post 4 race could determine party control.
Chastain is the only Republican board member on the ballot this year.
He easily defeated Democrats in his first two elections in a post considered to be strongly conservative.
But Pozniak has outraised Chastain, who held a fundraiser last month at Atlanta Country Club.
She has $18,357 in cash on hand and has raised $7,505 since January, according to her latest financial disclosure reports. In all, Pozniak is reporting she has raised nearly $23,000.
Chastain, a Wheeler High School graduate, has collected $5,625 in the first six months of 2022 and has $4,850 on hand.
In his e-mail this week, Chastain wrote that Cognia realized it had been “played” by “some political activists and some rogue board members,” a reference to the board’s three Democrats who asked the accreditor to conduct a review.
He accused Pozniak of “joining the assault on our students and our schools.”
Pozniak told East Cobb News that in her discussions with parents on the campaign trail, “Cognia doesn’t come up” that often.
She said the comments she made to the Courier were published on March 3. The following day, the school board announced a special-called meeting for March 7, at which the accrediting agency reversed the findings of the special review.
“My quotes in that article were not in reaction to Cognia’s reversal–it hadn’t happened, yet,” she said
“I hear a lot from parents who have reached out to him and they hear nothing from him,” Pozniak said of Chastain.
“People who have not heard back from him are now being reached out to under these circumstances,” Pozniak said, a reference to Chastain’s campaign e-mails.
She said she’s seen the most recent e-mail and said it contains “petty stuff.”
Pozniak also called out board leadership for not publicly responding to more recent issues, including complaints of a new East Side Elementary School logo resembling a Nazi symbol, and school safety measures that include hiring armed non-police personnel at schools.
“People are dissatisfied with what they are seeing from this board,” she said. “There’s not one issue that’s driving this race.”
East Cobb News contacted Chastain seeking comment, and he requested questions via e-mail. He replied late Friday afternoon.
When asked to identify the “political activists,” Chastain said the following, via a campaign media coordinator:
“It has been extensively documented who has sought to tarnish the Cobb County School District’s great reputation, in public comments, emails, social media comments, and those who aggressively seek face-time on television and the radio. In addition, a quick review of Pozniak’s campaign donation list clearly demonstrates groups and individuals who do not share Cobb County values in limiting instruction to the state standards.
“We will consider putting some links on our website and other platforms in the very near future to assist voters to understand who those groups or individuals are. On the first review, it seems like it would be a good addition to our messaging and education of the voters.”
He also was asked who is receiving the e-mails and whether some of the addresses may have come from a list kept by fellow East Cobb board member David Banks, who sends out an occasional e-mail newsletter.
Chastain said that “while it is unfortunate that Catherine Pozniak has only lived in Cobb County for only a few months as an adult, the harsh reality is that her failing campaign simply does not have the right to know where our numerous email lists come from and how far our broad base of support extends.”
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Starting Oct. 3, Cobb library patrons will be able to check out materials to help them in the process of becoming American citizens.
The Citizenship and Civics guides include “official U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) publications and study guides on the naturalization process, according to a Cobb County Public Library System release.
Katherine Zavala, a member of the library’s Community and User Engagement department, said the kits also will help aspiring citizens prepare to meet with an immigration attorney. More from the release:
“The kit contains publications on the rights and responsibilities of immigrants seeking to become a U.S. citizen, quick civic lessons for the naturalization test, flashcards in English and Spanish on naturalization, and a Citizenship Resources at the Library sheet. The checkout period for the kit is three weeks.”
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Among the recent retirees of the Cobb County School District are several people who served at schools in East Cobb for more than 30 years.
They were honored last week as part of a 335-member group that retired in 2020, 2021 and 2022 in the first such event since before the COVID-19 pandemic.
The luncheon at Roswell Street Baptist Church featured remarks from Cobb schools Superintendent Chris Ragsdale, and several board members were also present.
Among the longest-serving retirees were Shane Amos, a teacher and coach at Walton High School for 36 years; Wanda Waldrop, a custodian at Addison Elementary School, who served 35 years; and Nancy Janas, a teacher at Mountain View Elementary School for 35 years.
Also honored was Mary Ortland, the longtime nurse at Dodgen Middle School.
The retirees worked a combined 7,523 years in the Cobb County School District.
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The Georgia Secretary of State’s office is providing sample ballots for voters for the 2022 general elections that culminate on Nov. 8.
The revamped My Voter Page (click here) allows voters to access a customized sample ballot that includes candidates in all the elected offices for which they are eligible to vote.
That includes federal, state and local offices and four statewide ballot questions.
In addition to a U.S. Senate seat, Georgia governor and all state constitutional offices will be decided, along with all legislative and U.S. House seats.
In Cobb, there’s just one countywide race—Cobb Solicitor—and in East Cobb, voters will be deciding District 3 Cobb Board of Commissioners and Post 4 Cobb Board of Education representatives.
Two Republican incumbents are being challenged in those races: Commissioner JoAnn Birrell by Democrat Christine Triebsch, and current school board chairman David Chastain by Democrat Catherine Pozniak.
Post 4 on the Cobb school board still includes most of the Kell and Sprayberry attendance zones and has been redrawn to include some of the Lassiter cluster.
Redistricting also given voters East Cobb a second member of Congress and additional legislative seats.
The area will have two representatives in the U.S. House: District 6, which will have a new member after incumbent Democrat Lucy McBath opted to run in the 7th District, and the 11th District, in which GOP incumbent Barry Loudermilk is seeking re-election.
House districts 37, 43, 44, 45 and 46 will continue to have East Cobb constituencies, but the lines have been reapportioned substantially in some instances.
State Senate District 32, which has included most of East Cobb, has been redrawn to include a portion of Northeast Cobb and some of Cherokee. Senate districts 6 and 56 will now include portions of East Cobb in addition to north Fulton.
The Secretary of State’s office also has launched BallotTrax, which enables absentee voters to securely follow their ballots, whether they were mailed in or dropped off in person.
Any registered voter may apply for an absentee ballot, and the earliest day to mail an absentee ballot is Oct. 11. That’s also the last day to apply to register to vote.
The last day to apply for an absentee ballot is Oct. 22.
Advance voting will take place in Cobb from Oct. 17 to Nov. 4.
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On Aug. 24 members of the Kiwanis Club of Marietta Golden K and the Lost Mountain Kiwanis Club sponsored the 27th Annual Youth Charity Golf Tournament at BridgeMill Athletic Club in Canton that raised more than $40,000 for various charitable organizations.
They support Circle K Clubs at the college level, Key Clubs in high school, Builders clubs in middle schools, K kids programs and the Silver Pen writing contest in elementary schools. Kiwanians also provide mentoring and storytime reading at area schools.
More than 100 golfers representing local counties took part in the shotgun start event, which included goodie bags, greens fees, two mulligans and a raffle ticket.
Prizes were awarded for the Longest Drive, Straightest Drive and Closest to the pin.
The buffet lunch included a live auction that raffled off 15 gift baskets ranging in value from $350 to $500.
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The Cobb Board of Commissioners on Tuesday rejected a proposal to build an environmentally-friendly subdivision in the Northeast Cobb area after a contentious series of meetings.
The board voted 4-0 to deny a request by Green Community Development, an Atlanta developer, for 13 homes on 7.5 acres of severely sloping terrain off Kinridge Court.
Cobb zoning staff and other agencies recommended denial for density, stormwater runoff and traffic issues. The Cobb Planning Commission recommended denial in July.
Green had initially proposed 16 homes in asking to switch from R-20 to OSC-1 zoning. That’s a category that stands for Open Space Community and includes the designation of additional green space (staff analysis here).
The homes in the proposed Serenesee at Kinridge subdivision were to have rooftop gardens, “greenpaved” parking and other sustainability and LEED features, that the applicant, Christopher Hunt, proclaimed would win awards.
But his combative conduct has been out of the ordinary for Cobb zoning hearings. In making a motion to deny the request, Commissioner JoAnn Birrell said the case was “very contentious, to say the least.”
She didn’t reference Hunt by name but said that comments made to Cobb zoning staff, nearby residents and the East Cobb Civic Association during the process are something “I don’t appreciate or tolerate.”
There was a community meeting about the request that Birrell organized but said she left “when the name-calling began.”
When Hunt raised his hand to respond, she said she wouldn’t be calling on him. He spoke out anyway, and Chairwoman Lisa Cupid admonished him to remain quiet.
During his presentation Tuesday, Hunt complained about a list of recommendations from the ECCA that he claimed were “90 percent false.”
He accused the civic group of providing “misinformation” that he said he wasn’t given an opportunity to rebut.
Hunt said the reduction of homes to 13 constitutes a density less than nearby neighborhoods, and that the proposed buffers around the property are “200 percent” in excess of what the county requires.
“I’m trying to be sustainable,” he pleaded, further blasting the ECCA for its “unethical, sabotaging efforts.”
Hunt asked commissioners to delay the request by another month to respond to the ECCA recommendations.
Jill Flamm of the ECCA also presented a petition signed by 66 neighbors in opposition and said that it’s “unfortunate that the applicant has chosen to conduct himself in this manner during this process.”
She reiterated traffic and stormwater concerns, as did a Kinridge Court resident who noted a previous zoning case on the same land years ago to build only four homes was turned down.
Birrell asked Carl Carver of Cobb Stormwater Management about how runoff would be handled given the topography of the property.
He said that stormwater currently “sheds off in almost all directions,” and to capture runoff from what was proposed likely would require “level separators” that he said “would be difficult on the side of a steep slope.”
Amy Diaz of Cobb DOT said that although the peak traffic estimate would only be 13 vehicles, the daily estimate was 130 vehicles on a slender, privately maintained street on a downward slope.
Commissioner Keli Gambrill was absent from the meeting.
Earlier during the hearing, commissioners approved a motion by Birrell to continue a request to build a gas station and car wash at Trickum Road and Sandy Plains Road.
Southern Gas Partners LLC has substantially revised an application (new site plan here; additional stipulations here) that would cut the 24/7 hours of a convenience store to 5 a.m. to 11 p.m. and limit traffic access for both roads to right-in, right-out only.
But nearby residents still say there are substantial stormwater runoff issues that haven’t been addressed.
The same developer was granted a continuance for a request to build a car wash across the street on Shallowford Road.
When Birrell asked Bo Patel of Watson Development if that car wash could be substituted for the one proposed for the intersection, her told her the Shallowford Road property included a stream buffer that made development unlikely.
“We need to have more discussions,” she said. “It still needs some work.”
Another zoning case in East Cobb is being continued to the Oct. 4 Cobb Planning Commission hearing. Kenneth B. Clary is seeking rezoning of 13.38 acres at 4701 Post Oak Tritt Road near McPherson Road from R-30 to R-15 for 18 single-family detached homes.
Garvis Sams, the applicant’s attorney, said “there are some remaining issues which are scheduled to be addressed and resolved.”
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An urgent care clinic for pets will be opening soon at East Cobb Crossing Shopping Center.
UrgentVet, which says it’s the first dedicated urgent care clinic for pets in the country, will open at 4363 Roswell Road, Suite 100, on Sept. 29.
The Belmont, N.C.-based company founded in 2015 has 20 existing locations, including 8 in North Carolina, 11 in Florida and one in Texas.
UrgentVet provides after-hours emergency and specialty veterinary care. A company release said that “UrgentVet clinics routinely treat vomiting, diarrhea, lacerations, wounds, and skin and ear problems among many other presenting complaints.”
UrgentVet East Cobb will have 2,200 square feet (a couple doors down from the Dog City Bakery) with five exam rooms and a comfort room. The exam rooms include dimmable lighting for anxious animals and relaxing music.
The facility also will include an in-house diagnostic lab, digital X-ray machine, ultrasound and cloud-based medical record-keeping software.
UrgentVet is open 365 days a year—from 3 -11 p.m. Monday-Friday, 10 a.m.-8 p.m. Saturday-Sunday, and 12-8 p.m. on holidays. A clinic in Cumming is opening on Thursday.
“It feels so good to expand the UrgentVet footprint into a new state, and Georgia is a place that we’ve wanted to be for a long time,” UrgentVet founder Dr. Jim Dobies said in the release. “Opening clinics in Cumming and East Cobb make sense for so many reasons, and we couldn’t be more excited about giving pet parents in the north Atlanta suburbs a new after-hours option for their dogs and cats.”
No appointments are necessary for UrgentVet, and pet owners who check in online can request to receive a text message when their arrival time approaches.
The company claims that UrgentVet veterinarians and support staff are “Fear Free Certified Professionals,” meaning that skilled in caring for the pet’s physical and emotional well-being.
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According to a company release, it will be the fifth Warby Parker store in Georgia, joining locations in Buckhead, Westside Atlanta, Ponce City Market and Perimeter Mall.
The East Cobb store will be in Suite 205, between the Versona store and Ansley Atlanta Real Estate.
Warby Parker offers customers eye exams and sells a full line of optical eyewear and sunglasses, as well as contact lenses and accessories.
The store also features custom artwork by Atlanta artist and muralist George F. Baker III.
Opening hours for The Avenue East Cobb Warby Parker store are 11-7 Monday-Saturday and 12-6 Sunday.
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Eastminster Presbyterian Church will mark its 50th anniversary in October with a special catered dinner for current and former members and clergy, a special worship service and other festivities.
The dinner takes place on Saturday, Oct. 8. The special service is scheduled for the next day, with a family barbecue and other festivities to follow.
The church located at 3125 Sewell Mill Road has around 600 members. Eastminster belongs to the Covenant Order of Evangelical Presbyterians, a Reformed denomination of around 400 churches nationwide that separated from the Presbyterian Church in 2012.
Eastminster Presbyterian (website here) holds two traditional worship services every Sunday along with Sunday School classes. The senior pastor is Rev. Aaron Moore and the associate pastor is Rev. Hubie Mann.
The church hosts a Boy Scout troop, a preschool, a weekly gathering of home schoolers, a teaching center for local musicians and a practice site for bagpipe enthusiasts.
Eastminster began in 1972 with a core group of eight people with a goal of meeting the worship and pastoral needs of an area of East Cobb undergoing rapid suburbanization.
The church first met at a specially-built small house at Johnson Ferry Road and Woodlawn Drive, then broke ground on its present facility at Sewell Mill and Old Canton roads in 1991.
Eastminster’s work in the community includes volunteering for food service with the Table on Delk and MUST Ministries and providing supplies to Blessings
in a Backpack.
Beyond East Cobb, Eastminster aids needy families in Welch, W. Va. and supports ministries to orphanages in Kenya, school children in Guatemala and a church plant in Costa Rica.
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MUST Ministries operates a food pantry at Brumby Elementary School that includes donations from a variety of community organizations and individuals.
PORCH-Marietta, a collection of volunteer, grassroots neighborhood organizations, is continuing an ongoing food drive to stock the food pantry at Brumby Elementary School and the Center for Family Resources.
Participants leaved canned goods on their front porch on a designated day of the week that are collected by neighborhood coordinators. The items are sorted and delivered to pantries, agencies and families in need.
PORCH chapters have emerged around the country after the concept was begun in Chapel Hill, N.C. in 2010.
The East Cobb neighborhoods taking part in PORCH-Marietta include Sentinel Lake, Indian Hills, The Oaks, Heatherleigh, Paper Mill Manor, Chimney Lakes and Timberlea Lakes II.
Liz Platner, the chapter leader of PORCH-Marietta, says that in lieu of canned goods, financial donations can be made on the chapter’s website.
The link also has specific needs of items listed for Brumby and CFR, and remaining collection dates for 2022.
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!
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