East Cobb cityhood bill to get first legislative hearing

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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