The Committee for East Cobb Cityhood is pushing back against allegations by cityhood opponents that the group’s founder, a commercial real estate executive, stands to benefit personally from incorporation.
Owen Brown, the founder of the Retail Planning Corp. that manages metro Atlanta shopping centers—including Paper Mill Village and Woodlawn Square in East Cobb—has been the subject of frequent speculation since the original cityhood effort in 2018 that he’s pushing cityhood for his own development interests.
In an e-mail message sent Wednesday morning, the committee accused the East Cobb Alliance, which opposes cityhood, of creating “a cancel culture attack [emphasis original] on long-term Cobb Native and East Cobb business owner Owen Brown. They have spun up a conspiracy theory that Mr. Brown is a ‘developer’ out for financial gain in East Cobb.”
The Alliance held public information sessions in March as the May 24 cityhood referendum campaign began, and suggested that citizens “follow the money” of development interests that it said were remaining in the background.
Brown was mentioned by name, and Cityhood foes have suggested at debates that a City of East Cobb, which would have a tax base that’s more than 90 percent residential, would have to turn to high-density redevelopment to boost revenues.
The East Cobb Cityhood message on Wednesday said that Brown “has spent over 40 years in Cobb County, raising his family and contributing to our county.”
Because of his retail management background, “he is uniquely positioned to understand the trends in development and the negative impact of high-density residential development on our schools, traffic, and community.”
The cityhood group recently posted three video clips of an interview with Brown and committee member Sarah Haas (you can view them by clicking here).
They’re some of Brown’s first public comments on the East Cobb cityhood effort that he and several others began in 2018.
He formerly was the treasurer of the group but is no longer listed in an official capacity. Some of the initial meetings were held at his Retail Planning offices at Paper Mill Village.
Among those taking part was Joe O’Connor, an East Cobb resident served on an ad hoc citizens panel examining the initial cityhood financial study. When he asked for clarity on who was pushing for East Cobb cityhood, O’Connor said he was told it was none of his business.
At the time, only Brown and Joe Gavalis, an Atlanta Country Club-area resident, were publicly identified. O’Connor resigned in December 2018, citing a lack of transparency.
In the new videos, Brown said what prompted his interest in cityhood was a conversation with former Cobb commissioner Bob Ott about a significant shortage of police officers in the area.
When he talked to the mayor of Milton—which became a city in 2006—Brown said he was told that community went from having 15 Fulton County officers to 60 in a new Milton police force and has had no tax increases.
“That exploded in my head,” Brown said. “That’s got what me thinking about the city of East Cobb.”
But the initial cityhood effort fizzled in East Cobb toward the end of 2019, after community and political opposition emerged.
A renewed cityhood push in early 2021 focused on planning and zoning, pointing to high-density zoning decisions elsewhere in the county that have sparked cityhood movements in Lost Mountain and Vinings (where also will have May 24 referendums).
Brown referenced the new MarketPlace Terrell Mill development on Powers Ferry Road, anchored by a Kroger superstore but also featuring a large apartment building.
“I don’t want that in East Cobb,” he said, denying that he has any interest in development projects in a potential city.
“I’m 75 next month; I’m doing this for my kids and grandkids,” Brown told Haas.
Police, fire and 911 services were added to the proposed services provided by a City of East Cobb late last year, but that subject also wasn’t raised in the cityhood group’s videos with Brown.
In late April, the East Cobb Alliance sent out an e-mail saying the East Cobb financial feasibility study has “faulty math” that could prompt additional taxes and fees to pay for city services.
“There’s a lemon law for buying a car in Georgia, but no lemon law for forming a city. You’re stuck. There is no reversal back to being unincorporated,” the Alliance e-mail read.
The Alliance also repeated claims in a recent social media posting that the East Cobb feasibility studies, both conducted by Georgia State University researchers, “were paid for out of secretly-sourced funds” through 501(c) organizations “that do not have to disclose who donated what amount.”
In one of the cityhood video clips, Brown said that he and several others paid for the initial $36,000 financial feasibility study. He didn’t identify the others; Cityhood committee representatives asked for public support to fund the 2021 study but haven’t released financials.
“We didn’t want to solicit people if it didn’t work,” Brown said of the 2018 study. “We would just drop it and walk away.”
Related:
- East Cobb Cityhood debate rehashes finances, development claims
- Glitch leaves off East Cobb Cityhood referendum on some ballots
- Cobb judge orders East Cobb Cityhood referendum to proceed
- At Cityhood debate, citizens asked to keep an open mind
- East Cobb News Cityhood information page
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Only a congenital idiot or a person who doesn’t own property would vote for this absolute nonsense. Another layer of taxes, crooked politicians, and fat cats like this guy profiting. No way! Move down to Fulton county and waste your money there Mister!
It would be helpful if opposition to East Cobb Cityhood stopped the personal attacks and concentrated on the larger issue. Cobb County is growing. County Commissioners have an agenda that promotes development. East Cobb proponents want a stronger voice in how that development impacts this community. I, as one who lives in the area, want that stronger voice.
The link to the attached article by the Political Vine pretty clearly connects the dots between the Committee for East Cobb City, Matt Dollar and the big developer from Florida, Owen Brown who lives in a $10M house on the coast of Jacksonville, FL. This all started about three years ago. Back then they were pushing to get it on the May 2020 primary ballot. Brown funded the GSU Feasibility Study for $36K which automatically puts a serious bias into it as he interested in creating commercial development important to him not the people living in East Cobb County. It states that he directed Matt Dollar to push the HB 841 Bill through the GA Legislature. It also shows that the office he owns at 35 Johnson Ferry Road, Marietta, GA is the same address the Committee for ECC is using as their office. It appears that Matt Dollar had to resign from his House Rep position and also move out of the ECC boundaries to declare he has no conflict of interest with Brown if he plans to be part of Brown’s scheme if the ECC gets approved. The Committee of ECC is clearly a puppet group likely getting paid off to push for what we know will be a disaster for East Cobb County. Whether these actions are considered criminal or not, no matter how you look at it, the entire thing is political, unethical, immoral and filled with conflicts of interests. With the funding by Owen Brown, it gives the Committee the ability to promote the ECC and make phony promises that we will have more representation, better zoning, better services and lower costs. Check it out for yourself if you did not happen to see it: https://politicalvine.com/who-is-g-owen-brown-why-does-he-want-to-incorporate-east-cobb-part-2/
And as a reminder, MarketPlace Terrell Mill is on 23 acres — and is NOT in the proposed ECC.
And it was rezoned in 2018 — back when the Board of Commissioners had a Republican majority — and before Lisa Cupid was elected.
Yet another attempt by the ECC group to distract voters from the fact that a real estate developer has provided significant funding for their effort.
The reality is that the information about Owen Brown is public record — and the ECC group can’t refute that fact — so they hide behind a publicity stunt — calling it “cancel culture”.
1. He’s spent over $66K on a Feasibility Study and lobbyists for the ECC group.
2. He owns a company in East Cobb that specializes in building strip malls and larger malls.
3. His company owns the strip mall, Woodlawn Square — located in the proposed ECC limits.
4. His company also manages Paper Mill Village and Woodlawn Point — both located in the proposed ECC limits.
5. He has a Homestead Exemption on his Florida home — which means that’s his legal residence.
6. And since Florida is his legal residence, he’s not eligible to vote in Georgia.
Did he spend over $66K for altruistic reasons?
Or
Is he a savvy businessman looking for opportunities to expand his real estate business?
You decide.
Single biggest question. What was the rush in getting city hood on the ballot in May? Be transparent, engage with the citizens, and listen. That’s what makes this whole thing so shady. It has been anything but. Next biggest question — if rejected by voters, how soon before they can try again?
Also, with regards to the City of Milton, it looks like that mayor didn’t know what he was talking about as that city’s millage is, as of 2021, 5.218 mills.
https://www.cityofmiltonga.us/government/finance/property-taxes
City of East Cobb will NOT be able to operate on a mere 2.86 mills….and the Feasibility Study is a fraudulent piece of fiction that no one should rely on.
G Owen Brown may have been a native of East Cobb…BUT, his current legal address is located in Pontevedra, Florida, where he claims a homestead exemption of $50,000.
And, it appears he has owned this Florida home since 2005:
https://qpublic.schneidercorp.com/Application.aspx?AppID=960&LayerID=21179&PageTypeID=4&PageID=9059&Q=1413494403&KeyValue=0661600010
Do you live in the proposed city pf East Cobb Bill?
No, John, I don’t. BUT…the reason I have a stake in it is because I do business with both product AND service providers in the proposed footprint.
At minimum, their operating expenses will increase due to the addition of new Franchise Fees on their monthly bills.
If their OE increase, chances are they will increase their prices, and I will have to pay more.
I don’t want to pay more, especially to pay for a politically corrupt concept as this city.
SO….I am involved in fighting against it.
If you do not like it….I guess you should join the other crybabies like Craig Chapin and Cooperman who spend all their time whining about every little thing that upsets their day.
Do YOU live in the proposed city, John?
East Cobb news needs to look at how the feasibility study shifted funds needed for the fire dept and raises taxes by 1 mil to make the numbers work. They are assuming you don’t mind having a second rate fires or emergency response and also don’t care if your taxes and fees skyrocket.