East Cobb Cityhood leaders explain public safety proposals

Cobb tag offices reopening — *The East Cobb Government Service Center is being suggested as the city hall for the proposed City of East Cobb, which would have police and fire services.*

After initially proposing what’s called a “city light” set of services—planning and zoning, code enforcement and parks and recreation—leaders behind a movement to create a city of East Cobb said they added public safety based on plenty of public feedback.

After getting comments from citizens in recent months, they said that they “unilaterally wanted police and fire to be included,” said Craig Chapin, chairman of the Committee for East Cobb Cityhood.

He and other committee members conducted a virtual information session Wednesday after the release of a financial feasibility study was released last week.

(You can watch the full cityhood information session by clicking here; it lasts roughly an hour.)

That study, conducted by the Center for State and Local Finance at Georgia State University, concluded that the proposed city of 50,000 was financially viable, even with public safety, and would have a $3 million annual surplus.

State Rep. Matt Dollar and State Rep. Sharon Cooper, both East Cobb Republicans, have filed a bill for the 2022 legislature that if passed would call for a Nov. 2022 referendum on whether to create a city.

While police and fire were not mentioned in earlier virtual town halls held by the East Cobb cityhood group, Chapin said the decision was made to include those services in the study to give a future East Cobb mayor and city council a financial outline.

He also said “we wanted to be as transparent as possible” before a referendum would be held.

The main source of revenue for the City of East Cobb would be the existing 2.86 mills in property taxes Cobb citizens pay for fire services, roughly $15 million.

No new property taxes would be imposed to fund city operations, which are estimated to cost $24.4 million a year.

The current proposal calls for planning and zoning and code enforcement services, along with public safety.

Chapin said cityhood leaders also heard from officials in Milton and Johns Creek, which eventually added public safety, and cited a recent survey by the Atlanta Regional Commission indicating crime as the top concern in the metro area for the first time.

That includes 27 percent of respondents in Cobb County placing crime at the top of their list.

The cityhood group is proposing to conduct city government services out of the East Cobb Government Service Center on Lower Roswell Road, which it would purchase from Cobb County.

It’s the location for Precinct 4 of the Cobb Police Department and Station 21 of the Cobb Fire Department, as well as a Cobb tag office and other existing office and community meeting space.

The city also would purchase Cobb Fire Station 15 on Oak Lane, off Johnson Ferry Road.

For now, parks and recreation are on the back burner. The GSU study includes some financial projections contained in appendix.

Chapin said that “there are not a lot of revenues and there is a lot of expense” in providing those services, which would include East Cobb Park, Fullers Park, Hyde Farm, Mt. Bethel Park and the Wright Environmental Education Center.

The study estimated annual expenses of $2.5 million, and Chapin said the issue is complicated by the expiration of a parks memorandum of understanding with the county in 2025.

East Cobb cityhood polll

Cityhood leaders also updated a continuing “strawman” poll they’ve been conducting since April, indicating that 43 percent of respondents are in favor of a city, with 44 percent undecided and 14 percent opposed.

Issues of planning and zoning are behind the revived cityhood effort. The 2018-19 campaign for cityhood centered on public safety, but Cindy Cooperman, a spokeswoman for the cityhood committee, said development issues are “becoming a hotter and hotter topic.”

During the information session they referred to recent zoning cases in the county and critical news articles and columns about them, as well as a proposal to create a Unified Development Code in Cobb.

“We’re giving people the ability to vote for local control,” Dollar said.

The proposed City of East Cobb map is centered along the Johnson Ferry Road corridor, much smaller than the first cityhood map, which included a population of around 100,000.

When Dollar was asked about that, he explained that it was also based on public feedback, and to have a more condensed municipality.

The lines were created to include whole census tracts, and since the new map was first issued, he said the only addition was apartment complexes along Columns Drive.

(You can click here to view the map, which is also shown at the bottom.)

“I don’t anticipate any more changes,” Dollar said, adding that “adding any large chunks would change the outcome of the feasibility study.”

Neighborhoods wishing to become part of a city, should it be created, could do so through existing annexation processes.

Some questions for the cityhood leaders also pertained to schools.

Former Cobb school board member Scott Sweeney said that a City of East Cobb would have no bearing on the Cobb County School District since new cities are barred by law from creating school districts.

A city also would have no impact on school attendance zones, since those are drawn administratively by district officials.

And a new city of East Cobb also would not affect homeowners 62 and older who claim an exemption from paying Cobb school property taxes.

Dollar said the cityhood bill (you can read it here) is likely to be taken up in January or February by the Georgia General Assembly.

For a larger view of the proposed City of East Cobb map, click here.

Revised East Cobb city map