In their first face-to-face meeting with the public, leaders of the East Cobb Cityhood effort on Monday addressed claims that development interests are driving their campaign.
It’s a charge that’s been made since the cityhood movement first began in 2019, and was renewed over the weekend by a group opposed to the May 24 East Cobb referendum.
At a town hall meeting Monday at Olde Towne Athletic Club, the Committee for East Cobb Cityhood once again stressed that their main objective is fostering local control of basic services and preserving the suburban nature of the community.
On Saturday, a citizens group opposed to the new city pointed out that the pro-cityhood group’s behind-the-scenes leader is a longtime retail real estate executive and expressed concern that high-density development wouldn’t be far behind.
The tax base of the proposed City of East Cobb is 91 percent residential and nine percent commercial, according to a financial feasibility study prepared for the cityhood group.
“Is this really about local control or special interest control?” asked the anti-cityhood East Cobb Alliance.
But during a Q and A session at Monday’s town hall, East Cobb Cityhood group chairman Craig Chapin took strong exception.
“We are low density fans,” he said. “And for anybody to propose anything else is categorically false.”
You can watch a replay of the town hall meeting here. The group also has produced a voters guide that you can read by clicking here.
Chapin’s remark drew considerable applause, and followed emphatic remarks by former State Rep. Matt Dollar that having elected officials who live in the East Cobb area, and not other parts of the county, is vital to shaping the future of the community.
“They care. They give a damn about what goes here because they live here,” said Dollar, the bill’s main sponsor who resigned from the legislature last month. “It’s local control. It’s people you know making the decisions.”
That’s been the thrust of the cityhood group’s messaging since it was revived in 2021. Unlike the abandoned 2019 effort, this one has been centered around planning and zoning, especially in light of the East Cobb Church rezoning case last year that galvanized residents on either side in the Johnson Ferry-Shallowford corridor.
In noting the future of two major retail centers—Parkaire Landing and The Avenue, the latter of which is slated for a major overhaul—committee spokeswoman Cindy Cooperman said an East Cobb city government would be better-suited to work as a partner in redevelopment than a county government that’s serving nearly 800,000 with five commissioners.
“That brings more seats to the table, especially when it comes to zoning,” she said. “It really is a question of scale.” For a number of years, she said, the Cobb commission “worked fine.”
Fellow committee member Sarah Haas said that “it is our desire to tailor [certain services now provided by the county] to the community.”
The cityhood group also was pressed to back up its pledge that property taxes wouldn’t be raised beyond the millage rates that would be transferred from county government.
The proposed city would provide five of the 17 current services provided by the county—planning and zoning, code enforcement, police, fire and parks and recreation.
Residents of the city of East Cobb would still pay a tax bill of 30.35 mills (with 18.9 mills going to the Cobb County School District) as residents in unincorporated Cobb.
The city’s main funding source would be transferring the 2.86 mills of the current Cobb Fire Fund.
“Cities manage better—it’s a smaller footprint,” Chapin said, noting that state law does not permit duplication of services between cities and counties. “It’s not another layer of government.”
But the addition of police and fire services to the mix, and a financial feasibility study, has raised more questions.
While audience members on Monday did not directly ask questions—they were read from index cards by a moderator—cityhood group leaders were asked to explain how public safety facilities would be acquired.
The proposed city would house its police station at the current Cobb Precinct 4 headquarters along with current Cobb fire station 21 at the East Cobb Government Service Center, and also include current Cobb fire station 15 on Oak Lane.
Cooperman cited state law calling for a $5,000 transfer fee for those facilities and “their fixtures,” which she said included equipment (which the East Cobb Alliance disputes).
Should a city be created, she said, mutual aid agreements would be crafted during a two-year transition period.
That transition, should it come to pass, also might include negotiations with the county over parks and recreation services.
Parks and recreation services were examined in the feasibility study, but questions remain on how a City of East Cobb would acquire land adjacent to East Cobb Park.
In 2018 Cobb purchased 22 acres of the Tritt property with SPLOST funds, and the 2022 SPLOST referendum, if passed, includes the purchase of the remaining 24 acres of that land.
The Tritt property has been envisioned as being an extension of East Cobb Park, featuring pedestrian trails.
Cityhood group member Scott Sweeney said the process for obtaining that land (at $100 an acre), should a City of East Cobb come to fruition, would be an “unknown,” and Dollar said “it will just get worked out.”
Citizens also asked about the impact of an East Cobb city on schools, which are operated separately by the Cobb County School District.
Sweeney, a former Cobb school board member, stressed that a new city wouldn’t change the current senior exemption from school taxes for homeowners 62 and older.
With cityhood referendums on the May 24 ballot in Lost Mountain and Vinings as well as East Cobb, Cobb County government is holding a cityhood town hall Wednesday at 6 p.m. (more information here).
At least two other East Cobb referendum forums have been scheduled for now: April 19 by the East Cobb Business Association, and on May 4 at Pope High School by the Rotary Club of East Cobb.
Those plans are not yet finalized.
Related:
- East Cobb Cityhood foes ramp up efforts to defeat referendum
- East Cobb Cityhood supporters defend police and fire plans
- East Cobb Cityhood group to hold in-person town hall
- East Cobb Cityhood bill signed into law; May referendum set
- Cobb officials question East Cobb police and fire proposals
- East Cobb Cityhood bill gets final passage in Ga. legislature
- Cobb government, Cityhood advocates ramp up talking points
- East Cobb Cityhood bill passes Senate; returns to House
- Editor’s Note: Why the rush with Cobb Cityhood bills?
- Cupid speaks out on cityhood, redistricting issues
- East Cobb News Cityhood page
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There is NOTHING in the City Charter that stipulates any area of East Cobb City WILL be “low density.”
Matt Dollar and the Legislature could have included it in writing in the Charter that the purpose of Cityhood was to keep East Cobb as is….there is no such stipulation.
These folks on that Cityhood Committee will have NO power in how the city is run; only elected city council members will have any say.
If you miss the days of snake oil sales people knocking on your door to sell you something that will kill your hair dandruff, whiten your teeth, and heal your arthritis, all in one magic potion, buy everything Cooperman, Sweeney, and Chapin claim.
“Low density” of brainpower, maybe
“We low density fans” AKA “We mainly want cityhood so we can be a giant HOA that only wants only single family homes and strip malls with no mixed use developments or any urbanization whatsoever.”
If they would just come out and say that they want no mixed use or urbanization of any type, cityhood would probably pass by a 2:1 margin.
“Cityhood group member Scott Sweeney said the process for obtaining that land (at $100 an acre), should a City of East Cobb come to fruition, would be an “unknown,” and Dollar said “it will just get worked out.””
In other words, these people are completely full of [manure].
Absolutely. I was there on Monday night and I oppose the cityhood push. There were a lot of “that will be decided by the future mayor and city council” deflections. I’m a CPA/auditor by trade. I want specifics NOW.
I find Matt Dollar’s comments rather hard to believe.
“State Rep. Matt Dollar stating that having elected officials who live in the East Cobb area, and not other parts of the county, is vital to shaping the future of the community.”
“They care. They give a damn about what goes here because they live here,” said Dollar, the bill’s main sponsor who resigned from the legislature last month. “It’s local control. It’s people you know making the decisions.”
Matt does not live in the boundaries of the City of East Cobb according to tax records. Nor did he answer concerns that his former address within his district as representative was vacant and under contract when he put forward this legislation. Now it is sold. If the pro city group is sincere about low density and protecting the suburbs, they should have something to that effect in writing similar to the proposed City of Lost Mountain. Unless they changed the web site as I post this, they do NOT have any such written commitment on the group’s web site. We have asked them to make that commitment to no avail. Talk is cheap.
They have no authority to make that promise unless it’s a part of the package that is voted on in the referendum. I don’t know if the state legislation to hold the referendum specifies what is being voted on. If the law states what the referendum covers, it’s too late to add any text.