The leaders of a group promoting cityhood for East Cobb have switched the location for an April 29 town hall meeting.
Rob Eble, one of the leaders of the Committee for Cityhood in East Cobb, told East Cobb News Friday that the meeting will now take place in the theater at Walton High School (1590 Bill Murdock Road) due to capacity issues.
The meeting was originally slated for Chestnut Ridge Christian Church. More than 600 people showed up to to hear cityhood leader David Birdwelll at a March town hall meeting (above) at the Catholic Church of St. Ann.
Eble said the town hall at Walton will last from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. and will feature a moderated panel discussion and questions from citizens.
It’s the first of two public meetings cityhood leaders will be having in short order. They’re also slated to speak at a meeting of the the Powers Ferry Corridor Alliance next month.
The civic association is holding a community meeting May 8 from 7-9 p.m. at Brumby Elementary School (815 Terrell Mill Road) that also will include Cobb Commission Chairman Mike Boyce and Cobb Commissioner Bob Ott.
Other topics of discussion include public safety staffing in Cobb, a transit update, issues in the Powers Ferry corridor and news on redevelopment projects that include the MarketPlace Terrell Mill and Restaurant Row.
The day after the March town hall, local legislation was filed that will be considered next year that calls for a referendum in March 2020, and if approved, mayor and city council elections would take place next November.
East Cobb News Cityhood Coverage
- Editor’s Note: Taking on the tough sell of cityhood
- Cityhood bill calls for referendum and initial elections in 2020
- Cityhood leader at town hall: Idea ‘makes enough sense to explore’
- Visit East Cobb News Cityhood Page
The cityhood forces have maintained that they want more local control of government, and would provide police, fire and zoning and planning services.
Birdwell, a real estate entrepreneur, joined the group in January, a couple of months after the group commissioned a financial feasibility study. Eble, a technology consultant, is the other new “face” of the cityhood movement
The city map that was drawn and introduced with the legislation includes a population of 96,000 and takes the East Cobb portion of Ott’s District 2 and the Powers Ferry area that is not in the Cumberland Community Improvement District.
Patti Rice, president of the PFCA, told East Cobb News after the town hall that the proposed map would split the community “right down the middle.”
She said while she lives just outside the proposed City of East Cobb, she’s keeping an open mind about cityhood but thinks the cityhood group “needs to organize their message.”
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