A member of the Cobb Board of Education is asking for a discussion on the Cobb County School District’s policy of naming and renaming schools and its other facilities.
David Morgan
David Morgan, who represents the Pebblebrook and South Cobb clusters, is scheduled to present that matter at the school board’s work session Thursday morning.
The virtual meeting begins at 10 a.m. and you can watch here or on Channel 24 on Comcast Cable.
The agenda for the work session and other meetings on Thursday can be seen here.
Morgan’s agenda item is called “Facility Naming Policy and Renaming of Some Schools” but doesn’t go into any detail. East Cobb News has left messages for Morgan seeking comment.
The Walton and Wheeler renaming petition creators have said the namesakes of the schools were white supremacists. George Walton, one of Georgia’s signatories to the Declaration of Independence, was a Revolutionary War veteran, governor and senator.
Joseph Wheeler, a Confederate general during the Civil War, was later readmitted to the U.S. Army, served in Congress and is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.
East Cobb News contacted Charisse Davis, who represents Post 6, which includes the Walton and Wheeler clusters. She said because of the lack of details in the agenda item, she’s “not sure what Mr. Morgan will bring up.”
She forwarded a link to the school district’s naming policy and said that “members of the community have expressed concerns about the names of schools in Post 6, but also elsewhere in the county.”
She signed the Wheeler petition but has not said if she supports a Walton name change. The Walton petition, started by a student named Joseph Fisher, has more than 3,000 signatures.
Those behind the Wheeler petition (which has nearly 4,500 signatures) noted that the school opened in 1965, just as the Cobb County School District was preparing for integration.
Also during the work session, the school board will discuss an anti-racism resolution for the third time, after previous attempts to reach a consensus have fallen through.
The school board will hold a public forum on the proposed fiscal year 2021 budget at 9:30 a.m. Thursday, and final adoption is scheduled during a voting meeting to follow the work session and an executive session.
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Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
A final public forum on the proposed $1.13 billion fiscal year 2021 budget and final adoption are on the docket for the Cobb Board of Education on Thursday.
The meetings will be held virtually, as they have been since the COVID-19 crisis began in March.
A virtual budget public forum will begin at 9:30 a.m. Thursday and you can watch by clicking here. There are instructions on that link for anyone who wishes to call in to comment and participate in the budget forum via Zoom.
The school board will hold a voting meeting after its 10 a.m. work session and an executive session. The agenda for the voting meeting includes an item for final budget adoption.
You can view the agendas for both public meetings on Thursday by clicking here. The board in July adopted a tentative budget, which is a formality before final adoption.
Although the Cobb County School District’s fiscal year began on July 1, a budget hasn’t been adopted due to delays in the legislature adopting the state budget. The Georgia General Assembly session was delayed because of COVID-19, and its final budget was passed in June.
Nearly half of Cobb County School District funding comes from the state, which is cutting that amount this year by $62 million.
To help close that gap, the district is proposing $31 million in reserve funds to help offset the state budget cuts. Cobb school funding under Georgia’s Quality Basic Education Act is expected to be $518 million.
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Submitted information from Cobb County government:
“Homeowners who own a home in Cobb County and have been adversely affected by COVID-19, may apply for mortgage payment assistance up to $4,800 and/or homeownership counseling. They must have occupied the home prior to March 1, 2020 and currently occupy the home, and they must currently be delinquent on their mortgage payments.
The Cobb Home Saver program is designed to mitigate home losses and provide optional homeownership counseling. Both independent and government studies have shown that when engaged at the onset of a crisis, homeownership education and counseling reduce the odds of foreclosure by 42%.
The Cobb Board of Commissioners approved $4.8 million in emergency funding for the program. The funding comes from the $132 million allocated to the county in the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act.For more information, including how to apply, click here: https://cobbhomesaver.org/
For those who are for-profit businesses, don’t forget that Round 2 of the Small Business Relief Grant is still open until August 21st at 5 p.m! See link for eligibility and application requirements: https://selectcobb.com/grants/
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A Cobb GIS map shows darker shades with more cases; the blue icons are school locations. To view details click here.
UPDATE: As of Saturday, Cobb had 15,861 cases and 368 deaths.
Nine more deaths from COVID-19 were reported in Cobb on Tuesday—three of them in East Cobb—as the overall number of confirmed cases of the virus in the county surpassed the 15,000 mark.
Cobb’s case count grew by 124, and the county now has reported 349 deaths—some of which date back to July—a figure that’s second to 477 fatalities in Fulton County.
Across Georgia, 2,873 more cases were reported, for 241,677 overall. Georgia also added 69 more deaths for 4,794, with the backlog dating back to July.
Cobb and Douglas Public Health has mapped out some of that data by ZIP Code that we’ve been updating in recent weeks, and you can view the latest details here. In East Cobb, those numbers as of Tuesday total 3,288 cases and 69 deaths:
30062: 969 cases, 18 deaths;
30067: 920 cases, 10 deaths;
30066: 881 cases, 17 deaths;
30068: 504 cases, 24 deaths;
30075: 64 cases, 0 deaths.
As we noted in a story posted earlier today, more than 40 percent of those deaths have taken place in long-term care homes. The three new deaths reported from East Cobb today include two in ZIP Code 30066 and one in 30068, but none were in those facilities, according to figures posted by the Georgia Department of Community Health.
A key metric that local school officials are looking at in terms of preparing for a return to classroom learning is community spread. Georgia DPH has been adding some ways to look at that data, including cases per 100,000 people over time and during a rolling 14-day window.
To view county-by-county data on cases per 100,000 population click here.
Anything above 100 cases per 100,000 people is considered “significant community spread.” According to Tuesday’s data, Cobb has been averaging 342 cases per 100,000 over the last two weeks, while the county’s overall figure has been 1,908 cases per 1000,000.
Significantly higher numbers of cases per 100,000 are being reported in recent weeks in more rural counties in south Georgia, as seen on the state map above (click here for more details).
A more recent Georgia DPH calculation provides seven-day moving average figures according to the “date of onset” of a positive case, as shown in the yellow line in the graph below. That phrase refers to the day a case is confirmed as positive, and not the day it was reported.
Something else being looked at closely is the case positivity rate, which means the percentage of confirmed cases compared to the numbers of people tested. Anything more than 5 percent is considered high.
In Cobb County, that figure had caused some concern when it reached 14 percent last month, and stayed in double figures a few weeks.
But since that 14.2 percent peak on July 23, the county’s test positivity rate has fallen to 5.4 percent, and the seven-day moving day overage of 6 is the lowest since early June.
To view details of Cobb’s seven-day moving average COVID case figures, click here.
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Four resident deaths have been reported since July at Manor Care on Johnson Ferry Place, including one last week. (ECN photos)
The number of COVID cases has been soaring in Cobb County since the month of July, and new outbreaks have been reported in some long-term care homes in Georgia.
Most of those facilities in East Cobb have reported minimal cases and deaths during that time. An exception is the HCR Manor Care Rehabilitation Center on Johnson Ferry Place.
Some closed voluntarily in March, before Gov. Brian Kemp issued a shelter-in-place order and dispatched the Georgia National Guard to test residents and employees.
While many new cases in Cobb and Georgia are occurring in much younger age groups, elderly people and those living in long-term care homes still make up a sizable percentage of the hospitalizations and fatalities.
According to the Georgia Department of Public Health, 3,961 of Georgia’s 4,727 deaths, or 83 percent, have been people aged 60 and older. The Georgia Department of Community Health reported Monday that 1,995 people have died in long-term care homes, 41 percent of the statewide death toll.
Long-term care homes include nursing homes, assisted living facilities, personal-care homes and memory-care units.
Those trends are reflected at the local level. In Cobb, 143 of the county’s 340 deaths—second in Georgia, only to Fulton—have been in long-term care homes, or 42 percent of the totals.
In East Cobb, 66 people have died from the virus, and 29 of them, or 44 percent, were living in long-term care homes, according to Cobb County government’s Geographic Information System office.
Those figures are from late last week, and a map of the long-term care home deaths is updated here, and is shown in the icons on the map below.
You can view the zip codes and the long-term care icons seen above for death data by clicking here.
Alto Senior Living on LeCroy Road, near Roswell Road and Robinson Road West, has reported eight deaths, according to the Georgia DCH, which has issued a weekly update on cases, deaths and tests since the crisis began. Those figures come directly from the entities that operate the long-term care homes.
That’s the highest number for any long-term care home in East Cobb, although none of those have been reported since the summer.
(The long-term care report is now issued daily, and you can see the latest report by clicking here.)
Six residents have died at the A.G. Rhodes senior-living home on Wylie Road, and five at Sterling Estates East Cobb, but at both facilities none since the spring.
HCR Manor Care operates more than 500 skilled nursing homes and rehabilitation centers across the country. At the end of June, its East Cobb facility, which currently has 72 residents, had reported nine resident cases and no deaths.
But during July, three residents died there and the number of positive resident cases had grown to 34. That number is now at 53, and a total of 34 positive cases also were reported among Manor Care employees, according to state figures on Monday.
Julie Beckert, a spokeswoman for Manor Care, did not elaborate on the deaths, but said the increase in positive cases is due to a significant boost in testing.
Monday’s Georgia DCH figures show that 184 residents at the Manor Care East Cobb location have been tested, and 186 at the Manor Care facility in Decatur.
Beckert said Manor Care has done “whole-house testing” and that over “the last several weeks,” 63 patients have tested positive and many were asymptomatic. Beckert didn’t indicate how many, and “unfortunately, we lost six patients due in part to COVID-19.”
That includes another death at Manor Care in East Cobb reported last week two deaths at the Manor Care facility in Decatur, according to Georgia DCH figures.
She said 39 employees tested positive in recent weeks, with 24 recoveries and 15 staffers on self-quarantine.
The AJC reported last month about a major outbreak at the Dunwoody Health and Rehabilitation Center, which went from zero to 15 deaths and nearly 100 positive resident cases since the end of June. The Sandy Springs facility has 240 residents.
8 deaths have been reported at Alto Senior Living in East Cobb, most of them earlier in the outbreak.
As of Monday, here are the latest COVID-19 figures for long-term care homes in East Cobb:
Sunrise of East Cobb, 1551 Johnson Ferry Road (30062): 1 resident death, 4 positive resident cases, 3 resident recoveries, 2 positive staff cases.
Beckert said among the additional measures Manor Care has taken is to conduct regular temperature checks of residents (with a threshold of 99 degrees to address possible changes in condition). It’s also created an “airborne isolation unit” to treat higher-risk patients, with dedicated personal protective equipment and special cleaning, disposal and sanitizing measures.
Additional barriers also have been installed to protect other residents and employees from infection, she said.
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Hannah Patterson, a Walton High School graduate, has been selected for the prestigious Television Academy Foundation’s Summer Fellowship Program.
Here’s what that organization—which puts on the Emmy Awards—is sending out about Hannah, a recent graduate of Georgia State University who majored in film and media and is a cinematography fellow:
The Foundation’s annual Internship Program normally provides 50 paid internships at top Hollywood studios and production companies to college students nationwide. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Television Academy Foundation has had to reimagine its internship program this year offering the 50 students selected from across the country the chance to either intern remotely or enroll as a summer fellow.
“Television was a big part of my childhood,” said Patterson. “The way stories can move someone and teach them something in a different way really spoke to me growing up. I wanted to be part of that.”
“It feels good to know that members of the Television Academy see potential in me,” said Patterson. “It fills me with pride and motivation to be better than I am.”
The Summer Fellows Program includes virtual one-on-one visits with professionals in a student’s field of study, online panels with leaders in the television industry, and customized seminars covering personal brand building and navigating the job market ahead. Fellows also become lifelong members of the Foundation’s alumni family giving them access to events and networking opportunities as they build their careers in the industry.
The program includes a series of professional development webinars for students with top industry professionals including writer/director Gina Prince-Bythewood (The Old Guard); Amazon Studios executives Albert Cheng, chief operating officer and co-head of television, and Vernon Sanders, co-head of television; and the executive producer of the Apple TV+ series Little Voice Sara Bareilles and series star Brittany O’Grady.
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Cobb citizens wanting to get tested for COVID-19 for free have a larger window to do that.
Cobb and Douglas Public Health has increased the hours to get a free test at Jim Miller Park. Anyone can go to Jim Miller Park (2245 Callaway Road) between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. Monday-Friday or 7 a.m. to noon on Saturday.
Cobb and Douglas Public Health has been offering pop-up testing at several other locations in the county, including both campuses of Kennesaw State University.
Testing will take place from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Thursday at the main campus in Kennesaw in the old BrandsMart parking lot 93305 Busbee Drive, NW, Kennesaw).
On Friday and Saturday, testing will be done at KSU’s Marietta campus (643 Clair Harris Road), also from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.
You’re asked to pre-register first, and you can do that and get more information by clicking here.
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In a release issued late Monday afternoon by county spokesman Ross Cavitt, Boyce said that if the county were to impose a mask mandate, it would require three public hearings on proposed code amendments, which would have to be approved by the Cobb Board of Commissioners.
As Georgia’s COVID-19 case load has soared this summer, dozens of Georgia mayors and county governments issued mandates in defiance of a previous order by Kemp not to supersede his orders, which do not include a statewide mask mandate.
Among them was Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, and Kemp sued the city before withdrawing that lawsuit and issuing a revised order over the weekend.
Boyce has been reluctant to require Cobb citizens to wear masks in public, and reiterated that position Monday. He said in a statement via Cavitt that “issuing a mandate would place the burden on the county’s police department to enforce it. I’m reluctant to place that burden on a department that is already understaffed and facing other challenges caused by the pandemic.”
Cavitt’s statement said Boyce noted that none of those jurisdictions with mask mandates have issued citations. Boyce, Cavitt said, “plans on letting commissioners weigh in on whether they want to move forward on a countywide mandate.”
Under the new order, Cobb could include a mandate for anyone entering county government facilities. Kemp’s order also extends local mask mandates to private property if a county meets a threshold of COVID-19 cases.
That’s an average of 100 positive cases per 100,000 population over the previous two weeks, and nearly all of Georgia’s 159 counties meet that threshold. Cobb has averaged 351 cases per 100,000 people over the last 14 days.
It’s a figure that Cobb school officials also have cited for starting the school year online-only, as virtual instruction began Monday.
Kemp’s order would require local governments to get the permission of private property owners before a mask mandate could be imposed. Fines for violators of any local order would be punishable by up to $50 after a warning.
At the end of July, Cobb had reported 11,206 positive COVID-19 cases, with 60 percent of them in July alone. County officials stepped up a “nice mask ask” for the public, also stressing hand-washing and physical distancing, to help slow the spread of the virus.
Through the first half of August, Cobb has reported 3,687 more cases. The number of deaths in the county has grown from 297 at the end of July to 339 as of Sunday, second only to 472 deaths in Fulton County.
DeKalb commissioners in July approved in a 6-1 vote a mask mandate that would require citizens on a second citation to attend a COVID-19 prevention class. Anyone who refused would be fined $250.
Citizens also could go before a judge and claim a conscientious objector’s exception for health, religious or ethical reasons.
Other states in the South have recently imposed statewide mask mandates, including Alabama.
Today’s Georgia Department of Public Health COVID-19 daily report can be found here.
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The Cobb Chamber is excited to announce a new offering for the county’s workforce: CobbHires.com, an online portal for job and internship seekers and local companies looking to hire top talent.
“At the Cobb Chamber, we know that our county is a magnet for talent. In order to expand our workforce offerings and create value for our business members and community, we are proud to announce the launch of CobbHires.com, the Cobb Chamber’s job board and internship board,” said Dana Johnson, COO of the Cobb Chamber and Executive Director of SelectCobb.
CobbHires.com makes it easy for businesses to post their open positions or internship opportunities to find the best candidates in Cobb County. This portal also gives job and internship seekers access to local opportunities to assist them in furthering or starting their careers.
As part of the launch of CobbHires.com, the Cobb Chamber is offering a discount code allowing employers to post free of charge. Enter the code COBBJOBS to post your jobs and internship positions for free through the end of September. After September, companies can post open positions at the following rates: 30-day posts for $15 Cobb Chamber member/$50 non-member; 60-day posts for $30 Cobb Chamber member/$100 non-member; and 90-day posts for $45 Cobb Chamber member/ $150 non-member. Employers can enhance their posts for an additional $50, which prioritizes the post to the top of the board, highlights the listing and publishes it within the Google Jobs Network.
For more information about CobbHires.com, the Cobb Chamber job and internship boards, contact Nate Futrell at nfutrell@cobbchamber.org.
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Probably not the news you want at the start of the week, but the Cobb Tax Commissioner’s Office has sent out a reminder that your 2020 property tax bill has been mailed, and it’s due on Oct. 15.
Tax Commissioner Carla Jackson says 265,052 tax bills in unincorporated Cobb County have been mailed. The $938,326,283 collection total was calculated with 249,678 Real Property bills for $869,994,540 and 15,374 Personal Property bills for $68,331,743.
The biggest part of your bill as indicated above is school taxes—unless you’re taking the senior exemption—at nearly 58 percent, followed by the general fund. Cobb’s six cities levy and collect property taxes from homeowners and businesses in those municipalities.
Bills can be paid online via e-check, debit or credit card at the Cobb Tax Commissioners website, by phone at 1-866-PAY-COBB. If you choose to send via, regular mail, the address is Cobb County Tax Commissioner, PO Box 100127, Marietta, GA 30061.
Bills also can be dropped off at designated drop boxes around the county, including the East Cobb Government Service Center (4400 Lower Roswell Road).
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Gov. Brian Kemp has pushed for voluntary mask compliance, but has been reluctant to issue a statewide mandate.
After unsuccessfully suing the City of Atlanta over its mask mandate, Gov. Brian Kemp on Saturday signed a new executive order that permits local governments to issue mask mandates.
It falls short of a statewide mandate that a White House COVID-19 Task Force has recommended, although Kemp has embarked on a statewide tour encouraging Georgians to wear masks in public.
His order on Saturday (you can read it here), which expires on Aug. 31, extends one first issued in March, and that until now had forbidden local governments from superseding statewide provisions.
The order continues to issue a shelter-in-place for medically fragile people, limits large gatherings and mandates continuing safety guidelines for restaurants, salons and other businesses.
The Georgia Department of Public Health on Saturday reported 3,372 new cases and 96 deaths, for an overall total of 235,168 and 4,669. Cobb’s case total rose by 186 on Saturday to 14,826. The death toll rose by four, to 338, the second-highest number in Georgia behind 472 in Fulton County.
After dropping his lawsuit against Atlanta and ending mediation with the city earlier this week, Kemp indicated he would address the mask mandate issue in a new order.
A local government can now issue a mask mandate for anyone using public property in that jurisdiction, such as a courthouse, library, tag office or other facility.
However, that mandate can be expanded to the larger community if a county has averaged more than 100 COVID-19 confirmed cases per 100,000 people for the previous 14 days.
That includes most counties in Georgia, including Cobb. Georgia DPH figures on Saturday indicated that Cobb has been averaging 394.4 cases per 100,000 people over the last two weeks.
According to Kemp’s new order, those mandates can be imposed on private property only if an owner agrees. Violations of any local mandates are punishable by a maximum fine of $50 after a warning. Kemp said in a statement:
“This order protects Georgia businesses from government overreach by restricting the application and enforcement of local masking requirements to public property. While I support local control, it must be properly balanced with property rights and personal freedoms.”
Several dozen local governments in Georgia have defied Kemp’s previous order with mask mandates.
Cobb County is among the jurdisdications that has not issued a mandate. After Atlanta’s mandate was issued by Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms in July, Cobb Commission Chairman Mike Boyce said he would not do so, citing Kemp’s order.
He said at the time that “while such a mandate looks great on paper, it puts an unsustainable burden on public safety personnel. They would be the ones responsible for enforcing this behavior on more than 760,000 people in the County. This expectation is unreasonable.”
While visitors and staff to county facilities must wear face coverings, Boyce said he was making a “nice ask” for citizens to wear masks elsewhere. Since then, county government has embarked on a “Mask Up Cobb” campaign with social media messages and billboards.
Many local businesses in East Cobb have had mask mandates since they reopened, especially personal care salons and small retail stores. Large retailers and supermarkets also have required customers to wear face coverings for the last few weeks.
The AJC reported this week that the White House COVID-19 Task Force warned that Georgia is in a “red zone” for expanding spread of the virus and urged a statewide mask mandate, saying current mitigation efforts have not been working.
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The Picture Show at Merchant’s Exchange (4400 Roswell Road), which had a grand-reopening in March, a week before the COVID-19 crisis began, announced this week that it’s going to start screening movies once again on Aug. 21.
Those films and a schedule are forthcoming, but the decision to reopen is part of a phased approach by the cinema’s owner, Picture Show Entertainment, which operates 12 theaters across the country.
Its theaters in Grand Junction, Colo., reopened in June, and the East Cobb location is one of six following suit next Friday.
Capacity will be limited to at most 50 percent. Moviegoers will be required to wear masks in general areas but can take them off when seated for their films.
Cash won’t be accepted at the theater, there will be limited restroom capacity and patrons will be asked not to congregate in the lobby.
The Picture Show at Merchant’s Exchange had undergone a major $1 million renovation and reopened its doors a week before being forced to close due to COVID-19.
In recent weeks, GTC Merchants Walk Cinema (1301 Johnson Ferry Road) has screened films for private parties of up to 20 people making reservations in what it calls By Appointment Only. Many of those sessions, which are shown on Friday, Saturday and Sunday only, are sold out well in advance.
The Movie Tavern (4651 Woodstock Road) reopened in mid-June, screening a variety of classic movies. Earlier this month management announced that “although classic films are enjoyable on the big screen, nothing compares to seeing a new movie at the theatre opening weekend. So, we’ve decided to put a pause on past movies and await the return of the blockbuster in a few weeks and have an even bigger reopening.”
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After resuming monthly publication in August, the EAST COBBER magazine announced it will be publishing every other month through the end of the year.
Publisher Cynthia Rozzo, who founded the monthly community magazine in 1993, wrote in a note posted Friday that due to the fallout from COVID-19, there will be September/October and November/December issues:
“By January 2021 we hope to go back to our regular monthly print schedule. In the meantime, we’ll continue to keep the East Cobb community inspired with the usual uplifting stories by direct mailing our magazine, publishing weekly E-newsletters and sharing the latest news on our social media platforms.”
For the first time in its history, the EAST COBBERsuspended publication in May. The combined June/July issue and the August issue were 24 pages, about half the number of a typical issue. Rozzo is offering print advertisers a “COVID Stimulus Special” that includes placement in her weekly e-mail newsletter.
That blast reaches more than 22,000 subscribers, while the magazine has a press run of around 40,000.
Rozzo announced in June that the EAST COBBER parade and festival, which would have marked its 25th anniversary in September, is being cancelled due to COVID-19 concerns.
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With corrected provisional and most absentee ballots having been counted, Vinings resident Fitz Johnson is the unofficial winner of the Republican runoff for District 2 on the Cobb Board of Commissioners.
The Cobb Board of Elections and Registration updated its totals late Friday afternoon for that and several other runoffs, but will not certify the results until Aug. 20.
Johnson ended up with 4,925 votes, while former Cobb Planning Commission member Andy Smith of East Cobb had 4,839 votes.
Johnson captured 50.4 percent of the vote, compared to 49.6 for Smith. A recount can be called if a margin is within one-half of one percentage point.
After Tuesday’s totals, Johnson held an 83-vote lead that inched up to 90 on Wednesday, after most absentee ballots had been counted. The margin of victory—at least for now—is 86 votes for Johnson.
If those results stand, he’ll face Democrat Jerica Richardson in November in the general election, with the winner to succeed retiring commissioner Bob Ott.
District 2 includes most of East Cobb and the Smyrna-Vinings-Cumberland area.
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The developer of a proposed mixed-use project at the Sprayberry Crossing Shopping Center is requesting a category for the development that has never been sought before in Cobb County.
Atlantic Residential, an Atlanta-based apartment builder, has filed for what’s called an ROD designation, to go with existing neighborhood shopping and planning shopping district uses.
While many residents there have been seeking a solution for years to the blighted retail center that’s there now, others are opposed to apartments, the proposed five-story height of residential buildings seen in renderings by the developer and have expressed traffic concerns.
The Sprayberry Crossing proposal (rezoning filings here) would include 61,500 square feet of office and retail space (30,000 for a major grocer), 178 apartments, 122 senior-living apartments and 50 townhomes on more than 17 acres.
Atlantic Residential also wants to build an open-air entertainment and food hall and incorporate walking trails and greenspace around an existing family cemetery.
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During a virtual town hall meeting Wednesday organized by Cobb commissioner JoAnn Birrell, county zoning, community development and transportation officials explained more details about ROD and preliminary findings of a traffic study conducted by the developer.
The virtual town hall meeting was informational only, and Birrell and her Cobb Planning Commission appointee, Judy Williams, did not offer comments.
Birrell encouraged citizens to contact planning board and county commission members ahead of next month’s public meetings.
ROD has some other unique components.
Jason Gaines, the Cobb Community Development Agency’s planning director, said ROD projects are pedestrian-oriented and designed for traffic integration to meet the scale and variety of such developments.
They’re also “site plan specific,” meaning that there aren’t minimum lot sizes, setbacks and buffers that are required in most rezoning cases.
Atlantic Residential submitted a revised site plan below in late July that call for 10-foot front sidebacks and 5-foot setbacks to the side and rear of buildings.
To see a larger view, click here. Source: Cobb Zoning Office.
ROD projects also are not to set a precedent for the area surrounding a property that may be zoned that way.
At least 10 percent of the housing units in an ROD must be set aside for residents making no more than 80 percent of an area’s average median income.
Those opposed to apartments have said those are their biggest concerns in an area with classic suburban single-family neighborhoods.
Cobb DOT engineer Amy Diaz said during the presentation that her office received a copy of the developer’s traffic study last week, but showed some slides with preliminary information that’s subject to change.
She said much of the data is based on 2015 numbers. Due to COVID-19 business and school closures, “no doubt there have been traffic impacts” in a busy area at Sandy Plains and East Piedmont Roads that includes Sprayberry High School and other commercial activities.
Diaz said what she’s seen of the traffic study thus far is in line with what’s projected for that part of the Sandy Plains Corridor. “We do know there’s congestion in the area,” she said.
She said senior-living units have reduced traffic rates compared to single-family residential housing.
The traffic study is available by contacting her at amy.diaz@cobbcounty.org.
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The Cobb zoning office has conducted a preliminary analysis of the Sprayberry Crossing request (you can read it here), which means that it has received the initial filings and is conducting a full review of the proposal.
Once that process is complete, staff offers a recommendation before public hearings begin.
The Sprayberry Crossing case will be heard Sept. 1 by the Cobb Planning Commission, which will make a recommendation. The Cobb Board of Commissioners will hold a zoning hearing Sept. 15.
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An EMS boat along the Chattahoochee River awaits an injured hiker who was escorted from the Gold Branch Unit trails Friday morning. Source: Cobb Fire & Emergency
Even if you’re trying to get away from the modern world with a hike deep into a nature trail, it helps to have modern technology.
That’s how Cobb Fire and Emergency Services crews were able to locate, rescue and treat a hiker who fell and injured an ankle Friday morning at the Gold Branch Unit of the Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area.
The multi-agency response included Cobb Fire Station 21 in East Cobb, Cobb County Police Boat 4 and a Roswell Fire and EMS rescue boat.
Nick Danz, a paramedic with Cobb Fire, said the hiker was helped off the trails by rescue workers and escorted to a Metro Ambulance EMS boat along the Chattahoochee River and was triaged there with what he said were minor injuries.
He said the hiker called 911 from a cell phone, but was too far for rescue vehicles to reach, and could not walk back for treatment.
So Cobb Fire used what’s called “Rapid SOS” technology to get GPS (global positioning system) information from the cell phone.
That area of the Gold Branch Unit doesn’t have electronic markers, Danz said, as is the case with Cobb County parks, which have what’s called ELM (Electronic Locator Map) detectors.
Danz said when the hiker’s cell phone coordinates were determined, that information was relayed to a Cobb Fire battalion Chief, who dispatched crews from Station 21 and contacted the other agencies.
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A “soft” opening of the new McCray’s Tavern in East Cobb has been going on for a couple of weeks, but now the restaurant at Parkaire Landing Shopping Center is making it official after posting a social media message Thursday.
The menu is similar to other McCray’s locations (and is the same for dining in or takeout), a mix of standard tavern fare and chef’s features. The dinner menu includes woodfire grill-cooked meats and fish and there is a drink menu with the promise of “sips and stogies,” with scotch and bourbon and cigar-rolling.
Online ordering and reservations are also available. Phone: 404-800-3553.
Kitchen hours are Sunday-Thursday 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. and Friday-Saturday 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Bar hours are Monday-Thursday 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. and Friday-Saturday 11 a.m. to 12 a.m.
They’re also in the process of hiring two full-time bartenders. Apply to stephen@leadhg.com or stop in Tuesday-Thursday 2-4 p.m.
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With the Cobb County School District starting online-only on Monday, the district has been rolling out new components of its Cobb Teaching and Learning portal this summer.
On Thursday, the CTLS Learn vertical was launched, and that’s where virtual classroom instruction will take place. Students can see class assignments there, and additional learning resources will be provided, including textbooks, along with class communications and moderated class chats.
CTLS Learn enables students to access on-demand digital sessions, assessment and feedback information and messaging with teachers.
Here are more details about CTLS Learn, including login instructions and how it integrates with CTLS overall, and the CTLS Parent portal.
The CTLS Parent portal also includes mobile access; in addition to the iPhone app released late July, an app for Android users also is available.
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The Cobb Board of Elections and Registration is still counting some outstanding absentee and privisional ballots, but it looks as though Vinings resident Fitz Johnson has won the Republican Cobb Board of Commissioners District 2 runoff.
UPDATED Friday, 7:20 p.m.: Johnson is the unofficial winner after corrected provisional and most absentee ballots were counted, with an 86-vote margin.
The results will be certified Aug. 20.
Johnson led East Cobb resident Andy Smith by 83 votes after Tuesday’s in-person voting, and additional absentee ballots that have been counted show Johnson has increased his lead by 90 votes.
Smith, a former member of the Cobb Planning Commission, said in a message to his supporters Thursday morning that “while it looks like we came up short, I have loved this process and enjoyed meeting so many great people who I can now call friends. It was time well spent.
Smith led most of Tuesday evening and won more absentee ballots. Johnson, a retired Army officer and business executive who’s a trustee of the Wellstar Health System, picked up support late, especially in the northernmost East Cobb precincts.
Jason Marbutt
Johnson would face Jerica Richardson, unopposed in the Democratic primary, in the November general election.
Cobb Elections said earlier Wednesday that around 600 absentee ballots were to be counted, and around 50 or so provisional ballots and some out-of-town absentee ballots remained outstanding.
The results will not be certified until next Thursday, Aug. 20.
Tuesday’s runoffs also decided another Cobb commission seat, in District 4 in South Cobb, where Monique Sheffield, a member of the Cobb Board of Zoning Appeals, defeated Shelia Edwards in the Democratic primary.
Sheffield has no Republican opposition in November and will succeed commissioner Lisa Cupid, who is challenging GOP incumbent Mike Boyce for Cobb Commission Chairman.
East Cobb resident Jason Marbutt has been elected to the Cobb Superior Court in a non-partisan runoff. Marbutt, who is is senior assistant Cobb district attorney, defeated attorney Greg Shenton with 55.8 percent of the vote in the race to succeed retiring judge Stephen Schuster.
Marbutt, who serves on the Cobb Elder Abuse Task Force, told supporters that “I will work hard to honor the trust placed in me by the citizens of Cobb County. Judge Schuster leaves an enduring legacy after many years of fine service. I will honor him by continuing his good work as a servant to the public.”
In another non-partisan judicial runoff, Diana Simmons edged Tricia Griffiths with 51.3 percent of the vote for a post on State Court vacating by retiring Toby Prodgers.
Connie Taylor won 62 percent of the vote in a Democratic runoff for Cobb Superior Court Clerk. She will face Republican incumbent Rebecca Keaton in November.
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