The Cobb County School District is nearing the end of the first year of a new SPLOST collection period, and the school board on Thursday will be asked to consider taking out $100 million in short-term construction notes for the calendar year 2020.
The request is scheduled to be discussed at the board’s work session that begins at 4 p.m., and to formalize a resolution at its 7 p.m. business meeting. Both meetings will be held in board meeting room at the CCSD’s Central Office, 514 Glover St., Marietta.
The loans are taken out as advances against SPLOST collections during the year, and have become an annual action by the Cobb school board.
The district borrowed $90 million for 2019 and a similar amount in 2018. The loans are repaid by the end of each year, as sales-tax revenues are collected.
This year, the loans were being paid back at an interest rate of 1.72 percent. District officials say the borrowing helps them issue bids and start projects earlier in the calendar year and to get savings against interest rates that are around 4-5 percent a year.
If the resolution is adopted Thursday night, a formal proposal with a details about the sale of the loans would be presented to the board for final approval in January.
The Cobb Ed-SPLOST V is expected to collect around $797 million in sales tax revenues through the end of 2023.
Among the primary projects on the SPLOST V list (here’s the full notebook) is rebuilding and relocating Eastvalley Elementary School to the former site of East Cobb Middle School on Holt Road.
A timetable for that project has not been indicated by the district. Earlier this fall, Eastvalley parents demanded that the school board provide newer trailers to replace aging portable classrooms while a new school is built, but no action has been taken.
Among the other major projects at East Cobb schools in SPLOST V are planned for Lassiter HS (theater renovation), Sprayberry HS (CTAE building renovation), Walton HS (new tennis courts and softball field) and Wheeler HS (Magnet School renovation).
Dickerson and Dodgen middle schools also are slated for major classroom additions.
SPLOST funds also are used for technology upgrades at every school, including for security measures, and for general maintenance of facilities and equipment.
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Story and photo submitted by Cobb County School District:
Those who drive by Rocky Mount Elementary see Alice Medlin every day, sometimes twice a day. They may even spot her out front of Simpson Middle School or near Lassiter High School. Parents wave. Students smile at the friendly crossing guard that greets them as they walk to school. Some parents stop to chat and laugh with her after walking their students to school.
What they do not always see are the times when “Ms. Alice” steps in front of a whizzing car to pull a student to safety. They may not see her step off the curb into the path of a speeding car, all to protect a Cobb County student in harm’s way.
They may not know that some drivers are quite disrespectful as they pass the almost-84 years-young crossing guard. They just see her smile because that’s what she does. She waves to the ill-mannered drivers and returns her attention to the children.
“I love these children. They are like mine,” gushed the beloved crossing guard.
For her dedication to student safety, commitment to serving the Cobb Schools community, and consistently doing it all with a positive attitude and a warm smile, “Ms. Alice” was recently named the North Georgia Outstanding Crossing Guard of the Year by the Georgia Safe Routes to School.
She is one of only four in the entire state of Georgia to receive the title of Crossing Guard of the Year and is the only one in the 39-county area of North Georgia.
“Ms. Alice” was standing in the crosswalk in front of Rocky Mount Elementary when she learned that she had been named Crossing Guard of the Year, a moment that brought tears to her eyes. Rocky Mount Principal Peggy Fleming, Assistant Principal Dr. Sage Doolittle, and Georgia Safe Routes representative Patti Pittman surprised her during Crossing Guard Appreciation Week.
Rocky Mount, Simpson, and Lassiter parents pushed for her to win the recognition.
Here’s what some of them said:
“Miss Alice makes sure you always a walk away with a smile. She adores all of her students and their families, and their safety is her top priority always.”
“She is out there in the rain, wind, snow, and heat at all times to help the walkers cross safely during the busiest times of the day.”
“We trust her with our kids’ lives.”
“Ms. Alice is amazing! She knows the kids by name. She loves and treats them like they are her grandkids.”
After giving birth to 9 children and loving 11 grandchildren and 14 great-grandchildren of her own, “Ms. Alice” has a lifetime of experience with children, and it shows.
“Ms. Alice loves giving out special treats for the kids before long weekends and vacations,” one parent wrote in their nomination. “She greets every walker with love and even shares personal stories with us! She has such a big heart for all of the children and sees them as her own grandchildren!”
Her oldest child, who attended Cobb Schools, is 65. One of her great-grandchildren has already graduated high school.
I don’t look it and don’t act it, she said as she did a little dance outside Rocky Mount.
“Ms. Alice” first pulled on the yellow vest of a Cobb Schools crossing guard about 5 years ago when she was a mere 79. She doesn’t plan to retire until she reaches 90.
Some of the adored crossing guard’s friends ask her why she chooses to wake up early every morning and stand in the bitter cold and show up each afternoon to watch over students in the intense Georgia heat.
“It makes it worth living to get up and come here every day,” she tells them.
She stands in the rain, cold, and heat because her job gives her the potential to positively impact someone else’s future. That’s an opportunity she cannot turn down.
When she’s not on the job at a crosswalk near you, she’s kicking up her heels on a dance floor. She goes dancing every Saturday.
Because so many parents, students and members of the community see her every day, she is a bit famous. People stop her at the grocery store because they recognize her. She has so many fans—parents and students alike—that they often want to continue their crosswalk talks.
“Ms. Alice is a joy!!! She greets us every day, no matter what the weather, with a smile,” another parent said. “She loves our kids and always makes sure they are safe. My kids love seeing her every morning and afternoon.”
This parent’s comment may best represent why so many parents nominated her and why she ultimately won Crossing Guard of the Year.
“She would literally give her life for any of these kids,” one parent declared.
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Former Powers Ferry UMC youth pastor Brian Tillman brought his daughters to the church’s farewell celebration Sunday. (East Cobb News photos by Wendy Parker)
A half-hour after the worship service ended, the sanctuary at Powers Ferry United Methodist Church was packed.
On a typical Sunday, the average number of attendees at the church, located on Powers Ferry Road at the South Marietta Parkway, is only around 50 people.
On this sunny early December Sunday, more than 200 mingled, hugged and recalled their memories of a church home that for many of them extends a half-century or more.
“The energy in this place is enormous!” said the church’s senior pastor, Dr. Larisa Parker.
The worshippers included current congregation members and those who have gone elsewhere, but came back for a special occasion.
All of them were there to say goodbye.
After 65 years as a congregation, Powers Ferry United Methodist Church will be closing its doors at the end of the year.
Declining membership and financial struggles prompted the decision, as members voted 28-14 in October to shutter the church and turn the property over to the North Georgia Conference of the United Methodist Church.
The final worship service will be on Dec. 29, but on Sunday, a special “homecoming” celebration was arranged that included an open house and an early afternoon luncheon.
Many just wanted to linger among the pews as long as they could.
“Today was a testimony of what this church has meant to this community,” said member Angela Schneider Wilson, who’s belonged to Powers Ferry UMC most of her life.
“But society has changed,” she said. “We are a very loving congregation and we’re all going to miss this place very much.”
Longtime Powers Ferry UMC members Angela Schneider Wilson and Michelle McRee haven’t decided where they’ll attend church in the future.
Powers Ferry UMC opened in 1954 on the eastern outskirts of Marietta, when what is now East Cobb was mostly farmland.
Now, the community around the church, made up mostly of small homes and nearby apartment and condominium complexes, has transitioned from mostly white middle-class to to include many working-class minorities.
The East Cobb area also has grown rapidly, and there are at least a dozen UMC churches within a 10-mile radius of Powers Ferry UMC.
In recent years the church began a mission to minister to nearby Brazilian, Latino and Dominican communities, including the establishment of scout troops and a revamped youth ministry.
But the Atlanta-based North Georgia Conference—the governing body for more than 800 churches—created a study group last year to examine the viability of the congregation.
Among its conclusions, which were released in March, were that too few members were carrying a heavy burden of the giving load, and that the church could not meet its financial obligations.
That included difficulty in paying the pastor’s salary, making repairs and renovations to older buildings and submitting apportionment payments to the conference.
More than 75 percent of Powers Ferry UMC members are age 40 or older, according to the report, and 51 percent are over the age of 60.
The report also concluded that between 24 and 40 “active households” are supporting most church ministries and operations, and that the top 10 givers in the congregation range in age from the 50s to the 80s.
Powers Ferry UMC has reached out to local minority communities in recent years, but it hasn’t prevented membership declines.
The closure of Powers Ferry UMC comes as new research about church attendance in America shows a decline in those considering themselves religious.
“This is a sad reality for a lot of churches, and not just in the Methodist church,” said Rev. Brian Tillman, associate pastor of Ben Hill UMC in Atlanta, and a former youth pastor at Powers Ferry UMC.
“It’s like losing a member of the family.”
Tillman’s children were baptized at Powers Ferry UMC, and his time as youth pastor inspired him to get into the ministry full-time. He brought his daughters to the homecoming, and gave hugs to just about anyone (including a reporter) who got within arm’s reach.
“This is the most loving church I have ever been a part of,” said Tillman, whose other church posts have included McEachern UMC in Powder Springs. “People here have different opinions about things, but they love each other. They get along.
“This is a small church, and you’re able to have a family feel and connections. You literally know everybody.”
Dr. Henry Bohn, a retired veterinarian, is one of those longtime Powers Ferry UMC members who knows just about everybody.
He joined the church in 1969, before the community was bisected by the Loop, and recalls former pastor Fred Emery saying “that road is going to destroy this church.”
But it wasn’t until East Cobb became heavily suburbanized, several decades later, that his premonition came to pass.
“I’m very sorry to see it happen, but it’s sort of inevitable in a number of ways,” said Bohn, who’s active with the East Cobb Lions Club that has met at the church for more than three decades to prepare and deliver Meals on Wheels on Christmas.
(The church also hosted the Lions’ annual holiday pancake breakfast, which has been moved to nearby East Cobb United Methodist Church and will take place this Saturday.)
Bohn abstained on the vote to close Powers Ferry UMC, and said he’s transferring his membership to Mt. Bethel UMC, where he’s been an associate member for many years.
“There are four certainties in life,” Bohn said. “Life, death, taxes and change.”
Other Powers Ferry UMC members haven’t decided where they might be attending church in the future.
“I’ve never had to church-shop,” said Wilson. “I’m enjoying everything until we close. It will be hard to find another place like this.”
The same goes for her childhood friend, Michelle McRee, who like Wilson met her husband at Powers Ferry UMC.
A volunteer at nearby Sedalia Park Elementary School, she said the church’s current mission work has been vital “because we’re in a community that really needs it.”
That’s what makes the decision to close especially hard for her, in addition to the personal memories she holds.
During Sunday’s service, she said, “my heart was filled, and at the same time, there were tears in my eyes.”
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Submitted graphic and information below includes details on East Cobb dropoff spots—at WellStar East Cobb Health Park Tuesday and the WellStar Administration building on Sandy Plains Road and Three 13 Salon on Canton Road on Thursday:
Cobb Christmas partners with Cobb County Department of Transportation and CobbLinc to create the county’s most unique and memorable holiday program, Stuff-A-Bus. Think of Stuff-A-Bus as the opposite of Santa’s sleigh, Santa uses his sleigh to deliver gifts and Cobb Christmas makes a CobbLinc bus our sleigh for collecting gifts.
The week prior to Cobb Christmas’ Annual Distribution, a CobbLinc bus travels through the county to Stuff-A-Bus host sites gathering donations of food and toys. Host sites can be businesses, schools and other entities that have organized toy and food drives.
This program would not be successful without the help of local businesses, schools, and other organizations that serve as host sites for Stuff-A-Bus. Volunteers at these locations organize food and toy drives and begin promoting and collecting in November. A Cobb Christmas representative schedules a date and time for the bus to make a stop at their location to collect the items which have been donated. All donations are stored and transported to IAM Local Lodge 709 —the Cobb Christmas Distribution Site-during distribution week.
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The various bands, orchestras, coral music groups and other fine arts groups at Wheeler High School performed two shows Saturday in the Holiday Showcase at the school’s performing arts center.
The event was the culmination of many weeks of rehearsals and involved dozens of students in the Chorale Chorus, the Beginning Orchestra, the Philharmonia Orchestra, the Sinfonia Orchestra, the Concert Band, the Symphonic Band and the Full Orchestra.
In the second show, the Bel Voce Chorus, the Wind Ensemble Band, the Chamber Orchestra and the Theater took the stage.
The music teachers include Mark Hoskins and Anthony Higdon (band), Ebony Collier (chorus), Dwayne Wasson and April O’Keefe (orchestra), Dayna Strickland (theater) and Lisa Casey and William Rembert (visual art).
The photos and videos are from the opening concert.
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The opening of East Cobb Park in 2003 was the culmination of five years of planning, persistence, community involvement and commitment.
What began as a dream for a passive park in the heart of a bustling suburban community turned into a full-throttle campaign that made its reality even more gratifying for those behind it.
Several founding members of the Friends for the East Cobb Park discussed that history this week before the East Cobb Area Council of the Cobb Chamber of Commerce, where the park idea was incubated.
“It was a big idea, and it was Sunny’s idea,” said Mary Karras, the first president of the Friends for the East Cobb Park, referring to Sunny Walker.
She was a co-owner of the Frameworks Gallery in East Cobb and a leading arts and community advocate who was the guiding force behind the creation of the park.
“She said, ‘I think we need a passive park in East Cobb,’ ” Karras recalls. “I said, ‘What’s a passive park?’ ”
Walker had a vision, but that’s all the Friends group, formed as a non-profit in 1998, had to go on.
Identifying a possible location, purchasing it and then turning it over to Cobb County for development as a park were all formidable tasks.
Finding land that was close to the Merchants Walk area, that was affordable and suitable for passive park was a tall order.
When a member of the Bowles family came to the bank where Karras worked and offered to sell 13 acres of what had been farmland on Roswell Road, he told her he also had done an environmental study.
That’s when Karras turned to Tom Bills, a resident of the adjacent Mitsy Forest subdivision, and an engineer by training.
“The land was clean and good and ready for us to purchase,” said Bills, a former Friends treasurer and president.
Mary Karras and Kim Paris, co-founders of Friends for the East Cobb Park, with current president Lee O’Neal. (East Cobb News photo by Wendy Parker)
Fundraising was the next step, and it was a comprehensive approach. Cobb County offered a match, but Karras and other Friends advocates had to hustle to get the interest of businesses, foundations and everyday citizens.
Then-U.S. Rep. Johnny Isakson helped the Friends gain access to foundation and business leaders in Atlanta, and the group held events and meetings and wrote letters seeking financial support.
“We were scrambling for every hundred dollars we could find,” Karras said. “We did it because we saw it was an opportunity to create a legacy in this community.”
Without the larger community of everyday citizens contributing their share, the vision of East Cobb Park may not have gone much further.
Scout troops, school groups, families, civic organizations and others chipped in as they could. They included kids turned over big bags of change they solicited from golfers on the Indian Hills driving range.
“That meant as much to us” as the bigger checks, Bills said, “because it showed the support of the community.”
Citizens also could purchase park cobblestones and pickets for the fence around the children’s playground bearing their names. Other contributors had their names, or the names of loved ones, inscribed on park benches.
With all of that support, and most of the money, the Friends group found itself $100,000 short at closing. That’s when Riverside Bank, which had been vital in securing financing during the fundraising drive, agreed to make a loan.
When asked if she or the Friends group ever had any doubts, Karras said no, but understood how their task may come across to some: “Raising $1 million to buy land that we were going to give to the county?”
Yet the laborious fundraising campaign contained the seeds of what the Friends group also had envisioned.
“We started off slow and then we gained momentum,” Karras said. “That gave everybody ownership.”
“There was no giving up,” said Kim Paris, another former Friends president.
“Sunny dreamed big,” Karras said, “and we bought into it.”
Johnny Johnson is the owner of Edward Johns Jewelers and a longtime civic leader who serves as Santa Claus at park’s Holiday Lights festivities: “East Cobb Park became the center of our community.”
East Cobb Area Council president Dan Byers said “East Cobb Park was the crown jewel of this community before we ever moved here.”
More community support followed after the park was built and opened. A second “all-abilities” playground was built with a $75,000 grant from the Resurgens Foundation.
The Friends group continues as an active partner with the county, staging year-round events including concerts and the Holiday Lights tree lighting, which starts at 5 p.m. Sunday.
Last year, a secondary vision of expanding the park became a reality when Cobb County purchased 22 acres of adjacent property belonging to Wylene Tritt, who donated 7.7 acres of what had been the 54-acre Tritt farm.
The Friends group helped the county round out the costs at closing with a $102,000 contribution from its endowment, most of which has been paid back.
For now, the new land will remain as greenspace, but there are longer-term visions of purchasing what’s left of the Tritt land for park purposes.
“History is important, because there is a future for the park,” said Lee O’Neal, the current Friends president. “There are plenty of opportunities to develop that property and purchase more to extend East Cobb Park.”
The Cobb Board of Commissioners voted this fall to name the first bridge connecting the current park to its newer space after Walker, who died in September. A piano was donated in her name in 2017 and sits in the park gazebo.
Karras, now the manager of investor relations for the Cobb Chamber, said Walker also talked about the park one day having an arts center, and would like to see that come to fruition.
For Paris, who’s going to be a grandmother in the spring, her thoughts about the park’s future are more immediate.
“That’s why we did this,” she said, referencing the legacy mission of the park founders, “as the park continues to grow and that our community continues to support.”
Sunny Walker, co-founder of the Friends for the East Cobb Park
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The Cobb Planning Commission is recommending approval of a senior living project on Ebenezer Road that’s drawn opposition from nearby residents as too dense and traffic-intense.
At a hearing on Tuesday, the board voted 4-0 in favor of a rezoning request by Traton Homes to build 31 detached homes on less than 10 acres on Ebenezer Road, just north of the Sandy Plains Road intersection.
The developer submitted revised plans (read it here) to reduce the development to 31 units, a new site plan, as well as a left-hand turn lane at the proposed entrance on Ebenezer and numerous other stipulations, including a landscape buffer.
Cobb DOT said it prefers left-hand turn lane access from Sandy Plains Road.
Some living in the adjacent Kerry Creek subdivision said the proposed lots are too small, and that the wooded areas they enjoy now in their backyards would be wiped out by multiple new homes.
The Cobb County School District expressed concerns over the development, since those buying homes would qualify for the Cobb senior exemption from school taxes.
After a citizen suggested that the spirit of the tax exemption wasn’t meant to apply to new developments like this one, Kevin Moore, Traton’s attorney, said “tax status should not be a zoning issue.”
Walter Stevens of the nearby Sandy Plains Baptist Church said he supports the request after seeing some of the changes.
Planning Commission chairwoman Judy Williams of Northeast Cobb recused herself “because of relatives.” She did not preside over the case and abstained from voting.
The Planning Commission also voted 3-1 to recommend approval of a single-family home proposal on Canton Road after originally proposing townhomes.
Smith Douglas Homes is now requesting RA-6 zoning for 39 detached residences, instead of 61 townhomes, on 6.6 acres on Canton Road at Kensington Drive, in the RA-12 category. (here’s a recent stipulation letter and revised site plan).
The revised request has the support of Canton Road Neighbors, a civic association. Surrounding housing is single-family detached.
Garvis Sams, attorney for the developer, said the land has been designated for office and industrial use but that “there’s just not a market” to develop it along those lines.
The only vote against was Galt Porter of South Cobb, who said the revised proposal is still too dense for him to support. Abstaining was Fred Beloin of North Cobb.
The Cobb Board of Commissioners will make final zoning decisions on Dec. 17.
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Francis Yang and Rachel Luckuck (with plaques), Walton HS graduates who were named the 2019 Mr. and Ms. Georgia Tech. (Photo, video and story courtesy Georgia Tech communications)
Thanks to reader Julie Alvoid for alerting us to this story about Walton graduates Rachel Luckuck and Francis Yang. They knew each other a little in high school, then had an unexpected reunion recently when they were named Mr. and Ms. Georgia Tech.
The photo, video and text come from Tech’s communications office:
“We sort of knew of each other, just not very well,” explains Rachel Luckcuck, newly named Ms. Georgia Tech 2019.
“I think we had Calc together, right?” Mr. Georgia Tech Francis Yang asks Luckcuck.
“I used to think that Francis was just so cool. I can’t believe looking back that now we’re Mr. and Ms. Georgia Tech,” Luckcuck says.
“I remember when you got into Georgia Tech and how excited you were!” Yang recalls happily.
Luckcuck had taken extra online classes to boost her high school resume in hopes of being accepted to Georgia Tech. She also played the Georgia Tech fight song for inspiration — while studying. Both tactics paid off.
“That was a great day. January 8,” she remembers.
“That’s my birthday!” Yang exclaims.
Both Luckcuck and Yang attended Walton High School in Marietta, Georgia, and both are now business administration majors at Tech. Their election as Mr. and Ms. Georgia Tech was purely coincidental; they ran separately on their own merits and service. The winners were selected from a pool of 20 semifinalists who were required to write essays about their personal experiences and interviewed about their service to campus. Luckuck and Yang won the 2019 title from among a narrowed pool of ten finalists after a popular vote by their peers.
The photographs from Bobby Dodd Stadium were the talk of their hometown. “I was getting tons of messages on Facebook and Instagram from my former high school teachers,’ Luckcuck says. “They were just so proud to see us there together.”
Yang has found this whole experience surreal. “I couldn’t have asked for a better experience at Georgia Tech. Previous Mr. and Ms. Georgia Techs are the people I looked up to when I first got here. Now that’s me.”
He has helped incoming students make the transition to college through his work as a FASET Orientation leader. “One of the best parts of all of this is having some of those students come congratulate me,” he says.
Luckuck says she has found joy working with the Excel Program, a Georgia Tech initiative that provides a post-secondary education for students with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
“There are thousands of colleges but only about 200 options nationwide for these students. Georgia Tech being one of them is incredible, and being part of the program has been life-changing,” she says.
One of Yang’s favorite moments of the entire process was seeing his mom on the field. “It was her first game day,” he says. “She was so excited. To share that moment with her was so special.” And he was so excited that he almost forgot it was his first time on the field too.
For Luckcuck, self-admittedly a bit shy and reserved, her Tech experience has taught her more about herself and how she can best serve others. “It’s living our motto of progress and service. Now as Ms. Georgia Tech I can find a way to give back because Georgia Tech gave so much to me.”
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The sponsor of the East Cobb cityhood bill says changes to the proposed city map are still ongoing, and he doesn’t think anything will be finalized until the Georgia legislature returns in January.
State Rep. Matt Dollar is the sponsor of the East Cobb cityhood bill.
State Rep. Matt Dollar (R-East Cobb) said he hasn’t seen a proposed revision of the map that was presented at a town hall meeting on Nov. 11 by the group pushing for cityhood.
The Committee for Cityhood in East Cobb wants the map to include the areas around Pope and Lassiter high schools. The initial map included most of unincorporated East Cobb in Cobb Commission District 2.
During the town hall meeting at Wheeler High School, David Birdwell of the cityhood committee flashed a revised map for the audience, which he said he received only that day.
A more detailed map, he said at the time, would not be immediately available from the state apportionment office.
Nearly a month later, there still isn’t a revised map proposal for the public to view. The cityhood committee’s website includes an interactive map for citizens to see whether or not they live in the proposed city, but it’s the original map.
The East Cobb cityhood group’s website still has the original proposed map; click here for details.
When contacted by East Cobb News, Dollar said he was out of town and unable to attend that meeting and “I’m not sure what they were showing.”
“We’re still taking feedback,” Dollar said about the process for drawing a revised map. “We’ll have a better idea what the map will look like once the legislative session begins.
“We’re all working together to see what the map’s going to look like.”
Dollar filed HB 718 (you can read it here) on the next-to-last day of the 2019 legislature and the day after the cityhood group’s first public meeting.
Under state law, cityhood bills have to go through a two-year process. The full legislature must pass the bill in the 2020 session before a referendum would go to voters—most likely in November—living in the proposed City of East Cobb.
The original city map would have a population of nearly 90,000, and if it expands as Birdwell has suggested, it would top more than 110,000.
East Cobb cityhood leader David Birdwell presented an expanded map at a Nov. 11 town hall meeting, but has not provided more details of the proposed revisions.
That would make a City of East Cobb the second-largest municipality in the metro Atlanta area. But a more accurate estimate, along with detailed boundaries of the proposed new map, remain unclear.
East Cobb News has left a message with Birdwell seeking comment.
State Sen. Kay Kirkpatrick (R-East Cobb) told East Cobb News earlier this week she hasn’t seen a new map. Cityhood bills must have a local Senate sponsor, but she hasn’t taken a position and may be doing some polling.
Dollar said reaction from his constituents in East Cobb’s District 45 has been mixed. He acknowledges there’s opposition, including the group East Cobb Alliance, but said he’s gotten “a lot of e-mails from people who do like” the cityhood proposal.
He said the objective is to have a formalized map for the proposed City of East Cobb by the time the bill would be considered by the House Governmental Affairs Committee, the first step in the legislative process.
He said he doesn’t anticipate, at least for now, any other significant changes to the rest of the cityhood bill and proposed City of East Cobb charter.
Ultimately, the legislature would draw up a final city map and make other changes if it passes the cityhood bill.
“We’ll have a lot more clarity soon,” Dollar said about the map. “Right now, it’s just not there.”
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A political action committee that supports Democratic women running for the Georgia General Assembly has endorsed to two candidates in East Cobb.
The Georgia WIN List announced that it has placed first-term State. Rep. Mary Frances Williams on its “protect” list of incumbents for the 2020 election and is supporting Luisa Wakeman, who is running again for the District 43 seat held by longtime Republican State Rep. Sharon Cooper.
Luisa Wakeman
Last year, Wakeman lost by less than 792 votes in a mostly-East Cobb district that Cooper, the House Health and Human Services Committee chairwoman, has represented since 1997.
Williams, who lives in Marietta, upset GOP incumbent Sam Teasley in 2018 in District 37, which includes some of Northeast Cobb. She was declared the winner in a recount, with a 137-vote margin.
Georgia WIN held an endorsement event Thursday at the Georgia state capitol, focusing on 12 candidates who either won seats from Republican incumbents in 2018 or who came close.
Qualifying for 2020 legislative campaigns will take place in early March.
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High Meadows School, an independent, International Baccalaureate (IB) school focused on child-centered education for students in preschool through eighth grade, is thrilled to announce the appointment of Lisa Baker as Head of School and Camp effective July 1, 2020. She will lead planning and programming, community building, financial management, attracting and developing faculty and staff, stewardship of the 42-acre campus, and ultimately carrying out the High Meadows mission.
A specially formed search committee and the High Meadows Board of Trustees selected Baker unanimously because of her commitment to progressive education, student voice and choice, and a strong understanding of the school’s mission and educational philosophy. She has more than 30 years of experience in schools including leadership experience in several independent schools.
“It is an honor to be asked to serve as the next Head of School for High Meadows School and Camp. High Meadows has a rich, nearly 50-year history and remarkable commitment to creating an environment where students thrive and where their natural sense of wonder and curiosity is fueled. Joining this school family of passionate learners and inquisitive minds is a remarkable opportunity for which I am deeply grateful.”
Baker currently serves as Head of Upper School at Bancroft School in Worchester, Mass. She is a visionary and charismatic leader. Recently she co-chaired on the Strategic Planning Team and launched the Social Justice and Equity Task Force. Additionally, she has collaborated closely with the Board. Baker began her career in education as a middle school teacher and coach and did the practicum for her counseling degree in a middle school setting. She began her path to educational leadership as the Camp Director at Camp Greenway at The Madeira School in McLean, Va.
“When we embarked on the journey to find a new head of school and camp, we asked the High Meadows community for input about the kind of leader we were looking for, and the feedback we received was very thoughtful and consistent,” says Javier Estrella, chair of the head of school search committee and vice-chair of the High Meadows Board of Trustees. “Lisa Baker is an experienced independent school leader who identifies as an educator and celebrates childhood and child-centered learning, both highly-regarded values of High Meadows. We believe she embodies our values and are confident she will lead our faculty, staff, and the entire school and camp community to a bright future.”
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The Cobb Fire Department said a man and a dog were found dead in a Northeast Cobb home after a fire broke out there on Tuesday morning.
The 46-year-old man has not been identified and the cause of the fire has not been announced. Capt. Joseph Bryant of the Cobb Fire Department said fire and EMS units were called to the home at 2235 Snug Harbor, off Sandy Plains Road, at 8:08 a.m. Tuesday.
That’s in the St. Charles Square subdivision, off Sandy Plains and near Scufflegrit Road.
The man and the dog were found in the master bedroom on the main level of the two-story, home, Bryant said.
He said the cause remains under investigation and foul play is not suspected.
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The Crystal Korean Church purchased nearly 20 acres of undeveloped land on Old Canton Road at Blue Sky Drive in 2018.
There’s precious little empty land in East Cobb, which isn’t a surprise. But the amount that’s undeveloped due to being in a flood plain, wetlands or parkland or designated for conservation protection shrinks those totals even further.
Cobb County government annually updates a map of undeveloped land and recently released its 2019 estimates, broken down by the four Cobb Board of Commissioners districts.
Districts 2 and 3 have the fewest acres of undeveloped and underdeveloped lands in the county (illustrated by the green spots), a total of less than 5,000 acres combined, as seen in the chart at the bottom.
In addition, developable land in District 2 comes to just 980 acres, with only 2,599 acres available in District 3.
That’s a staggering 96.8 percent of land in District 2 that’s considered developed, and only 2.3 percent that is developable. In District 3, those figures are 93.5 percent and five percent, respectively.
The maps reflect land only in unincorporated Cobb; a good chunk of the city of Marietta is in District 3, while District 2 contains most of the city of Smyrna. District 2 also contains the Cumberland/Vinings area, which is the most urbanized portion of Cobb County.
The percentages are in double figures in District 1 and District 4, northwest and south Cobb, respectively.
It’s in those areas of the county where the most contentious zoning cases are taking place. East Cobb, especially that portion of District 2, has seen more sparring over proposed development on smaller tracts, as well as site plan changes and redevelopment cases.
One trend that doesn’t show up on undeveloped land maps or in county zoning files is residential redevelopment as it relates to teardowns. It’s not hard to find older ranch homes being leveled all around East Cobb, to be replaced by larger homes, sometimes in multiple numbers on a single lot.
The demand for housing has become so acute that commercially zoned land is prime for residential development.
On Tuesday, the Cobb Planning Commission recommended approval of an application to rezone 6.6 acres on Canton Road from office and industrial for 39 single-family homes. The developer, Smith Douglas Homes, had proposed 61 townhomes, but altered its plans after meeting community opposition.
In remarks before the planning board, Garvis Sams, an attorney for Smith Douglas, said there simply isn’t the demand for more commercial space like there is for residential.
A single-family home was recently demolished on Clubland Drive in Indian Hills, where teardowns of older homes are becoming common.
A similar situation is occurring regarding the proposed redevelopment of the run-down Sprayberry Crossing Shopping Center. Atlantic Residential, which specializes in building upscale rental properties, wants to build apartments and a senior-living community on the Sandy Plains Road property, with a small amount of retail.
Some nearby residents have pushed back against apartments as well as the density of the project, and say they want more shopping than what’s been presented.
Atlantic Residential is going back to the drawing board for reasons that also include a cemetery. Those in favor of the plans say there isn’t as much demand for those commercial categories.
The Sprayberry Crossing land isn’t on the new undeveloped land map (it’s on a separate county inventory of properties eligible for tax incentives if redeveloped). But it illustrates concerns some East Cobb residents have over what may transpire with redevelopment in the future.
Some have pointed to redevelopment in Sandy Springs and Roswell, which have overhauled their zoning codes in recent years.
Those concerns also have been expressed in connection with an East Cobb cityhood effort whose figures include some individuals with development backgrounds.
Keep in mind that a number of green spots you see on the map in East Cobb are parkland and conservation areas or are located along flood plains or in wetlands. Other parcels on the new map may not be completely up-to-date.
A collection of nearly 100 acres of former Wigley Family farm land that abutts the Cherokee County line was approved for rezoning last year for 91 single-family homes (where the blue arrow is pointing).
The property is an assemblage that includes hilly terrain, leaving only half of the land for development, and which was zoned for low-density residential in an open space community category.
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In his farewell speech in the U.S. Senate, Georgia’s Johnny Isakson issued a final call for bipartisanship, a theme that has been the hallmark of his 45-year public career, in the legislature and in Congress.
“I never saw people get things done without agreeing to something,” the East Cobb Republican said Tuesday afternoon in a Senate chamber that included Vice President Mike Pence.
He paid tribute to Georgia Democratic Congressman John Lewis, an icon of the Civil Rights Movement, “as one of my real heroes in life because I watched what he went through to help us see the light in the South, in my part of the South, Georgia.”
Isakson said bipartisanship is more than just a strategy for getting things done, but also “a state of mind . . . a state of being.”
He said his approach to accomplishing things for his constituents was a simple one: “I did what I thought was right. That’s the way to do it.”
The 74-year-old former real estate executive is leaving office Dec. 31 for health reasons stemming from his continuing battle with Parkinson’s Disease and after fracturing ribs in a fall last summer.
After stints in the Georgia House and Senate, as well as the U.S. House, Isakson said his 15-year tenure in the U.S. Senate “is the most enjoyable thing I’ve ever done in my life.”
In his most impassioned part of his speech, Isakson implored his colleagues to “find a way to find common ground.” He said, “America, we have a problem,” but that “we can do anything” by dropping hard party labels. “Bipartisanship will be the way you accomplish things, the way you live.”
Dozens of senators of both parties offered remarks from the floor in tribute, including Georgia’s David Perdue, who said Isakson is “the best partner anyone could ask for.”
Isakson’s departing a Washington that’s embroiled in impeachment hearings in the House against President Donald Trump, and as his own Republican Party is in an uproar over his successor.
Perdue’s new partner will be Atlanta businesswoman Kelly Loeffler, whose appointment was made official Wednesday by Gov. Brian Kemp. He was pressured by Trump and the president’s allies to choose Georgia Congresswoman Doug Collins.
Loeffler owns a bitcoin trading company and is co-owner of the Atlanta Dream of the Women’s National Basketball Association. A major Republican donor, she has not held public office.
Her term goes through next November’s elections, with the winner to fill the final two year’s of Isakson’s term.
On Wednesday morning, Isakson issued a statement congratulating Loeffler on her appointment:
“Kelly’s business experience and acumen will be an asset to Georgia and the Senate. The same tireless work ethic that has helped her succeed in business will also help her succeed in serving Georgians and our nation. It has been the honor of a lifetime for me to serve this great state in the U.S. Senate, and my staff and I will work closely with Kelly to ensure a smooth transition.”
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Members of the East Cobb Business Association, Northeast Cobb Business Association and Marietta Business Association gathered at the WellStar East Cobb Health Park Tuesday for a joint holiday party.
Participants enjoyed food, drink and musical entertainment and donated unwrapped toys for the Toys for Tots.
The health park (3747 Roswell Road) will be the venue for a public holiday party Thursday from 5:45-7:45 p.m. It’s free with refreshments and includes Santa & Mrs. Claus, tree lighting and entertainment from the Dickerson Middle School Chorus and Dance Stop studios.
Here’s more about what’s coming up at the end of a busy week and weekend in East Cobb for holiday events, including the Apple Annie craft show, Holiday Lights, the Wheeler Fine Arts Holiday Showcase concerts, the Bethlehem Walk and more.
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Tom Bills and Mack Cobb (center, with plaques) are joined by, from left, East Cobb Area Council president Dan Byers, Cobb Chamber CEO Sharon Mason and incoming Cobb Chamber president John Loud. (East Cobb News photos by Wendy Parker)
The new recipients of the East Cobb Citizen of the Year award have been revealed, and a long streak of keeping the news a surprise to the winners has been maintained.
At a Tuesday morning breakfast of the East Cobb Area Council of the Cobb Chamber of Commerce, Mack Cobb wore a Pope letter sweater, with a light-blue P against a backdrop of darker blue. He was asked to speak about the youth football programs he’s been involved with for nearly 50 years.
Tom Bills was part of a special presentation about the past, present and future of East Cobb Park, as the organization’s first treasurer.
Both men did that, but as the co-citizens of the year, an honor that’s been shared only once since the award began in 1991.
“I don’t know what to say,” said Cobb, holding up papers with prepared remarks. “I came here to talk about football.”
He’s coached middle-school feeder football programs for Pope, Lassiter and Walton, as well as for the Cobb YMCA.
When asked later about why he’s coached sixth-through-eighth graders for so long, his reply was swift: “They’re kids,” Cobb said, with a spark in his eyes.
A favorite moment came during a practice when a player rushed to Cobb, put something in his hand and asked him to hold onto it. It was a bloody tooth.
“I want to put it under my pillow,” the boy told Cobb.
Mack Cobb poses with members of the Pope community, including head football coach Tab Griffin (back row, at right), who played for him as a middle-schooler.
One of his former players was in attendance at the event at Indian Hills Country Club. Tab Griffin, who’s been the Pope varsity coach for the past three years, said Cobb’s been one of the more influential figures in his life, far beyond football.
“He always taught you so much about non-football things,” Griffin said. “Hard work. Making good grades. Respecting others. You don’t realize how much you’ve learned from him until you’re out in the real world.”
Griffin said those life lessons came every day in practice and at games, not in any overbearing fashion, but as part of developing trusting relationships with other people. That was the strength of Cobb’s influence.
“Now that I’m a father and a coach, I try to instill them with the things that I learned from him,” Cobb said.
Tom Bills was surprised at being named the East Cobb co-Citizen of the Year, as he is presented his plaque by 1992 recipient Johny Johnson.
Bills was an engineering consultant in private practice when he got involved with efforts nearly two decades ago to buy land to purchase what became East Cobb Park.
He lives in the nearby Mitsy Forest neighborhood, and served as the first treasurer of the Friends for the East Cobb Park.
Over the years, he’s served the non-profit board in various capacities, including president from 2003-05. Now, Bills is a senior construction project manager for the Cobb Department of Parks, Recreation and Cultural Affairs.
“I always thought that my award was the park,” Bills said.
He got involved in the volunteer group’s work, he said, because a park nearby “would be good for our neighborhood.”
It turned out to be a long-term commitment that included an ambitious fundraising project that continues today.
Before long, Sunny Walker, Mary Karras and Kim Paris—founding members and driving forces of the Friends group—got him fully involved, after initially asking him to evaluate an environmental impact study.
“Mary signed me up for 20 years,” he said.
He said as the organization’s treasurer, every single contribution, no matter the size, was important.
Among them were from kids who turned over big bags of change they solicited from golfers on the Indian Hills driving range.
“That meant as much to us” as the bigger checks, Bills said, “because it showed the support of the community.”
Bills’ other community work includes volunteering with activities at Walton High School, Keep Cobb Beautiful, and the Cobb Veterans Foundation.
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Georgia Republican primary voters will have only one name to choose from in the 2020 primary next March: Incumbent President Donald Trump.
The state party’s executive committee on Monday submitted only Trump’s name for consideration on the March 24, 2020 ballot.
Georgia would be one of several states to exclude the names of other Republicans from primary ballots.
According to a release issued by Georgia GOP, state party chairman David Shafer said the vote was unanimous and that “Trump was the only candidate with any significant level of support among Republican voters in Georgia who ‘unambiguously’ pledged to support the Republican nominee for President.”
Five candidates were considered by the state party, including former Illinois Congressman Joe Walsh, now a talk show host, and former Massachusetts Gov. Bill Weld, the 2016 vice presidential nominee of the Libertarian Party.
The others were California businessman Roque De La Fuente and Fred Boddie-Yahshua of Atlanta, whose campaign is known as “President R19 Boddie.”
“GaRepublicans just chose Trump over Georgians. Trump is a vulnerable criminal. Is the #GAGOP so scared they have to protect him from the ‘significant support’ they say he’d have in a contested primary?”
“Apparently Trump’s bromance with Putin extends to emulating the Russian’s approach to elections. The #GAGOP just decided the Georgia Republican Presidential Primary ballot will have only one candidate on it: Donald Trump. What is DJT afraid of?”
According to The Hill, a political publication in Washington, the Minnesota GOP also has put only Trump’s name forward for its primary, while state Republican parties in Kansas, Alaska, South Carolina, Arizona and Nevada have cancelled their 2020 primaries or caucuses.
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The following East Cobb food scores from Dec. 2-6 have been compiled by the Cobb & Douglas Department of Public Health. Click the link under each listing to view details of the inspection:
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From U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson’s office this morning comes word that he’ll speak for the last time on the floor Tuesday afternoon, around 2:30 p.m. You can can watch on C-SPAN or the Senate floor webcast by clicking here.
Other senators will be offering tributes after his remarks, led by Georgia Sen. David Perdue.
Isakson announced in August he would be stepping down at the end of the year due to health issues. He has been battling Parkinson’s Disease and fractured ribs this summer in a fall in his Washington apartment.
Praise for the East Cobb Republican has been bipartisan, including his embrace with U.S. Rep. John Lewis in November during a House floor tribute.
But the process for filling Isakson’s post through next year’s election grew ugly over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend.
This week Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp is expected to appoint Atlanta businesswoman Kelly Loeffler, and recently flew with her to Washington to meet with President Donald Trump.
Trump wanted Georgia Congressman Doug Collins, a strong Trump ally, to get the post. On Twitter, another Trump backer, Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz, threatened to find a primary opponent for Kemp if he chose Loeffler, who has never held public office.
Some critics of Loeffler—an executive with a bitcoin company and the co-owner of the Atlanta Dream women’s pro basketball team—don’t think she’s conservative enough. She served on the board of directors at Grady Memorial Hospital, which one pro-life advocate called “an abortionist training hub.”
Others want Collins because he would be a vocal defender of the president if the Senate conducts a trial following possible impeachment in the House.
Kemp, who got a big boost from Trump last year to win the GOP nomination for governor, is said to prefer Loeffler to appeal to moderate and female voters in the Atlanta suburbs, which has become a partisan battleground.
That includes the East Cobb area and the 6th Congressional District, where a 2017 special election was won by Republican Karen Handel, who in turn was defeated by Democrat Lucy McBath, a gun control advocate, last year.
Isakson is among the GOP establishment who’s endorsed Handel as she attempts to win back her seat next year.
Loeffler will become only the second woman from Georgia to serve in the Senate. Her seat will be contested in a jungle primary and possibly a runoff late next year, with the winner to fill the final two years of Isakson’s term.
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The Cobb County School District is developing its strategic plan for 2020-25 and wants to hear from parents and the public.
The district compiles strategic plans for each school year, and for each school (click here to read more).
The five-year plan is a longer-range document that also reflects priorities outlined by the superintendent, district initiatives and school board goals.
Here’s what the district is sending out to solicit comments:
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