Following last Friday’s post about Kroger’s proposed fuel center at Sandy Plains Centre: Cobb commissioners approved the measure Tuesday on their consent agenda.
The grocery chain initially got rezoning for the fueling center in 2011 in a case that included the construction of a Chick-fil-A that did not happen.
Kroger’s revised site plan also calls for nine pumping stations, compared to the original five, and to realign the fueling center to be parallel with Shallowford Road.
On April 10 Kroger’s attorneys submitted a letter with more than a dozen stipulations, and commissioners Tuesday moved to put the item on their consent agenda, which was approved unanimously.
Among the conditions are operating hours of 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. seven days a week and no beer and alcohol sales to be permitted at the fueling center.
Get Our Free E-Mail Newsletter!
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!
Some East Cobb citizens who’ve been demanding greater Cobb government SPLOST accountability made their arguments public at a town hall meeting last week.
East Cobb citizen Debbie Fisher at a budget town hall in 2018 at the Sewell Mill Library. (ECN file)
The informal group, led by Jan Barton and Debbie Fisher, has been critical not only of how the Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax Money has been spent, but also pointed out that was initially designed to be a finite tax has turned into what’s been called a “never-ending slush fund.”
The SPLOST collections, which are a penny on the dollar, go to funding road, facilities and technology improvements, among other things, with a specific project list that is approved by voters in a referendum.
The county SPLOST is separate from the Education SPLOST, also a penny, that is collected for Cobb and Marietta schools.
The school SPLOST wasn’t part of the town hall, and isn’t included in the Cobb SPLOST critics’ arguments with the county.
In December, Barton and Fisher and their group had former state legislator Josh McKoon, an attorney, send an “ante litem” letter (meaning “before litigation”) to Cobb government officials, alleging that some of the items on the most recent SPLOST project lists didn’t include proper descriptions, and that the county hasn’t acknowledged surplus amounts of SPLOST funds from previous collection periods.
In his letter to Boyce and the other Cobb commissioners, McKoon attached a list of Cobb DOT projects his clients are claiming weren’t properly authorized by Cobb voters. They include road improvements on Sewell Mill Road between Johnson Ferry Road and Pine Road, and on Hembree Road at Pope High School.
In January, Cobb County Attorney Deborah Dance responded to McKoon by saying the county “properly funded the projects identified in your correspondence” and that “mandatory SPLOST reporting by the Georgia law has been satisfied.”
Dance said that each project was either specifically included on a list for the referendum or “fit within a category approved by the electorate for each SPLOST.” Finally, Dance replied to McKoon that “Given the County’s compliance with Georgia law . . . and prior efforts to provide your clients with information concerning that compliance, the County is not aware of any additional information or actions that will serve to satisfy your clients’ concerns.”
Barton told East Cobb News after the town hall meeting her group hadn’t decided on any specific next steps, and that litigation is still a possibility.
Below is a Power Point that was unveiled at the town hall meeting, as well as a full video of the meeting that lasts around an hour and a half.
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!
Get your tickets now for the Cobb Library Foundation’s Booked for Lunch event with Kim Michele Richardson noon-2 p.m., Friday, May 3, at the Sewell Mill Library and Cultural Center. The author’s work includes “Liar’s Bench,” “GodPretty in the Tobacco Field” and “The Sisters of Glass Ferry.” “The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek” will be her fourth novel.
This fundraising event will help support the Cobb County Public Library. Sewell Mill Library and Cultural Center is located at 2051 Lower Roswell Road, Marietta. Tickets are $25 and can be purchased by clicking here. For more on the author, visit kimmichelerichardson.com.
Get Our Free E-Mail Newsletter!
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!
Last week the Los Bravos Mexican Restaurant group relocated a second location in East Cobb, in the spot formerly occupied by Zeal (1255 Johnson Ferry Road, in the Market Plaza Shopping Center), after moving it from 1360 Powers Ferry Road.
That’s where the MarketPlace Terrell Mill development is slated to go, and what was called Los Bravos #1 closed in January.
Los Bravos has been open since April 7 on Johnson Ferry, and the hours are the same as the old place—11 a.m. to 10:30 p.m., seven days a week. There’s not a website for now, but the phone is 770-916-1776.
Those are the same hours for the other nearby Los Bravos restaurant, at 2125 Roswell Road, in the East Lake Shopping Center.
More openings . . .
Also now open, at the Pavilions at East Lake (2100 Roswell Road, Suite 2114) is Kayhill’s Sports Bar and Grill, adjacent to the J. Christopher’s.
Plans have been in the works for several months by former Marietta Billiard Club owner James Kayhill to open another sports bar-themed spot with billiards and poker tables and dart boards, along with big screen TVs.
Live entertainment is coming soon. The menu includes daily specials and extensive beer, wine and cocktail selections, and there’s a daily Happy Hour from 2-7 pm.
. . . and a grand reopening
The Chick-fil-A at Woodlawn Square opened this morning, as we’ve noted several times over the months it was closed for remodeling. The hours are 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday-Saturday.
Coming attractions
From the ICYMI files, just across the Woodlawn Square parking lot will soon mark the return of Mellow Mushroom to the Johnson Ferry Road corridor. We don’t have an estimated time of opening yet, but will post that as soon as we find out.
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!
For those of you who may have noticed last fall, the Kaminski Jewelry store on Post Oak Tritt Road closed after around three decades in business. Just across the street, Jennifer Cortez, a former Kaminski manager, has opened her own store, Jennifer’s Jewelers.
Next Tuesday, April 23, she’s having a ribbon-cutting event with the Cobb Chamber of Commerce on hand. The ribbon-cutting takes place from 11-12 at her store, 2790 Sandy Plains Road.
She says she’s been in the business for 20 years, holds an accounting degree from Kennesaw State and is accredited by the Gemological Institute of America. Jennifer’s Jewelry provides bridal jewelry, precious metals, diamond jewelry, gemstone jewelry, loose stones, appraisal services, estate liquidation, watch services and jewelry repair:
“Being an independent jeweler is a very special business. I get joy out of knowing I had a big part of making life’s most memorable moments very special to so many people and I look forward to providing beautiful jewelry and great services for many many years to come.”
Credit Union of Georgia
The Woodstock-based Credit Union of Georgia has opened a branch at 1020 Johnson Ferry Road, and a ribbon-cutting is set for Wednesday, May 1, from 11-1 p.m. with the East Cobb Business Association.
The event will include refreshments, tours and networking.
CUG began as a financial institution serving teachers and private and public school employees.
Other branches are in Canton, Woodstock, Towne Lake, Kennesaw, Marietta and West Cobb.
ECBA Community Breakfast
Cobb Board of Education chairman David Chastain is the invited guest at the East Cobb Business Association’s Community breakfast April 30.
The breakfast is from 7:30-8:30 a.m. at J. Christopher’s at the Pavilions at East Lake, 2100 Roswell Road.
Chastain, who represents the Kell and Sprayberry clusters on the seven-member school board, is a graduate of Wheeler High School.
The breakfast is $10 in advance for ECBA members and $15 for non-members, and the fee increases by $5 at the door. For information and to register click here.
East Cobb C of C Breakfast
The first event of the East Cobb Area Council of the Cobb Chamber of Commerce is a breakfast Tuesday, April 23, from 7:30 to 9 a.m. at Indian Hills Country Club (4001 Clubland Drive).
The guest speaker is Dana Johnson, executive director of SelectCobb, the Chamber’s economic devleopment unit. He is the former director of the Cobb Community Development Agency.
Tickets are $25 for Chamber members and $35 for general admission. For details and to register, click here.
Get Our Free E-Mail Newsletter!
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!
Cobb is among the 75 counties included in a tornado watch area until 2 p.m. today.
ORIGINAL POST:
A large band of severe storms has been making its way across the Deep South Saturday and could threaten Georgia for most of Sunday.
The National Weather Service in Atlanta has issued a hazardous weather outlook that includes all of north Georgia, including Cobb County.
The county also is included in a wind advisory from 4 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday.
The storm system that swept through Texas has included deadly tornadoes. Two children were killed early Saturday when a tree hit their vehicle during a storm in Franklin, Texas, and that weather system is moving eastward today through Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.
In addition to the likelihood of gusty winds, north Georgia can expect scattered severe storms starting early Sunday morning. The chance of rain Sunday is 80 percent, dropping to 30 percent Sunday night, and with as much as three-quarters of an inch or even an inch in some places.
High temperatures Sunday are expected in the high 70s with lows in the mid 40s.
Monday and Tuesday will be sunny but cooler, with respective highs in the 60s and 70s. Warmer weather and the chance of more storms return by Wednesday.
Get Our Free E-Mail Newsletter!
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!
Click the link on the church or synagogue name (listed in alphabetical order) for more information, such as Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday and Good Friday services, Seders, nursery availability, food, etc.
To report incorrect or updated information or to add a service or event you don’t see here e-mail: editor@eastcobbnews.com.
Passover Week
Passover is April 19-27; events at some synagogues take place before that. Click the synagogue links for full details of all activities.
Beautiful Savior Lutheran (2240 Shallowford Road). 8:15 a.m. and 11 Festival Worship; Easter brunch between services and an Easter egg hunt at 9:30 am.
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!
Our next dance is just two weeks away, on Friday, April 26th at the East Cobb Senior Center. Doors will open at 5:00 pm and the Class Act Band will play for our dancing pleasure from 6:00 pm to 9:00 pm.
The suggested attire is dressy or semi-formal. Soft drinks and coffee will be provided. Please feel free to bring a sweet or savory treat to share on the buffet table. The cost is $10.00 per person, payable at the door.
We will have a special guest appearance by Nancy Long, the reigning Ms. Super Senior USA! Nancy will mingle with our guests and be available for photographs.
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!
The Wright Center includes 19 acres of protected land on the corner of Johnson Ferry Road and Post Oak Tritt Road, and serves as a resource facility with nearly two miles of walking trails and environmental education classes for school, scouts and other groups.
The land was once part of the Wrights’ farm, dating back to the 1940s. Before suburban development encroached in East Cobb, they designated it to be preserved in its natural state, featuring azaleas and plants attractive to birds and other wildlife.
After the Wrights died the county assumed ownership of the acreage. Classes are conducted in what was once the family home.
While the Wright Center isn’t open for daily use by the public, school groups wishing to bring students should contact Kevin Kevin Hill with Cobb County Parks at kevin.hill@cobbcounty.org.
The Wright Center is located at 2661 Johnson Ferry Road, next to Chestnut Ridge Christian Church.
More background information about the Wright Center wildlife sanctuary designation can be found in the video below of Thursday’s presentation.
Get Our Free E-Mail Newsletter!
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!
Finally, after many years of delays and planning, and further setbacks in finalizing the construction, Mabry Park has an opening date, and a ribbon-cutting event to celebrate it.
Both the Friends of Mabry Park and the Cobb Parks, Recreation and Cultural Affairs Department have announced the ribbon-cutting for Thursday, May 2, at 6:30 p.m.
The park is located at 4345-4063 Wesley Chapel Road, just below the intersection with Sandy Plains Road.
More than a decade in the making, Mabry Park joins East Cobb Park as a passive public park in the community.
Initially the plans were stalled due to the recession, and more recently, as the project was winding up, as wet weather pushed back the opening.
The 26.5 acres for Mabry Park was once part of the larger Mabry Farm in Northeast Cobb. The park will include walking trails, picnic areas, a community garden, playground areas and more on land that includes a large pond.
Across from the site on Wesley Chapel Road, a subdivision is going up that also was part of the farmstead. Last February, a home built on the farm in 1915 was razed by the developer, who agreed to pay a mitigation fee to be used for historic preservation efforts in Cobb.
We’ll post more details about the ribbon-cutting and other information about the park’s opening, when we get them.
Get Our Free E-Mail Newsletter!
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!
It’s listed as “other business” (view the case file here) and includes a revised site plan (see map below) for a nine-pump station fronting Shallowford Road, near Gordy Parkway.
That’s at the front of the shopping center on the southwest corner of Shallowford and Sandy Plains Road (signified by a red star) that includes a Kroger store (green pin).
According to documents filed with the Cobb Zoning Office, commissioners in 2011 approved a rezoning case at the shopping center that called for additional retail space, a restaurant and a fueling center that was never built.
The CRC zoning status still applies, and the site plan for the fueling center is revised from that 2011 application.
The original request was for no more than five pumps at the fueling center, and allowed a canopy with a maximum height of 22 feet.
Other stipulations banned beer and alcohol sales at the fuel center, permitted an air station (but no car vacuum devices) and set its operating hours between 6 a.m. and 11 p.m. six days a week.
Those hours are similar what Kroger sought for a fueling center in 2018 at the Pavilions at East Lake on Roswell Road. That request was approved but construction has not begun on the gas station there.
The rest of the commissioners’ zoning hearing agenda can be found here. The meeting begins at 9 a.m. in the second floor boardroom of the Cobb Office Building, 100 Cherokee St., in downtown Marietta.
Get Our Free E-Mail Newsletter!
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!
As he pledged during recent town hall meetings, Cobb Commission Chairman Mike Boyce wants to pay county employees more, increase Sunday library hours and address public safety staffing and retention issues in his fiscal year 2020 budget proposal, and all without a millage rate increase.
A draft version of that budget was released on Thursday, and the proposal calls for general fund spending of $440.6 million—$20 million more than the current FY 2019 budget of $420.6 million.
The featured priorities are a three percent raise for all county employees, plus an additional two percent increase for law enforcement officers.
Other additional spending will include increased Sunday library hours, a $2,500 recruitment bonuses for new police officers, reducing the percentage of funds transferred from the Cobb Water System from 10 percent to 9 percent and eliminating fees to use county senior centers.
Here’s a summary of the draft budget proposal; it’s still a preliminary document and a formal proposal will be submitted to the Cobb Board of Commissioners and it’s subject to change.
Boyce and commissioners have come under fire from public safety personnel and citizens for what they say is a “crisis” in terms of hiring and keeping police and sheriff’s officers, firefighters and EMS personnel.
Boyce’s budget proposal includes the county making law enforcement officer contributions to the state supplemental pension plan, but there is a notable line item in the budget that indicates “unfund 40 police officers and 40 sheriff officers.”
A release accompanying the draft budget proposal said those are not positions being eliminated in FY 2020, but rather that they will not be filled in the next budget.
The budget outline didn’t indicate if Sunday library hours would be extended to all branches; last year the budget included funding for Sunday hours at four regional library branches, including Mountain View.
Get Our Free E-Mail Newsletter!
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!
The space in the Woodlawn Square Shopping Center that’s been the site for a number of failed restaurants over the years will soon be filled by a pizza chain that’s returning to the Johnson Ferry Road area.
Signs are up for Mellow Mushroom over what had been most recently Muss & Turner’s and Common Quarter. The 5,200 square feet of space at 1205 Johnson Ferry Road, Suite 101, has been vacant for more than a year, since Muss & Turner’s closed abruptly.
Mellow Mushroom locations still exist on Shallowford Road and Powers Ferry Road, but the chain left this particular part of the community when the Fountains at Olde Towne closed to give way to the Northside Hospital East Cobb Medical Center.
The announcement comes as the Chick-fil-A store at Woodlawn Square is set to reopen on Monday, after a nine-month renovation.
Woodlawn Square is managed by Retail Planning Corp., located at Paper Mill Village.
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!
We posted recently about an upcoming dinner theater performance of “Annie” by Wheeler High School students to benefit the Wheeler Fresh Collaborative food pantry.
“Annie” also will be performed four other times toward the end of the month, as noted below.
We’ve had requests to round up school theater productions, and while most have wrapped up their 2018-19 seasons, there are still some shows to take in, including this weekend at Lassiter High School.
Wheeler Theatre
“Annie”
April 26 & 27, 7 p.m.
April 27 & 28, 2 p.m.
Wheeler Performing Arts Center
Tickets: $7, $10, $15 (Order Here)
Get Our Free E-Mail Newsletter!
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!
Traton Homes wants to build 57 three-story townhomes, similar to what’s above, on a cramped corner of Lower Roswell Road and the North Marietta Parkway.
A proposed townhome project on Lower Roswell Road that includes an annexation request and is opposed by nearby residents in unincorporated East Cobb has been tabled by the Marietta City Council.
The council announced the latest delay at its agenda work session Wednesday, and pushed the item back to May.
The developer, Traton Homes, wants to build 37 townhomes and 15 single-family detached residences at Roswell Road and the South Marietta Parkway, and is seeking rezoning from residential (R-20) and community activity center (CAC) to Planned Residential Development Single Family (PRD-SF).
The application is being fought on density and traffic grounds.
The council delay comes a week after the Marietta Planning Commission voted 4-2 to recommend denial of Traton Homes’ request, which covers 7.48 acres. Three of the parcels in the tract are already in the city and are zoned for commercial use—they once were sites for automotive repair shops and a recycling business—and six other lots were once part of a single-family subdivision that’s in the county.
The neighborhood is Sewell Manor, which dates back to the 1950s and features small ranch homes. Residents there have said the project is too intensified for their community, and already-bad traffic will be made worse with a single point of entry on Indian Trail.
Traton, one of the largest homebuilders in metro Atlanta, has come down on its original proposal, which was for 63 townhomes and one single-family home.
What Traton has in mind for the 15 single-family homes.
The developer filed a last-minute revision on April 1, the day before the Planning Commission hearing (see map above, and click here to view the case file), and included a site plan and requests for a 15 varianc
The variances include no acceleration or deceleration lane on Lower Roswell, and a reduction in the minimum greenspace requirement of 25 percent to 21 percent. That open space is more than the initial request, which was for 12 percent, but is tucked away in a back portion of the assembled property.
Traton first filed the application for consideration in February, but it was also opposed by Cobb County officials, also for density reasons.
The initial request had the project at 8.56 unites an acre, and the revised plan calls for a density of under seven units an acre.
Cobb officials said in their objection letter to the city that current nearby residential density is only 1.75 units an acre, and pointed to a citing a 2004 state law limiting newly annexed land to a maximum of four units an acre.
Get Our Free E-Mail Newsletter!
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!
The following East Cobb restaurant scores from April 1-12 have been compiled by the Cobb & Douglas Department of Public Health. Click the link under each listing to view details of the inspection:
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!
Thanks to Melissa Watkins of the Walton Volleyball Booster Club for the following information about summer camps that will be starting in mid-May and continuing through the middle of July:
Attention middle school and elementary students. Do you want to get off the sidelines and into the game? Get the chance to train with the top high school volleyball program in the state, led by 2017 national coach of the year, Suzanne Fitzgerald and her team. Grab a friend and sign up today to save your spot as space is limited.
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!
On Saturday, Rep. Lucy McBath (GA-06) will host a listening session to hear from constituents about issues affecting the communities and residents of the Sixth District.
“My work in Washington is guided by the priorities and concerns of the residents of Georgia’s Sixth, so I value the opportunity to hear directly from the people I represent,” McBath said. “I am honored to have the opportunity to listen and have an open dialogue on the issues that are important to my constituents.”
Rep. McBath’s community listening session will take place on Saturday, April 13, 2019 from 11:30am to 12:30pm at the Pilgrimage United Church of Christ in Marietta. This event will help to inform McBath’s actions in Washington and help her to set her long-term legislative agenda. The listening session will be immediately preceded by a Meet and Greet at 11:00am in the church’s fellowship hall.
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!
The Cobb Board of Commissioners Tuesday approved spending $9.2 million in road resurfacing projects across the county, including a major section of Shallowford Road and all of Chimney Springs Drive in Northeast Cobb.
The Shallowford Road project (seen in map above) is the lengthiest of the 23 projects that were approved, covering 2.62 miles between Canton Road and Trickum Road.
The next-longest project is all of Chimney Springs Drive, which is a circular road with two entry points on Bishop Lake Road (seen in map below), spanning 2.54 miles.
Other nearby repavings will take place on Country Lane, a tenth-mile surface street between Chimney Springs Drive and Post Oak Tritt Road and 0.50 miles of McPherson Road between Post Oak Tritt and Shallowford Road.
Johnson Ferry Road, between Post Oak Tritt and Roswell Road (2.50 miles);
East Piedmont Road, between Allgood Road and Roswell Road (1.13 miles);
Maybreeze Road, between Ebenezer Road and Shallowford Road (0.66 miles);
Pete Shaw Road, between Steinhauer Road and Sandy Plains Road (1.22 miles).
Get Our Free E-Mail Newsletter!
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!
Cobb County’s largest egg hunt will be held from 4-8 p.m., Saturday, April 13, at Al Bishop Softball Complex in Marietta. This family-friendly event is free. Activities will include egg hunts, art activities, live entertainment, inflatables, games, food concessions and vendors.
There will be four egg hunts by age groups, then the last hunt for anyone who missed their time. The schedule of events is as follows:
4:00pm -5:00pm – Park opens (arm-band distribution, games, activities and entertainment) 5:00pm – ages 3 and under hunt (fields 2, 3, and 4) 5:30pm – ages 4-5 hunt (fields 2, 3, and 4) 6:00pm – ages 6-7 hunt (fields 2, 3, and 4) 6:30pm – ages 8-10 hunt (fields 2, 3, and 4) 7:00pm – all ages (fields 3 and 4)
Please bring your own baskets for the hunt. Special needs participants are included in all activities. Al Bishop is located at 1082 Al Bishop Dr, Marietta, GA 30008. Please use County Services Parkway to Al Bishop Drive to access the event as Callaway Road will have limited access. For more information please call 770-528-8800.
Get Our Free E-Mail Newsletter!
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!
