Mountain View Elementary School was officially opened Thursday morning by Principal Renee Garriss (in black dress), Cobb school board members and other dignitaries. (East Cobb News photos by Wendy Parker)
On July 26, 1928, Mountain View Elementary School opened its doors for the very first time as one of the first grade schools in what would be later known as East Cobb.
On Thursday, 89 years and a day later, the newest Mountain View Elementary School building officially opened, not from from an aging school facility on Sandy Plains Road at Shallowford Road that had been in use since 1970.
The new school, located at 3151 Sandy Plains Road (at Davis Road), cost $23.3 million, with funding allocated from the Cobb Education Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST) IV, and after considerable lobbying by parents.
Hundreds of students and parents eagerly awaited to tour the new school at dawn on Thursday, and to take part in orientation. Classes begin on Monday.
In the same Cobb Ed SPLOST IV referendum, funding for the new Brumby Elementary School also was provided. Construction continues at its new site on Terrell Mill Road, adjacent to the rebuild for East Cobb Middle School. Those new facilities will open for the 2018-19 school year.
On Sunday, a ribbon-cutting and open house for the new Walton High School building (1590 Bill Murdock Road) will take place starting at 1:30 p.m.
The Cobb Board of Commissioners voted late Tuesday evening to keep the 2017 county government millage rate the same as 2016, instead of raising it, as Chairman Mike Boyce had proposed.
By a 3-2 vote, the commission approved a substitute motion by East Cobb commissioner Bob Ott to keep the overall millage rate at 9.85 mills, instead of going up to 9.98 mills.
East Cobb commissioner JoAnn Birrell and Bob Weatherford voted for Ott’s motion. Boyce and commissioner Lisa Cupid of South Cobb were opposed.
Boyce had wanted a 0.13 mills increase to pay for the fulfillment of the $40 million parks bond referendum approved by Cobb voters in 2008.
Ott’s proposal included diverting budgeted economic development contingency funding the next two years to make up for the difference.
He has been adamantly against a tax increase, and Birrell objected to a hike for several reasons, including the impact on senior citizens.
Boyce, an East Cobb resident in his first year as chairman, and Cupid said the reduction amounts to “kicking the can down the road” for next year’s budget and in the county’s ability to provide a rising level of services he said Cobb citizens have come to expect.
Jonathan W. Jordan of East Cobb, author of several books about American military history, will highlight the Cobb Library Foundation’s seventh annual “Booked for the Evening” gala Sept. 22 at the Hilton Marietta Conference Center.
Jordan’s books include The New York Times’ bestselling books “Brothers Rivals Victors,” about U.S. Army generals Eisenhower, Patton and Bradley during World War II, and most recently, “American Warlords,” about the American military high command under President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the same war.
Here’s more from the Cobb Library Foundation on the gala dinner and how to make reservations:
The Booked for the Evening Gala is the primary fundraising event for the Cobb Library Foundation in support of Cobb’s libraries. Fundraising from this event has enabled us to supply valuable equipment and materials for early and adult literacy, computer stations, Summer Reading Programs, GEMS and Teen Technology programs to the 16 branches of the Cobb County Public Library System. That’s all possible thanks to YOU – our attendees, our supporters and our sponsors. For sponsorship opportunities send inquiries to cobblibraryfoundation@cobbcat.org or call (770) 528-2196 for further information. Purchase your tickets/table now! cobblibraryfoundation.org.
Cobb Commission Chairman Mike Boyce has said his proposed tax millage increase is to fully fund the Cobb parks referendum approved by voters in 2008. (East Cobb News photo by Wendy Parker)
As the Cobb Board of Commissioners is set to vote tonight on the 2017 millage rate that includes a proposed 0.13 mills increase, the Cobb Parks Coalition is urging its supporters to wear green in support of full funding of a $40 million parks bond issue approved by voters in 2008.
However, the organization said the increase, proposed by Cobb Commission Chairman Mike Boyce to complete that obligation—and one of his campaign promises—isn’t necessary (previous East Cobb News coverage of Boyce’s town hall meeting in East Cobb last week is here).
In a message sent out late Monday, the coalition said that:
Using $40 million Park Bond 2008 as an excuse for a millage rate increase at the upcoming July 25 Board of Commissioner millage rate meeting misrepresents the facts, and fails to acknowledge that for the past 8+ years the county has delayed, denied and then actually diverted the exact millage rate for Park Bond 2008 into the Braves Stadium Bond.
Cobb commissioners voted to fund $27.5 million of the 2008 park bond last April, and Boyce proposed the millage increase as a means of getting to that $40 million.
On a post on the coalition website from late last week, the group asserted the following:
However, Park Bond 2008 can be fully fundedwithout any increase in taxes for property owners if the county will simply honor the voter referendum with the existing millage available, or if the Board restores the exact millage for the Park Bond shifted into the Braves Stadium Bond this year. Cobb Citizens continue to email and ask that the entire $40 million referendum be funded, and it’s clear this has always been possible without raising taxes.
For the past 8 years the county has delayed, denied and then actually diverted the exact millage funds intended to fulfill the 2008 Park Bond voter referendum into the Braves Stadium Bond. There may be challenges in the county budget; however, to point to Park Bond 2008 as the root cause of a millage increase in 2017 is misleading and doesn’t make any sense given the millage rate history.
More here; the final public hearing on the millage rate takes place during tonight’s commission meeting that starts at 7 p.m. The commissioners meet in the 2nd floor board room of the Cobb BOC building, 100 Cherokee St., downtown Marietta.
If you can’t attend, the meeting will be shown live on the CobbTV local government access channel (Channel 23 if you’re a Comcast cable customer); it will also be live-streamed on the county website.
East Cobb commissioners Bob Ott and JoAnn Birrell have expressed opposition to raising the millage rate.
The Cobb Parks Coalition is having its next meeting in East Cobb, at Harry’s Whole Foods on Powers Ferry Road, a week from today, Aug. 1.
The Cobb County School District sent out word late Monday afternoon that classes will be extended by 45 minutes on Monday, Aug. 21, primarily for safety reasons, due to the first full solar eclipse to traverse across the United States since 1918:
Due to the solar eclipse on August 21, 2017, the Cobb County School District will delay dismissal of elementary, middle and high school students by 45 minutes.
The peak time to experience the solar eclipse falls during our regularly scheduled elementary school dismissal time. Since student safety is always our first priority we will start the day on time and delay dismissal to ensure that neither students nor employees are on the roadways during the time of the eclipse. Subsequently, high schools and middle schools will delay dismissal as well.
Schools will be provided with further guidance and instructional resources as appropriate. Parents are welcome to pick-up their child at the typical dismissal time if needed.
The eclipse is slated to cross over extreme northeast Georgia, with two minutes of totality expected over Blairsville, and 2:35 over Clayton. The eclipse is scheduled in Georgia between 2:34 p.m. and 2:40 p.m.
Gwinnett County schools also have made a similar decision to dismiss class later, for the same reasons as Cobb.
A heavy mid-afternoon rainshower didn’t dampen the mood for Monday’s food truck event at Paper Mill Village, the last before Cobb school children return to classes. If anything the weather cooled things off, making for a pleasant early evening for food, ice cream cones, chalk painting and hopscotch and more fun.
A few of the trucks cancelled due to mechanical problems, but Philly Connection, Queen of Cream, the Blaxican and Big C’s Chicago Kitchen showed up, as did The Woody’s acoustic duo.
Another food truck is slated for the fourth Monday in August. (East Cobb News photos by Wendy Parker)
A dusk shot of the Noonday Creek Trail Head at Bells Ferry. (East Cobb News photo by Wendy Parker)
Since late April, the Cobb Department of Transportation has been holding public meetings and conducting surveys to gain citizen feedback on the county’s first-ever master plan for greenways and trails.
Two such meetings have taken place in East Cobb in the last two weeks, at the East Cobb Library and at Covenant Presbyterian Church, to reveal some of the public comment thus far and show citizens how the plan might be taking shape.
While the plan is a work in progress, the potential map of what may be finalized later this year shows a hodgepodge of trails desperately seeking connections.
“There are little pieces here and there,” said Erin Thoreson of Gresham, Smith and Partners, an Atlanta architectural, engineering and design firm which is consulting with Cobb DOT on the project. “When you look at the map, you see obvious places where connections are needed.”
Cobb County, its six cities and three Community Improvement Districts currently have around 50 miles of multi-use trails and greenways. There are an estimated 150 and more miles of prospective trails that could be linked to existing trails.
In Northeast Cobb, one area that might benefit from more connectedness is the Noonday Creek Trail head on Bells Ferry Road, just north of Piedmont Road/Barrett Parkway. Opened in 2014, the Bells Ferry site has become very popular for bikers, walkers and runners.
Hooking up close to other trails at the Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield is one of the attractions of the Bells Ferry Trail Head, which is a project of the Town Center CID.
To the north, a possible extension of the Noonday Creek Trail projects a connection to the Cherokee County line with access to Woodstock, but the route would go through neighborhoods that could likely draw some community opposition.
One of the major objectives in designing the master plan, Thoreson said, is to get citizens to think about the practicalities of local travel.
“Think about how people get from one place to another,” she said. “It’s important that [trails] get you to the places where you want to go.”
According to the Cobb Trail Plan interactive map, plenty of new routes in East Cobb—which is not served amply by existing trails—have been suggested by citizens (indicated by the orange broken lines). A major issue, however, is heavy residential development. There’s not much greenspace available, and much of that is going to new housing construction.
Some commenters have suggested trail head access points near Lassiter and Pope high schools for cross country runners, and at Mt. Zion United Methodist Church.
Soon the project staff will be putting together a draft master plan with an open house to be scheduled in the fall, unveiling preliminary ideas that include citizens’s suggestions.
They can continue to offer comments on the project’s interactive map, or leave messages at info@CobbTrailPlan.com or by calling 770-754-0755.
Citizens also can offer their thoughts by filling out an online survey.
The long-awaited new Mountain View Elementary School campus will be christened on Thursday. (East Cobb News photo by Wendy Parker)
The last full week of summer vacation will be a busy one for East Cobb students and their parents, beyond shopping for clothes and supplies and getting oriented with the academic year ahead.
The ribbon-cutting for the new Mountain View Elementary School takes place Thursday morning at 7:30 a.m. (yes, bright and early, but before the searing heat sets in) at its new location at 3151 Sandy Plains Road, just down the road from where it had been for decades;
It’s guaranteed to be hot and stifling Sunday afternoon when the new Walton High School campus (same location, 1590 Bill Murdock Road) will be dedicated, with ribbon-cutting starting at 2 p.m. An Open House takes place from 2:30-3:30 p.m.;
The final Paper Mill Village food truck of the summer will be Monday from 5 p.m.-8 p.m. in the main parking lot (255 Village Parkway). Admission is free and so is the live music; cost of food tickets vary according to vendor;
Two East Cobb library branches are holding a joint summer farewell party for students on Thursday from 2-4: The event is at Gritters Library (880 Shaw Park Road) and also includes staff from Mountain View Regional with crafts, games, snacks and other fun activities;
Early Saturday morning, the McCleskey-East Cobb Family YMCA (1055 East Piedmont Road) is the venue for the Dog Days Run presented by the Rotary Club of East Cobb. You can still register (race-day fee of $30 starting at 6:30 a.m.), and the organizers are looking for volunteers and sponsors.
There’s so much more on our Events Calendar to check out, and if you have an item to share, please e-mail: calendar@eastcobbnews.com.
A major project for summer ARTSCAPE! students at East Cobb Park was celebrated on Saturday, with a ribbon-cutting and dedication of the “Sunny” piano at the upper pavilion.
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The piano, which is part of the Atlanta-based Play Me Again pianos non-profit, was painted by children at this summer’s ARTSCAPE! Program at East Cobb Park. It is named after Sunny Walker, one of the driving forces behind the creation of East Cobb Park and the first board president of Friends for the East Cobb Park.
After the ribbon-cutting, East Cobb youngster Nico Brett, age 12, played the debut music on “Sunny,” Scott Joplin’s “Maple Leaf Rag,” along with the theme song from the “Peanuts.”
Not long after legendary Wheeler High School boys basketball coach Doug Lipscomb announced he was stepping away from his duties, the Wildcats found the man to succeed him.
He’s Larry Thompson, who has guided Greenforest-McCalep Christian Academy of Decatur to the 2013, 2016 and 2017 state championships in the Georgia High School Association’s Class A private school division.
Wheeler principal Peter Giles tweeted the news Thursday evening.
Lipscomb won more than 600 games and six state titles, the latest in 2015, in a 25-year career at Wheeler. He has coached several players who went on to the top levels of college basketball, as well as the NBA. Lipscomb’s first star, Shareef Abdur-Rahim, is currently an executive with the NBA.
Most recently, former Wheeler standout Jaylen Brown finished his rookie season with the Boston Celtics.
This notice and accompanying map of the detour route were just released by Cobb County Government:
Georgia Department of Transportation construction partners will close the I-75 southbound exit ramp to Delk Road to install a barrier wall on the bridge overhead. The construction is part of the I-75 Northwest Corridor Express Lanes project.WHEN: Thursday, July 20, 8 p.m. – Friday, July 21, 5 a.m.
WHERE: I-75 Southbound Exit Ramp to Delk Road Closure – Motorists traveling I-75 southbound to Delk Road will be directed to take exit 263 for South Marietta Parkway. From there, motorists will be directed to turn right onto South Marietta Parkway, followed by a left onto Cobb Parkway. Motorists will then resume travel on Delk Road.
ADVISORY: Exact dates may change due to weather or other extenuating factors. Motorists are advised to expect delays, exercise caution, and reduce their speed while traveling through work zones. Before heading out, get real-time information on work status and traffic conditions. Call 511, visit 511ga.org, or download the Georgia 511 app.
Please visit the project website at http://www.dot.ga.gov/DS/GEL/NWC to stay informed, or email northwestcorridor@dot.ga.gov to subscribe to weekly traffic alerts.
The second-from-last weekend before the start of school has several events geared for kids in end-of-summer mode, but there are quite a few slated for youth and adults alike.
The East Cobb NewsEvents Calendar has all the details of every weekend event we’ve got listed (and send yours along if you don’t see it to: calendar@eastcobbnews.com). Here are a few of the highlights:
At 10 a.m. Saturday, there will be a ribbon-cutting ceremony for “Sunny,” a piano kids at East Cobb Park’s ARTSCAPE! camp have been painting this summer. It’s the latest Play Me Again Piano delivery in metro Atlanta, and “Sunny” will be a permanent fixture at the park’s upper pavilion;
Want to learn about mushrooms—how to grow and cook them? The East Cobb Library is holding a mini-fungi fest at 11:30 a.m. Saturday with a “Build A Mushroom Garden” seminar, and reservations are strongly suggested;
Another library event, this one starting at 2 p.m. Saturday at the Mountain View Regional branch: A screening of the “We Are Marshall” film, about a college football team that perished in a 1970 airline tragedy, and how those on the freshman team played on in their honor;
For grown-ups, the weekend ivory-tinkling continues at Red Sky Tapas Bar, with the 88 Licks Dueling Piano performances Friday and Saturday from 9 p.m. to midnight;
The 180th Marietta Campmeeting concludes Sunday with an 11 a.m. service, and twice-daily services are scheduled for Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 11 a.m. and 7:30 p.m. The guest sermon for the finale will be delivered by Dr. Charles Sineath, a retired pastor formerly at East Cobb’s Mt. Zion United Methodist Church who’s been designated as this year’s Campmeeting Pastor.
Again, let us know if you have calendar items to share, for this weekend and beyond. We’re working to have the best calendar listings in East Cobb, so have a look around and let us know what you think!
Before any of the estimated 200 people could take their seats at the East Cobb Senior Center Wednesday for a town hall meeting devoted to a proposed property tax millage rate increase, they were handed a poster and an information sheet in strident opposition to what they were about to hear.
East Cobb realtors were giving out pink signs saying “No New Tax,” followed by a flyer from the Georgia Taxpayers United organization, urging homeowners sign a petition demanding Cobb commissioners “cut wasteful spending and lower taxes” when the 2017 millage rate is set next week.
Inside an overcrowded meeting room, commission chairman Mike Boyce was expecting residents to deliver some heat about his proposed millage hike of 0.13 mills to fully fund the remaining $13 million of a $40 million parks referendum approved by Cobb voters in 2008.
He got plenty of heat and pointed questions about the budget, county government spending, millage rates, the Atlanta Braves stadium deal with Cobb and more. Yet Boyce stood firm on his pledge to raise the millage rate—as he kept repeating, for the parks bond only—and wasn’t afraid to tangle with citizens in a feisty, and at times testy, meeting.
“I’m not going back on my word,” Boyce said, reminding those in attendance he made a campaign promise last year to fully fund the 2008 parks bond, which was never issued due to the recession. It wasn’t the central plank in his upset victory over then-chairman Tim Lee—how the Braves deal was handled was—but the parks funding its what’s gotten Boyce into some hot water seven months after taking office.
“It you’re asking me to change that position, I’m not going to.”
One of the youth baseball fields at Harrison Park is getting a makeover, thanks to the Atlanta Braves Foundation, as part of its continuing “Chipper Jones” projects in the Atlanta area.
Cobb commissioner JoAnn Birrell announced at the Northeast Cobb Business Association luncheon on Wednesday that construction work began last week, and will include upgrades to the field, dugouts and fencing.
The new field, a venue for the Sandy Plains Baseball Association, will have a ribbon-cutting on Saturday, Aug. 5, at 11 a.m. Harrison Park is located at 2653 Shallowford Road, adjacent to Lassiter High School.
The Atlanta Braves Foundation embarked on a “10 for 10” youth baseball field refurbishment program upon Jones’ retirement in 2013, funding the completion of one project a year over 10 years. In January 2015, a field at Fullers Park in East Cobb, home of the East Side Baseball Association, was renamed after Jones, who donated materials for a renovation project there.
Birrell said she’s been told some Braves players will be in attendance for the ribbon-cutting at Harrison Park.
At their monthly zoning hearing Tuesday morning, the Cobb Board of Commissioners voted to approve Lidl Grocery’s request to continue its rezoning application to redevelop the Park 12 Theatre site (previous ECN post here).
The case will be placed on the August zoning calendar. Another major East Cobb application, filed by SSP Blue Ridge, LLC, for a mixed-used development at Powers Ferry and Terrell Mill roads, has been continued to September by the Cobb zoning staff.
The Blue Ridge proposal is for a 21-acre retail, residential and commercial center stretching from the current location of Brumby Elementary School to the northwest intersection of Powers Ferry and Terrell Mill.
The anchor of the proposed development would a be Kroger Marketplace, replacing the current Kroger store on Powers Ferry at the southwest intersection of Delk Road.
We’ll update this post later with more East Cobb cases from today’s zoning meeting.
It’s not quite back to school—though it is hard to believe that’s exactly two weeks from today, on July 31—and the four branches of the Cobb County Public Library System in East Cobb have plenty of activities scheduled for the next two weeks.
We’ve included a good sampling of them in our East Cobb Events Calendar, and there are plenty more to peruse on the library system website. In addition to regular storytimes, this week’s events include a picnic at the Mountain View Regional branch, monthly adult book discussion groups at East Marietta and East Cobb, the monthly Gritters STEAM team event and so much more!
On Saturday, the East Cobb branch will feature a presentation on how to grow your own mushroom garden, with some expert advice from the Mushroom Club of Georgia.
Cobb Commission Chairman Mike Boyce is taking some heat for proposing a tax millage increase, and on Wednesday he is holding a town hall meeting at the East Cobb Senior Center to solicit more input.
The Cobb school board is holding a final public hearing Thursday before voting on setting its tax millage rate for 2017.
The East Cobb Business Association and Northeast Cobb Business Association are holding their monthly luncheons on Tuesday and Wednesday respectively. On Wednesday, the Ashley Homestore on Roswell Road is holding a Red Cross blood drive, and the East Cobb Lions Club will be offering free vision screenings.
If you missed last week’s public input meeting on the Cobb Greenways and Trails Master Plan at East Cobb Library, there will be another meeting Tuesday from 5-6:30 at the Covenant Presbyterian Church, Canton Road and Piedmont Road.
Another end-of-summer event for kids takes place Thursday at Terrell Mill Park. The Fairy House Workshop, presented by the Cobb Water System’s Watershed Stewardship Program, includes story-reading before kids ages 3-13 create their own fairy houses.
The Marietta Campmeeting continues every day this week through Saturday, with services at 11 a.m. and 7:30 p.m. and an ice cream social after Tuesday’s evening service, starting at 9:30 p.m. The final service takes place at 11 a.m. Sunday.
We’ll come back later this week with a preview of weekend events in East Cobb, including live entertainment and other community activities.
Please feel free to send your items—including photos, flyers, maps and PDFs if you wish—to: calendar@eastcobbnews.com, and we’ll post them promptly.
The Black Swan Tavern is the first East Cobb pub for the Dunwoody Restaurant Group. (East Cobb News photos by Wendy Parker)
A new English pub, The Black Swan Tavern, is going in where the old Churchill’s Pub used to be at 1401 Johnson Ferry Road, Suite 128, in the Merchants Festival Shopping Center.
Last week the new place’s Facebook page posted photos of the start of a full renovation—literally from the ground up—as plans continue to open in “60 days or so.”
We went by there over the weekend, and saw a full tavern menu posted on the window, plus the ubiquitous English red telephone booth outside, a standard feature at the other seven pubs owned by the Dunwoody Restaurant Group.
The 8th pub will be the first in East Cobb for the company, which operates the Dunwoody Tavern, The Bat and Ball Pub, O’Brian’s Tavern and King George Tavern in Dunwoody; The Royal Oak Pub and The Ship and Anchor in Sandy Springs; and The Iron Horse Tavern in Norcross.
The pub concept isn’t that widespread in East Cobb; Keegan’s Public House on Shallowford at Johnson Ferry and the Rose & Crown on Powers Ferry are the only existing restaurants of that genre. Churchill’s was open for more than 30 years but closed in 2013 after getting an eviction notice for back rent. A location of the Copa Cabana Cafe has come and gone in the same spot.
We’ll have more updates as The Black Swan Tavern opening draws near.
Got any business news tips? Know of openings or closings? Call/text at 404-219-4278 or e-mail: editor@eastcobbnews.com.
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Sunday afternoon’s heat didn’t deter vintage car enthusiasts and others who turned out at Bradley’s Bar & Grill on Lower Roswell Road for the restaurant’s Car Show and Summer Fest. (East Cobb News photos by Wendy Parker)
The event, which also involved Green Bean Socials, was a fundraiser for the Georgia Make A Wish Foundation (a total of$2,321 was collected), and there was plenty of shade for spectators, along with food—Bradley’s bar favorites including fried green tomatoes—beverages, live music, a water tank and frosty treats.
Lidl, the German grocery company that wants to build a store at the site of the Park 12 Theatre on Gordy Parkway in northeast Cobb, has asked for a continuance in its rezoning request until August.
Its application is on Tuesday’s Cobb Board of Commissioners zoning hearing agenda, but the board would have to vote at that meeting whether to grant the delay, since the request came after a deadline for doing so, according to a message issued Friday by District 3 commissioner JoAnn Birrell.
According to a letter sent Thursday by Parks Huff, Lidl’s Marietta-based attorney, the applicant would have to amend its site plan to accommodate a request by the Cobb Architectural Control Committee to have an arborist review tree preservation issues.
If the Lidl rezoning is delayed, it would next be taken up by the commissioners on Aug. 15. Lidl’s proposal for a 35,962-square-foot store, a bit bigger than the cinema facility but with 170 parking spaces—half the total for the movie house—has been opposed by some nearby residents, some of whom started a petition to save the Park 12.
This from petition organizer Abi Hainey, on the Save Park 12 Facebook page, who said another delay could be “a blessing in disguise:”
“If Lidl’s purpose in postponing the hearing is to “wait us out,” they are mistaken. East Cobb is a strong community of people that care and this campaign has made me even more proud to live here. We will not lose steam, in fact, our movement will only get stronger between now and August 15th. Thank you for your continued support!”
This was just released Friday afternoon by the Pope High School administration:
Cobb DOT rendering
Due to weather delays and scheduling, the new roundabout will not open for “two-way” traffic until July 30th…..At this time, the roundabout will be operational; however, finishing touches will continue to be made after the school year has started….Please continue to access the Pope High School campus from the north (Dorset/Lassiter Rd./North Hembree Rd. area) until the roundabout opens on July 30th….Thank you for your patience and cooperation….
July 30 is a Sunday, the day before classes begin for the 2017-18 school year. Here’s more on the project.
