Lower Roswell resurfacing expansion, Willeo Creek bridge design approved by Cobb commissioners

by
Lower Roswell Road Water Main Project
One-lane traffic on Lower Roswell Road as part of the East Cobb Pipeline Project remains around the bridge over Sope Creek. (East Cobb News photo by Wendy Parker)

Two important road items of interest to East Cobb motorists got the green light Tuesday from the Cobb Board of Commissioners, one immediate and that’s long-term.

The first concerns the repaving along Lower Roswell Road following the completion of the East Cobb Pipeline Project.

The commission approved a change order request to expand an existing repaving project to include the 2.08-mile stretch from Old Canton Road to Indian Hills Parkway, and it won’t cost taxpayers any additional funding.

Instead, the estimated cost of $593,095 will come out of already-approved money (via the 2016 SPLOST) as part of the Cobb DOT’s contract with Baldwin Paving Co., which has been repaving 25-30 roads around the county.

The money is available due to underruns in the overall Baldwin contract, according to Cobb DOT.

“The road when it’s finished will be a great improvement,” East Cobb commissioner Bob Ott said before the 5-0 vote.

In another 5-0 vote, the commission approved an engineering design contract with Gresham Smith and Partners for $483,359 for replacement of the Willeo Road bridge over Willeo Creek. It’s a joint project with the City of Roswell, with each jurisdiction kicking in around $213,900 each. Roswell is spending an additional $55,474 for design work for a multi-use trail boardwalk that will connect to the new bridge.

Multi-use trails along Lower Roswell also reach the Cobb side of the bridge and continue westbound, close to Johnson Ferry Road, where bicycle and pedestrian trails are proposed as part of the Johnson Ferry Urban Design Plan approved in 2011.

 

ECBA president named to 2017-18 Leadership Cobb class

by

Littie Brown, the current president of the East Cobb Business Association, has been selected for the 2017-18 Leadership Cobb class of the Cobb Chamber of Commerce.

Brown is the president of SpeedPro Imaging of Marietta. Another ECBA member, Jonathan Page of InPrime Legal on Powers Ferry Road, also was selected for Leadership Cobb, which is a leadership development program conducted with the Kennesaw State University Coles School of Business.

Here’s more about the program from the Chamber announcement:

Leading by example allows Leadership Cobb participants to directly impact the Cobb community. Fifty diverse and qualified individuals are selected annually to participate in this leadership development program. Leadership Cobb enhances personal and professional growth while participants gain awareness of current issues, community resources and the social, political and economic needs of the community.

Leadership Cobb develops leadership skills and knowledge through its programs and retreats. Participants are introduced to a variety of viewpoints that illustrate the array of economic, political, educational and social factors at work in Cobb County. Sessions combine lectures and dialogue among speakers as well as audience interaction with leaders in all facets of the community.

Topics covered include:

Armed Forces Mentoring
Arts & Recreation Politics
Economic Development Public Safety
Education Regionalism
Health Social Services
Leadership Training

Loyal Q and Brew liquor waiver to go before Cobb commissioners

by
loyal q and brew restaurant
Loyal Q and Brew is opening soon at Parkaire Landing Shopping Center with an ownership group formerly with the Taco Mac chain. (East Cobb News photo by Wendy Parker)

UPDATED 9:33 a.m. Tuesday: This item has been taken off the agenda. Cobb commission chairman Mike Boyce said at the start of today’s meeting that the applicant’s attorney has had a death in the family and is unable to attend. Boyce did not indicate when the matter will be placed back on the agenda.

The owners of a proposed new smokehouse and brewery in East Cobb will have their pouring license application heard Tuesday by the Cobb Board of Commissioners.

The meeting begins at 9 a.m. in the 2nd floor meeting room at the Cobb BOC Building, 100 Cherokee St., downtown Marietta.

Loyal Q and Brew, which is slated to open at Parkaire Landing Shopping Center (next to the Sellars Goodyear store and across from Ted’s Montana Grill), needs a distance waiver from the commission since its location is 440 feet from the the East Cobb Library and 170 feet from nearby residences.

Those distances fall within the range of a county ordinance requiring waivers for alcoholic serving licenses.

The Cobb License Review Board voted 4-0 without community opposition on June 22 to recommend approval of the waiver. In addition to Ted’s, seven other restaurants and the Parkaire Kroger also sell beer and wine, as well as The Wine Shop, a full-service liquor retailer in the same shopping center.

The co-owner of Loyal Q is Susie Addo, formerly part of the Taco Mac partnership. According to the application, Loyal Q would prepare smoked meat products on the premises and serve craft beer, wine and liquor.

The restaurant would employ around 40 people and would be open from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and from 11 a.m. to midnight on Friday and Saturday. The application also states the establishment estimates that 70 percent of its revenue will come from food sales, and 30 percent from alcohol sales.

Here’s a link to Tuesday’s full meeting agenda, which includes a public hearing for the 2017 Cobb millage rate.

Petition drive launched opposing July 31 Cobb school start date

by

With the start of the 2017-18 Cobb County School District academic year exactly two weeks from today, a group of parents has begun a petition drive demanding schedule changes in the future.

The group, which calls itself Cobb Parents Against July School Start Date, has gathered more than 2,000 signatures thus far on the change.org platform, and here’s its main complaint:

“. . . we feel that the start date of July 31 crosses a symbolic line that both threatens the nature of the traditional summer vacation and the developmental promise a more traditional calendar affords our children and families.”

Among the suggested changes in the calendar include cancelling either the September or February week-long breaks and ending the school year later in May (recent graduation ceremonies ended before Memorial Day).

The group, which did not reveal member identification or provide other contact information, also mentioned that the lone school board member to oppose the July 31 start date is Scott Sweeney, who represents the Walton and Wheeler high school districts of East Cobb.

Many of the comments indicated a desire to enjoy a traditional summer vacation from school, especially with the hottest days and months of the season likely still to come.

A commenter named Sarajane Fletcher, who said the last of her three children is finishing at Walton this year, wrote on the petition site that the current balanced calendar adds more stress for students and parents, with added homework and reading assignments given during longer breaks:

“The kids are in a pressure cooker during the year with no escape, so what does Cobb do, just slowly take away their summer vacation! “

The petition organizers did not indicate if, how or when the petition results might be delivered to school board members. The board next meets on July 20.

EAST COBB THIS WEEK: Tax millage rate hearings; women’s networking; Marietta Campmeeting; Bradley’s car show

by

The Cobb Board of Commissioners and the Cobb Board of Education this week are holding required public hearings as they prepare to set their 2017 millage rates.

The commissioners will hold hearings tonight at 6:30, and at 9 a.m. on Tuesday and at 7 p.m. on July 25, the date they’re slated to vote on the millage rate. Those hearings will be in the board’s 2nd floor meeting room at the Cobb BOC Building, 100 Cherokee St. in downtown Marietta.

The school board is holding hearings Tuesday at 10 a.m., during its monthly work session, and again at 6 p.m. in the board room of the Cobb County School District main office, 514 Glover St. in Marietta. East Cobb events calendar

The school board will have final hearings on July 20 at 1:30 p.m. and at 7 p.m., when it’s scheduled to vote on its 2017 millage rate.

State law mandates the hearings if local property tax digests rise and millage rates aren’t rolled back, prompting a tax increase (here’s a year-by-year chart of Cobb tax digest totals dating back to 2012, when the county began rebounding from the recession. Here’s the BOE’s millage rate notice and 5-year history of its property tax levy).

Elsewhere in this week’s East Cobb Events Calendar, there’s a new women’s business networking group meeting Thursday at Red Sky Tapas Bar that pledges a “no compete” atmosphere. Friday marks the 180th renewal of the Marietta Campmeeting, with an opening picnic and service scheduled from 6-9 p.m. The venerable tradition continues through July 23, and if you haven’t been, or even if you’re not religious, it’s a tremendous experience. I covered this years ago during my newspaper days, and I highly recommend it.

On Sunday’s Bradley’s Bar & Grill on Lower Roswell Road is holding a summer fest and car show from 3-7 p.m., and if you want your car to take part, you have until Wednesday to register. It’s all for a very good cause.

We’re just getting our engines revved up here at East Cobb News and want to make our calendar listings are simply the best in the community. Please feel free to send your items—including photos, flyers and PDFs if you wish—to editor/publisher Wendy Parker at: eastcobbnewsnow@gmail.com.

Have a great week, and please stay in touch!

PHOTOS: 3rd annual Skip Wells Memorial Ride

by

More than 200 riders took off from Sprayberry High School Saturday morning in honor of the late Marine Lance Cpl. Skip Wells and to raise money for the Jr. ROTC and band at his alma mater.

Wells, a 2012 Sprayberry graduate, was one of five military personnel killed in a terrorist attack in 2015 at the Chattanooga Naval Marine Reserve Center. The Lcpl Skip Wells Foundation was formed in the wake of his death, and the funds raised from the ride and other events benefit the Sprayberry JROTC and band, both of which Wells belonged to.

Saturday’s ride was organized by the Cherokee Wingmen Club and traveled along a route to Cartersville, escorted by the Cobb and Bartow sheriff’s departments. After the ride, the participants, who came mostly from Georgia and surrounding states, gathered at the Cherokee Wingmen Clubhouse in Canton.

On Monday, the U.S. Post Office at 2886 Sandy Plains Road, just up the road from Sprayberry, will be dedicated in honor of Skip Wells. That event begins at 11 a.m.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.