Cobb DOT has closed off a portion of a sidewalk and a shoulder on southbound East Piedmont Road due to a sinkhole.
Cobb government sent a message Monday evening that no traffic lanes have thus far been affected, but that work crews will be monitoring the site this week due to rainy weather in the forecast.
The sinkhole is located in front of the Sprayberry Square Shopping Center, just south of the intersection of Sandy Plains Road.
The problem was caused by a failed joint in a drainage pipe, and the Cobb message said repairs will start when the rain moves out.
There’s a 100 percent chance of rain Tuesday afternoon, followed by a 40 percent chance of rain Wednesday and a 100 percent chance again on Thursday before sunny weather returns later this week.
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Those behind the forthcoming Westfield Tavern at the Shallowford Corners Shopping Center say they’re getting closer to opening, and they got a big boost in the process last week.
Cobb commissioners approved on a consent agenda an item to grant a beer, wine, liquor and Sunday pouring license to Westfield Tavern, which is set to occupy the former East Cobb Tavern and Keegan’s Public House space.
Managing partner Erik Tierney told East Cobb News Monday that he’s hoping to open the doors in a couple of weeks, but couldn’t say exactly when.
He’s still hiring a staff and “waiting on a few other things” regarding licensing and permitting from Cobb County.
A veteran of the Atlanta pub and community tavern scene, Tierney said Westfield Tavern will be a “family-friendly community tavern” much like his Whitehall Tavern, which opened in Buckhead at the Peachtree Battle Shopping Center near Piedmont Hospital in 2011.
His restaurant group also includes the Creatwood Tavern in Smyrna, which features a rooftop patio.
While there’s a sports bar-type atmosphere, Tierney said he wants Westfield Tavern to exude a real community feel—it’s named after an adjacent subdivision on Shallowford Road—and will include an area for kids’ games.
The business also plans to get involved as a sponsor and partner in community activities, especially those involving youth and in the Pope, Lassiter and other school communities.
In doing the market research, Tierney said the demographics are very similar to Whitehall Tavern—40 and over and those raising children.
“It works very well down there,” he said in reference of the Buckhead location’s concept, “and I think it’s replicable here.”
The Westfield Tavern menu, he said, will also reflect those similarities (here’s Whitehall’s), including a number of kids’ items.
While Westfield will be located in the heart of the “JOSH” area soon to welcome East Cobb Church and new residential development, Tierney said its proximity to Roswell also is ideal.
“We’re trying to create this as a destination,” he said.
East Cobb Tavern opened in Jan. 2020, but closed soon after due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It briefly reopened then shut again in early 2021 in an attempt to find new ownership.
But that didn’t materialize, and the premises were vacant until last fall, when plans for the Westfield Tavern got underway.
Westfield Tavern was initially denied an alcohol license due to distance requirements under Cobb ordinances, but the Cobb License Review Board reversed that decision, which was upheld by Cobb commissioners last week.
That’s a standard pattern for many restaurants and bars in Cobb (as we noted in March 2021 about the Flying Biscuit Cafe opening).
Westfield Tavern’s opening hours will be Sunday-Thursday from 11 a.m. to 1 a.m. and Friday-Saturday from 11 a.m. to 2 a.m. The address is 4401 Shallowford Road Suite 13.
Tierney said anyone interested in applying for positions at Westfield can email info@westfield-tavern.com.
Tierney, who hails from Ireland and previously was a manager of the now-closed Ri Ra Tavern in Midtown Atlanta as well as Meehan’s Public House in Atlantic Station, said that while Westfield Tavern won’t be following as a true Irish pub, “we’ll still have Guinness on tap,” he said.
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As part of the project they prepared more than 150 bags containing toiletries, snacks, socks, gloves and hats, as well as blankets and tarps.
The bags and other items were donated to the 7 Bridges Recovery Center and Sope for Hope, local non-profits that assist the homeless.
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Sprayberry STEM students react after hearing the good news about the Planet Mars project. Photo: Cobb County School District
The Cobb County School District announced this week that students from Sprayberry High School won the Most Innovative Experimental Design category at the Plant Mars Challenge.
That’s an international competition sponsored by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration in which teams of students grow plants in simulated Martian soil to see who can grow the best crops.
According to a Cobb school district release, students from Sprayberry’s STEM Academy have been participating in Planet Mars for the last two years, and used second-generation seeds collected from plants they grew last year in their simulated Martian soil.
The Sprayberry crops were grown using “a novel method of generational crop growth, where beans grown in Mars soil were harvested, and those seeds were used to grow a second generation of crops.”
“This is an incredible honor and a testament to the astounding achievements being made every day at Sprayberry High School,” Sprayberry principal Sara Fetterman said in the release.
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Several libraries and community centers in Cobb County will serve as locations for the AARP Tax-Aide Foundation to conduct free income tax preparation assistance for low- and moderate-income citizens.
The services begin on Feb. 1 and continue through April 18, and the full schedule with dates, times, contact information is included at the bottom.
The East Cobb Library, Gritters Library and Mountain View Regional Library are among the venues, with details as follows:
East Cobb Library (4880 Lower Roswell Road): Tuesdays from Feb. 7-April 18 from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. To schedule an appointment, email eclib.taxaide@gmail.com or call 770-609-9138.
Gritters Library (880 Shaw Park Road): Tuesdays from Feb. 7-April 18 from 10:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m. To schedule an appointment, email gritterstaxes@gmail.com.
Mountain View Regional Library (3320 Sandy Plains Road): Thursdays from March 9-April 13 from 10:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m. To schedule an appointment, email taxaide.mtnview@gmail.com.
AARP volunteers are IRS-certified tax preparers and counselors who work with taxpayers to electronically file their tax returns.
Appointments are required (with some exceptions that are noted ) and citizens should bring all their proper forms and identification as well as 2021 returns.
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The Cobb County Composite Squadron, local unit of Civil Air Patrol, is hosting an open house at 6:30 pm on Thursday, 19-Jan-2023 at 1901 McCollum Pkwy, Kennesaw, GA 30144 (GA Army National Guard). According to Major Joshua Stultz, squadron commander, the entire community is welcome to attend and learn more about CAP as well as how to join.
Members of the squadron will be present to greet visitors and explain CAP’s missions for America. CAP was founded on Dec. 1, 1941. The open house is part of the 82th anniversary observance designed to create a greater awareness of CAP’s presence and contribution in the community. Please join us Thursday, to learn more about the Cobb County Composite Squadron visit www.ga090.cap.gov.
Civil Air Patrol, the longtime all-volunteer U.S. Air Force auxiliary, is the newest member of the Air Force’s Total Force. In this role, CAP operates a fleet of 560 aircraft, performs about 90 percent of continental U.S. inland search and rescue missions as tasked by the Air Force Rescue Coordination Center and is credited by the AFRCC with saving an average of 80 lives annually.
CAP’s 58,000 members also perform homeland security, disaster relief and drug interdiction missions at the request of federal, state and local agencies. CAP also plays a leading role in aerospace/STEM education, and its members serve as mentors to 25,000 young people participating in CAP’s Cadet Programs. Visit www.GoCivilAirPatrol.com for more information.
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The ER-2 lifts at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif. NASA photo
You may be hearing some late night and early morning flights at Dobbins Air Reserve over the next couple months on a consistent basis.
Dobbins officials announced this week that one of NASA’s ER-2 high altitude research planes, part of the NASA Armstrong Flight Research Center, is deploying at the Marietta base through March 5.
Flights began on Thursday, and according to a release from Dobbins, “overland flying will be limited as much as possible between sunset and sunrise. But due to the nature of the mission, flights may also occur during evening hours and on weekends.”
Here’s more on why the ER-2 is flying out of Dobbins.
The ER-2 planes, originally built by the Lockheed Aircraft Corporation (now Lockheed Martin) as U-2 spy planes during the Cold War, track severe weather and measure wind, temperatures, precipitation, humidity and aerosols.
The flights are sponsored by the Earth Science Division of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington, D.C.
The ER-2 flies at a range between 20,000 feet and 70,000 feet with a typical cruise speed of 410 knots. The distance of a normal 8-hour mission is 3,000 nautical miles, yielding seven hours of data.
The ER-2, according to a NASA information sheet, can carry a maximum payload of 2,600 pounds (1,179 kilograms) distributed in the equipment bay, nose area and wing pods.
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East Cobb was spared the worst of Thursday’s thunderstorms and high winds, as the South Cobb area around Austell sustained heavy damage.
No serious injuries were reported around the county during the Thursday afternoon storms. A tornado watch was in effect as well as a wind advisory.
Cobb government said Thursday evening that Cobb DOT cleared 25 roads and helped clear 11 flooded roads.
County officials have set up a self-reporting tool for citizens, business owners and others whose homes or facilities were damaged by the storms.
You can click here to provide your information in a damage assessment field report and map your location.
One side of a truck parts warehouse on Oak Ridge Parkway in Austell (above) caved in when high winds swept through, according to a Cobb government release Thursday evening.
Since there wasn’t a tornado warning in effect, no outdoor warning signs were activated.
Firefighters also found 18 homes with damage in a neighborhood in Austell, going street-by-street to inspect, with 14 of those homes damaged enough that the affected residents will be assisted by the Red Cross.
The worst of the weather damage in Georgia was south of Atlanta. A 5-year-old boy died in Butts County due to a tree falling on a vehicle in which he was a passenger.
Around a dozen tornadoes were reported in Georgia Thursday afternoon, after storms swept through Selma and extreme northern parts of Alabama, where six people have been confirmed dead.
A home on Ivy Log Drive in Austell was damaged by a falling tree., but no injuries were reported. Cobb Fire & Emergency Services.
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Habitat for Humanity of NW Metro Atlanta announced this week that The Avenue East Cobb and its merchants raised $4,266 in its inaugural holiday partnership.
A total of $3,015 came from proceeds from ticket sales the East Cobb retail center held, including Experiences with Santa and Storytime with Santa.
Another $1,251 also raised from the Kendra Scott jewelry store at The Avenue East Cobb. The Habitat chapter featured a table at each event offering more information on the organization’s mission and how to get involved.
“We are so happy the amazing team at Avenue East Cobb and Kendra Scott selected us to be the benefactor of these popular events,” said Jessica Gill, CEO, Habitat for Humanity of NW Metro Atlanta, said in a statement. “We look forward to a long partnership bettering our community together.”
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The Cobb County School District is cancelling most after-school activities Thursday with stormy weather approaching metro Atlanta.
Classes dismissed at the regular time, district spokeswoman Nan Kiel said in a message, but only ASP activities continued.
Cobb is under a tornado watch until 7 p.m. as a severe thunderstorm pattern is moving into north Georgia from Alabama.
A severe thunderstorm warning was also in effect for eastern Cobb, with wind gusts in some areas up to 60 mph.
There is a 90 percent chance of rain and thunderstorms through the rest of the afternoon, and 80 percent through the evening, with up to a half-inch of rain expected.
High winds, gusting up to 30 mph in the Cobb area, have prompted a wind advisory that is in effect until 11 p.m. Thursday.
Friday’s weather will be clear but colder, with highs in the mid 40s, as winter temperatures return through Saturday, then warm into the low 50s on Sunday.
Rain is forecast again for early next week.
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The following food scores for the week of Jan. 9 have been compiled by the Cobb & Douglas Department of Public Health. Click the link under each listing for inspection details:
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Facing a $2.5 million shortfall to rebuild the Gritters Library branch, the Cobb Board of Commissioners voted Tuesday to seek additional state funds.
The board voted 3-0 to apply for a $1 million grant from Georgia Public Library Services, a division of the state board of regents, that would go toward construction costs.
In late 2021, commissioners approved an $8.6 million construction contract, including $1.9 million from the state, to build the Northeast Cobb library branch that’s nearly 50 years old, as well as renovate the adjacent Northeast Cobb Community Center.
The current Gritters branch has outdated restrooms and poor drainage has resulted in mold and mildew.
Among the programs that would be part of the new building would include digital literacy training and job training and workforce development with CobbWorks.
In 2018, Cobb commissioners approved spending $2.9 million from the 2016 Cobb SPLOST to renovate Gritters, but a rebuild of the branch was recommended at a cost of $6.8 million.
There was a groundbreaking for the new library in December 2021. But rising construction costs have pushed the price tag to $10.5 million. Last September, commissioner JoAnn Birrell asked her colleagues to approve using county reserve funds to make up the difference, but she couldn’t get the support and withdrew the request.
“It’s near and dear to my heart and it kills me not to be able to move this forward,” she said at the time. “We’ve got some work to do, but we’ll get there.”
It’s not clear where the rest of the funding would come from if another state grant is approved, and at Tuesday’s meeting, Birrell wasn’t on the dais to speak to the issue.
She and fellow Republican commissioner Keli Gambrill were spectators in the board room, removed from their seats after being ruled in in violation of board policies by abstaining from voting in a dispute over the commission’s electoral maps.
Abby Shiffman, an East Cobb resident who is head of the Cobb library system’s board of trustees, said during a public comment session that the Gritters project was first identified in 2014. The current branch, built in 1973 in Shaw Park she said, has been declared a “subpar building” by Cobb property management officials.
She countered comments at a Monday work session that library officials “keep coming back for more funds . . . but this is not true.
“This is not just a rebuild of a library in dire need,” Shiffman said. “This is an investment to fit the meeds of our taxpayers and all of the citizens of Cobb County.”
Before the vote, Cobb Commission Chairwoman Lisa Cupid said that “we will be looking for unique ways to support this” but she did not suggest how the rest of the funding would be derived.
Based on public feedback, she told her colleagues, “this is an important project and I appreciate your support in moving this forward.”
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Former Cobb County Attorney Deborah Dance has been appointed to serve a four-year term on the Cobb Planning Commission by District 3 commissioner JoAnn Birrell.
Dance will serve through the end of 2026, the length of Birrell’s fourth term that began in January.
Dance’s reappointment was announced at the end of Tuesday’s Cobb Board of Commissioners meeting.
But Birrell was not formally part of the meeting after she and fellow commissioner Keli Gambrill were asked to leave for abstaining from votes.
They’re protesting a commission electoral map they say is unconstitutional and is the subject of a lawsuit.
Birrell and Gambrill were both re-elected in November, but their Democratic commission colleagues approved different maps from those reapportioned by the legislature.
Planning commissioners serve in an advisory role, hearing zoning cases and making recommendations that are forwarded to county commissioners.
Planning board members typically lead the discussion of cases in their respective commission districts. Dance inherited the Sprayberry Crossing redevelopment case, and the planning board ultimately made no recommendation.
Cobb commissioners eventually approved the rezoning but without a Lidl grocery store that was to have been the anchor of the new project and with apartments limited only for those aged 55 and older.
Lidl is applying to build a store at the Canton-Piedmont intersection but its application has been delayed.
It’s unclear what the new commission district lines will look like in February, when zoning cases will next be heard.
The District 3 in the legislature’s map includes most of East Cobb; the county’s map retains in East Cobb a good portion of District 2.
Gambrill also reappointed Fred Beloin to the planning commission and to the Cobb Board of Zoning Appeals through 2026.
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Reader Steve Kleinreichert sends word of two national youth programs that are faith-based alternatives to scouting that will be forming local chapters in East Cobb.
There’s a Feb. 7 organizational meeting for American Heritage Girls and Trail Life USA on Feb. 7 at the Marietta Alliance Church (1787 E. Piedmont Road) starting at 7 p.m.
The program works in tandem but are separated by sex and are for youth between the ages of 5-18. The twin organizations, Kleinreichert tells us in a message, are “tasked with helping to raise Godly kids through adulthood.”
Trail Life USA began in 2013, after the Boy Scouts of America allowed gay youth to join.
American Heritage Girls was formed in 1995 and partnered with the Boy Scouts until membership in the latter was opened to girls. AHG eventually teamed up with Trail Life USA.
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Cobb commissioner JoAnn Birrell listens to Deputy County Attorney Debbie Blair about the board’s rules for abstaining from voting.
The two Republican members of the Cobb Board of Commissioners were asked to leave the elected body’s first meeting of 2023 Tuesday morning after they said they would abstain from voting on agenda items.
GOP members JoAnn Birrell of East Cobb and Keli Gambrill of North Cobb tried to abstain in protest of a commission redistricting map that’s the subject of a lawsuit.
The board’s three Democratic commissioners in October approved a redistricting map that keeps District 2 Democratic commissioner Jerica Richardson in her seat.
But the Republican-dominated legislature approved maps last year that would draw her into Birrell’s District 3, which now covers most of East Cobb.
A lawsuit has been filed opposing the county’s home rule challenge, claiming that only the legislature can conduct reapportionment.
Birrell and Gambrill, who were both re-elected in November, have repeatedly stated that the county-approved map is not legal.
There was a hearing in Cobb Superior Court last week seeking an injunction against the county maps, but a ruling has not been issued.
Before the first agenda item on Tuesday, Birrell asked Cobb Deputy County Attorney Debbie Blair which maps the commission was “operating under” for the meeting.
Blair responded the county map is considered to be in effect. Birrell cited an opinion from the Georgia legislature’s Office of Legislative Counsel (you can read it here) that the commission’s resolution is unconstitutional, and the Georgia Secretary of State’s office has reached the same conclusion.
“It has no bearing whatsoever,” Blair replied, saying that the attorney for plaintiff in the lawsuit—East Cobb resident Larry Savage—was voluntarily dismissing the suit for technical reasons and is expecting to have it refiled.
“That is their opinion,” Blair said of the legal opinions, “that the procedure we conducted was not proper. That is not the opinion of the county.
“Until it is overturned by the courts, it is a valid process that we did follow.”
Democratic Commission Chairwoman Lisa Cupid tried to prevent Birrell from pressing the issue at that point, saying it wasn’t part of the meeting agenda.
“I’m just not comfortable with the makeup of the board, not knowing, this is still pending,” Birrell said.
“This is a state issue that we don’t control.”
At the first item up for a vote—approval of a typically routine certificate for a swimming pool construction at a home in the Chattahoochee Plantation neighborhood in East Cobb—Birrell and Gambrill abstained.
Cupid initially recorded the vote with the clerk as approval of the certificate by a 3-0 vote with two abstentions, then asked for a legal clarification.
Blair said commissioners cannot abstain from voting unless they have a “valid” conflict of interest that should have been expressed in advance.
They also must leave the dais before abstaining from a vote, Blair said.
“The conflict is the votes with [maps] the county is saying are in place,” Birrell said. “Everything is going to be a conflict, and I’m abstaining.”
Cupid then called for a recess followed by an executive session, according to Birrell, who told East Cobb News after the meeting that the county attorney “advised if a commissioner is present they have to vote unless there is a conflict of interest. I feel that this was a conflict of interest for me since a ruling on the maps has not been decided.”
When the executive session was over, Cupid asked Birrell and Gambrill to cast votes on the same agenda item. They both declined, and Cupid called for another recess and asked her two colleagues to “remove themselves from the dais.”
They were told they would be escorted away by security if they did not leave their seats voluntarily.
When the meeting resumed again, Birrell and Gambrill were absent from the dais, having been dismissed by Cupid. They watched the rest of the meeting in the guest seating area of the board room.
“The chair’s ‘use of force’ by ordering the police officer to remove us from the dais when no crime has been committed would have resulted in a lawsuit against the chair and county,” Gambrill said, as neither “Commissioner Birrell nor I broke any laws.”
(You can watch a replay of the meeting below; the sequence above occurred between 4:00 and 40:00, including the recesses.)
Gambrill told East Cobb News in a message Wednesday morning that as far as procedures go, Cupid should have made a motion to rescind the vote in which Gambrill and Birrell abstained before asking them for another vote.
“Coming back from [executive session] and demanding Commissioner Birrell and I to vote when there was no active motion on the floor—is dictatorship at its finest,” Gambrill said.
“In addition, after the chair removed us from the Board, she then changed the vote to 3-0 with Birrell and Gambrill absent. This is false.”
The three remaining commissioners, all Democrats, went through the rest of Tuesday’s meeting agenda.
At the end of the meeting, Cupid remarked that she was hopeful that all five commissioners will be in attendance at the board’s next meeting later this month and that “we will be abiding by the rules of procedure.”
Should the county lose its legal challenge, Richardson may be forced to step down from office, triggering a special election for the remaining two years of her term.
Under state law, Richardson would have had to move into the new District 2 by Dec. 31 to be eligible to run in 2024. But she has vowed to defy what she said has been an “unprecedented” vote by the legislature to reapportion a sitting elected official out of a seat.
Cupid said at Tuesday’s meeting that based on legal advice from the county attorney, the maps approved by the commission’s Democratic majority “are the maps that stand until there is a successful legal challenge in a court of law.”
Birrell and Gambrill also have complained that the county attorney’s office has not sought a response from the Georgia Attorney General’s office, which thus far has not formally weighed in.
“An opinion by the Attorney General’s office is an opinion,” Cupid said. “It does not determine the outcome nor the work of this board.”
Cupid added that “I cannot allow for this board to be a circus for people to share differences of opinion that are completely outside of our rules of procedure.
“I hope that the public understands that and I hope our commissioners understand that.”
In response to questions from East Cobb News, Birrell reiterated her concerns via e-mail that she and Gambrill “have asked for the Attorney Generals’ opinion in the past and again today as this is a state issue.”
The commissioners’ next scheduled meeting is Jan. 24.
The official Cobb Martin Luther King Jr. national holiday celebration takes place next Monday, Jan. 16, at the Jennie T. Anderson Theater at the Cobb Civic Center (548 S. Marietta Parkway).
The festivities, sponsored by the Cobb NAACP, begin at 10 a.m. and will singers, dancers, musicians, spoken word performers and more.
Cobb government offices will be closed; the county will livestream the MLK event at its YouTube page.
Classes and activities in the Cobb County School District also will be closed on Jan. 16.
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From the office of Cobb Commissioner JoAnn Birrell:
Project update: Construction of the Blackjack Mountain 36-inch Water Main Replacement project for Cobb County-Marietta Water Authority (CCMWA)
The contractor has remobilized back to the project site and will begin the Jack and Bore installation underneath Sope Creek at the intersection of Wallace Road and Barnes Mill Road. Due to the rain last week, the contractor will be finishing out drilling and blasting this week at the intersection. They will likely start excavation of the bore pit and possibly begin the underground trenchless jack and bore within the following two weeks.
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Cobb commissioner JoAnn Birrell will be holding a town hall meeting this month to explain how technology is being used for public safety purposes.
Cobb Police Chief Stuart VanHoozer and other department officials will be presenting information at the Tim D. Lee Senior Center (3332 Sandy Plains Road) on Wednesday, Jan. 18, from 6-8 p.m.
The meeting comes after commissioners approved an extension of a contract with a facial recognition technology company to assist law enforcement in identifying suspects in criminal investigations.
Despite some citizen protests, VanHoozer said that the AI platform being used isn’t used for broad surveillance.
“What this product does for the most part is take a photograph of a known offender and compare that to a database that has images that are legally obtained and publicly available so that we can identify that individual,” VanHoozer told commissioners last month, before they voted to continue the contract.
He has said the policies surrounding the use of the facial recognition technology are being crafted carefully and with strict provisions so that citizen concerns “are strongly mitigated.”
Critics said the vendor, Clearview AI, has been hacked and sued multiple times over privacy concerns and has been fined in some European countries.
Commissioners voted unanimously to approve the Clearview AI contract, and the Cobb Police Department’s policy is being finalized.
For information about the town hall, contact Kimberly Jorgensen at Kimberly.Jorgensen@cobbcounty.org or call 770-528-3317.
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!
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