In April and May several town halls will take place for what’s known as Cobb Forward—the county’s comprehensive transportation plan (CTP) for 2050.
It’s a joint effort involving Cobb County government and its counterparts in the county’s six municipalities. A CTP was last done in 2015, but a number of developments since then have led to calls to create a new transportation vision for the county.
They include a referendum for expanding transit and the county government’s next SPLOST referendum in 2022.
Two of those CTP meetings will take place in East Cobb:
- Thursday, April 18, 6:30-8:30 p.m., East Cobb Library, 4880 Lower Roswell Road;
- Tuesday, May 7, 7-9 p.m., East Cobb Senior Center, 3332 Sandy Plains Road.
The purpose of the Cobb Forward meetings, per the county, is to develop a series of project lists, some of which would be funded with SPLOST sales tax revenues.
Transit recommendations also will come out of the countywide meetings this spring, some to be included in the new Atlanta Transit Link Authority (The ATL), which includes a 13-county area.
The Cobb meetings also will get underway in the aftermath of a referendum Tuesday in Gwinnett, where voters will decide on whether to join MARTA.
Cobb and Gwinnett were notable holdouts when the the MARTA system was created in the early 1970s and which serves Atlanta, Fulton and DeKalb counties.
At a recent Cobb budget town hall meeting at the Sewell Mill Library, Cobb Commission Chairman Mike Boyce answered questions about some of transit and transportation issues.
He’s seeking legislation this year to allow Cobb to push back a transit referendum to 2022. That vote would decide whether a special transit district would be created out of a portion of the county (South Cobb) or all of it.
That referendum, if approved, would add a penny sales tax in Cobb earmarked for transit funding.
Cobb voters also will be deciding on SPLOST extension in 2020 for a new collection period beginning in 2022. The current SPLOST, which includes funding for transportation and other capital improvements, ends Dec. 31, 2021.
That’s a six-cent sales tax. Four cents go to the state, another is earmarked for Cobb and Marietta schools and the other for county government.
Boyce said an extension would be shorter.
“It won’t be six years,” he said. “I support four years, [Cobb] mayors like five years. This county is doing so well that in six years, we’re going to have a lot of money laying around. You don’t want to do that with politicians around.”
While the SPLOST process is relatively straightforward, hammering out potential transit options figures is more involved.
“It’s going to be long and complicated,” Boyce said.
A county transit survey that was released late last year indicated that a majority of Cobb voters would approve of an additional penny tax for transit expansion. That includes East Cobb, where the only CobbLinc bus line runs down Powers Ferry Road.
Like the SPLOST referendum, the transit referendum also will include a detailed project list and public hearings on what may constitute a future transit plan, said Eric Meyer, the Cobb DOT’s planning division manager.
“Tell us what you will support,” he said. “That’s why this is going to take three years.”
Among the transportation options for Cobb are bus rapid transit, rapid bus, heavy rail and light rail. The financing options could be joining MARTA, connecting with MARTA, expanding service with the sales tax mentioned above, or maintaining the status quo.
The other Cobb Forward town hall schedule this spring is as follows:
- Wednesday, April 10, 7-9 p.m., West Cobb Senior Center, 4915 Dallas Highway;
- Wednesday, April 17, 7-9 p.m., Smyrna Community Center, 200 Village Green Circle;
- Monday, April 29, 7-9 p.m., Cobb Senior Wellness Center, 1150 Powder Springs St.;
- Tuesday, April 30, 7-9 p.m., Threadmill Complex, 5000 Austell Powder Springs Road;
- Thursday, May 2, 7-9 p.m., Acworth Community Center, 4361 Cherokee St.;
- Wednesday, May 8, 7-9 p.m., Ben Robertson Community Center, 2753 Watts Drive;
- Thursday, May 9, 7-9 p.m., South Cobb Community Center, 620 Lions Club Drive.
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