On Saturday the public was invited by the Cobb Department of Parks, Recreation and Cultural Affairs for an Ebenezer Road park preview to show off the newest parcels of green space purchased by the county.
Also at the event were District 3 Cobb commissioner JoAnn Birrell and Cobb commission chairman Mike Boyce.
The 18.3 acres at 4055 and 4057 Ebenezer Road were acquired earlier this year for a total of $1.7 million as part of the 2008 Cobb Parks Bond referendum, which was finally funded by county commissioners last year.
The land was held in the estate of John Strother, who died in 2015 at the age of 101.
The land, which will ultimately be developed into a passive park, was owned by the Strother family in side-by-side parcels and residences on Ebenezer Road near the intersection of Canton Road and Noonday Baptist Church.
The jewel of the property is a lake, and some visitors brought their dogs to make the trek around and enjoy a sunny weekend morning.
The funding approved by commissioners last year was for a total of $27.4 million. Voters approved $40 million in the 2008 referendum, but no bonds were issued due to the recession.
In 2016, an organization called the Cobb Parks Coalition pressed for the bonds to be issued, and now says the 2017 vote to provide partial funding is “a positive game-changer.”
Birrell said that all of the park bond funding has to be spent within three years to acquire green space.
A year since approval, Cobb commissioners have spent nearly $17 million of that money. On Tuesday they’re poised to spend another $8.3 million to purchase 22 acres of the Tritt property next to East Cobb Park, and preserve it as green space.
Another 7.7 acres will be donated, and the Friends for the East Cobb Park is donating $102,000 as part of the deal.
Related stories
- Ebenezer Road property purchased for future passive park
- County set to buy part of Tritt property next to East Cobb Park
The Ebenezer Road properties are the first to be acquired with the bond money in Birrell’s district, which includes Northeast Cobb and part of the Kennesaw area.
The Tritt property, the subject of a denied rezoning request for a senior living city and related lawsuit, would be the first land acquisition in commissioner Bob Ott’s District 2, which includes most of East Cobb.
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