Mabry Park construction contract Archives

After being delayed last month, a $2.85 million Mabry Park construction contract is expected to be voted on Tuesday by the Cobb Board of Commissioners.

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

Approval of the contract was tabled last month at the behest of commission Chairman Mike Boyce until after a budget retreat.

One of the topics at the retreat was how to fund permanent operations out of the annual county budget for projects like Mabry Park that are approved by Cobb voters in the Special Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST) referenda.

Mabry Park, which would be built on 26.5 acres on Wesley Chapel Road at Sandy Plains Road, comes with a projected operating cost of nearly $105,000 a year once it opens in 2019.

At the Oct. 24 commission meeting, Northeast Cobb commissioner JoAnn Birrell, a strong advocate for the Mabry Park project was was formerly in her district, was upset by the decision to delay, as were Northeast Cobb residents who’ve been waiting more than a decade for the park.

Boyce and East Cobb commissioner Bob Ott, whose recently redrawn district includes Mabry Park, said it was necessarily to hold off final approval, if only temporarily.

Also at Tuesday’s meeting, the commissioners will consider proposals to raise fees for a number of county-related services, including business licenses, filing fees for zoning, and for parks and recreational uses, arts classes and other public services.

Another item on the agenda would appropriate $850,000 in county funds for a number of non-profit service organizations, including the Cobb Center for Family Resources, Family Promise of Cobb County, MUST Ministries, Communities in Schools for Marietta/Cobb and SafePath Children’s Advocacy.

Commissioners delayed voting on that funding during its budget deliberations in September.

The full agenda can be found here.

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The long-delayed development of a passive park in Northeast Cobb could formally come to fruition Tuesday night. On the Cobb Board of Commissioners regular meeting agenda is an item that would provide funding for a Mabry Park construction contract.

The meeting starts at 7 p.m. Tuesday in the 2nd floor boardroom of the Cobb BOC building, 100 Cherokee, St., in downtown Marietta.

A low-bid proposal of $2.85 million was submitted by Integrated Construction and Nobility, Inc., of Whitesburg, Ga., to develop the 26.5-acre tract of land at 4470 Wesley Chapel Road designated for Mabry Park.

The company has a previous history of working with Cobb Parks and Recreation, including recent renovations to Sewell Park.

The county purchased the Mabry Park land with funding from the 2006 Cobb Parks Bond Program, but has nothing further due to the recession.

In August, bids for the construction project went out, and the Friends of Mabry Park citizens group was ecstatic. The group has tempered its enthusiasm somewhat because of longer-term funding issues.

A message on the Friends of Mabry Park Facebook page urged supporters to turn out for Tuesday’s meeting because “we need to let the Board know how important Mabry Park is to our area!!” Here’s more:

“We’re not home free yet… While the park was voted on and approved by the residents of Cobb, funded in the SPLOST and is required to be built, there are rumors that it could be delayed while funding for future maintenance is resolved.

“It’s been 11 years since the County purchased the land. We’ve waited long enough…”

The Mabry Park construction contract item comes on the heels of the commission’s delayed vote earlier this month to fund additional staffing for the new Sewell Mill Library and Cultural Center.

Commissioners adopted a fiscal year 2018 budget in September that includes contingency funding to close a $21 million shortfall. This came not long after they declined to increase the property tax millage rate.

While Cobb voters have approved new facilities in the SPLOST, annual funding of operations comes from the county budget, and commissioners have hotly debated how to resolve the issue.

In a related item on Tuesday’s agenda, the board will vote on choosing a contractor for sidewalk improvements that include servicing Mabry Park once it’s developed. A low bid of $783,000 for the 0.4-mile project was submitted by Excellere Construction of East Cobb.

The sidewalk will be built on the east side of Wesley Chapel Road from Garrison Mill Elementary School to Sandy Plains Road, connecting pedestrians to nearby subdivisions as well as Mabry Park.