Top East Cobb 2021 stories: Revived cityhood effort launched

Revised East Cobb city map — *For a larger view of the proposed City of East Cobb boundaries, **click here**.*

A second attempt to pass legislation for East Cobb Cityhood was unveiled in early 2021, just a few months after it appeared to be a dead issue.

A local legislator who wouldn’t sign on to a cityhood bill in 2019 said just that, but in March became a co-sponsor of legislation to be considered by the Georgia General Assemby in 2022.

State Rep. Sharon Cooper joined efforts with fellow East Cobb Republican lawmaker Matt Dollar to revive the idea of cityhood.

The proposed boundaries and services are different from the 2019 campaign, which was abandoned by cityhood leaders after substantial opposition surfaced.

Local elected officials also were lukewarm to the proposed City of East Cobb, which would have included more than 100,000 people.

(See our complete archive of past cityhood stories by clicking here.)

Some new faces to the cityhood committee prompted changes in the legislation by Dollar (who won’t be seeking re-election in 2022 after being drawn into the same district with Cooper).

The Johnson Ferry Road corridor runs along the middle of the proposed city boundaries , with a population of around 55,000.

Initially, the proposed services were planning and zoning, code enforcement and parks and recreation.

The cityhood group held virtual town halls and met individually with some civic and business groups as a financial feasibility study was conducted.

That study, released in November, included police and fire services that had were in the 2019 campaign.

Cityhood leaders said there was strong support for public safety services based on feedback in polling, and the study concluded that the city would have an annual surplus of $3 million annually.

A proposed city hall would be located at the East Cobb Government Service Center, which would be purchased from Cobb County, and where the Precinct 4 police station and a Cobb Fire station are located.

Like three other cityhood bills in Cobb—Lost Mountain, Vinings and Mableton—the East Cobb effort remains centered around development, zoning and density issues in unincorporated Cobb.

The East Cobb bill will still need a state Senate sponsor when it comes up in the legislature in January.

If that bill passes, a referendum would take place in November 2022, giving voters in the proposed city the final say on whether there will be a new municipality.