Walton eminent domain resolution on Cobb school board agenda

Walton HS softball field, Pine Road land

A resolution to declare eminent domain on 15 acres of land near Walton High School will be considered Thursday by the Cobb Board of Education.

The resolution is on the Thursday evening voting session that begins at 7 p.m. at the Cobb County School District central office board room (514 Glover St., Marietta).

That meeting comes after an executive session at 5:30 p.m., during which the board will discuss personnel, legal and land business, as well as a student matter.

Last month board member Charisse Davis, who represents the Walton attendance zone, said the land was needed to relocate the Walton varsity softball and tennis teams.

They’ve been playing home competitions since 2014 at Terrell Mill Park after being displaced for the Walton classroom building that opened two years ago.

The district had been negotiating with the property owner, Thelma McClure, who had agreed to sell the land, located on two tracts at 1550 Pine Road and 1495 Pine Road.

Davis said the discussions got bogged down over price. Cobb schools is offering a sales price of $3 million, which a district spokeswoman previously told East Cobb News is 10 percent higher than an appraisal that was done.

The land had long been in the hands of the Murdock family and is mostly undeveloped. A home built in the 1920s and that fronts Pine Road has been vacant for years.

Also at the Thursday night meeting, the Pope High School softball team will be recognized for its recent state championship.

Also recognized by the board will be Davis Elementary School, which recently earned Cobb STEM certification, and Dr. Nicole Ice of Wheeler High School, the recipient of the 2019 Georgia Council of Teachers of Mathematics Gladys M. Thomason Distinguished Service Award.

The school board will hold a work session Thursday at 12:30 p.m. at the same venue. You can read the agendas for both meetings by clicking here.

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