East Cobb Cityhood advocates say support for new city is growing

interactive map of East Cobbscreenshot of interactive map of East Cobb -- The interactive version is at the bottom of the article.

By Mark Woolsey

Advocates for incorporating a portion of East Cobb into a new city say support for their cause is growing. (see the interactive map at the bottom of this article for the boundaries of the proposed city).

At a virtual town hall meeting Thursday, leaders of the group East Cobb Cityhood presented May 20 poll results of registrants to the event, saying that 41 percent of residents of the proposed community favor incorporating with 36 percent undecided and 23 percent opposed.

The question was asked of almost 100 registrants for the event, said Cindy Cooperman, a co-leader of the effort. She said those not living in the boundaries of the proposed city were filtered out.

The group said an earlier reading in Mid-April revealed 34 percent of those questioned favored cityhood with 38 percent undecided and 28 percent opposed.  

The group is pushing for a community with a limited menu of services; zoning. local ordinance and parks and recreation. Other services such as police and fire and health would be left to Cobb County at large.

“In the past six weeks community interest and support is growing as we continue on our mission to bring awareness to the residents of East Cobb on the benefits of cityhood,” said Cooperman in an email. She said they’ve connected with nearly 800 residents through their website and social media and that more people are volunteering.

Enthusiasm or no, the road to cityhood is an involved one.

A bill introduced in the final days of the 2021 state legislative session creates a path to incorporating. If lawmakers approve the bill calling for a referendum next year, a popular vote would be held in November of 2022. Then if residents of the proposed new jurisdiction approve, the new municipality would be organized in early 2023.

As the boundaries are now drawn, about 55 thousand people would live in the new city.

A coalition called the East Cobb Alliance has also formed in opposition to the cityhood push. It claims that what it calls an additional layer of government is not needed. The group has said that cityhood backers have been secretive in their approach, forming a non-profit group hiding donors and sources of money from public review and commissioning a $36,000 feasibility study.

Cityhood boosters said Thursday that because the structure and services provided by the proposed city have changed from the initial 2018 push, another feasibility study will be done later this year.

Also during the Zoom event, the group heard from Milton Mayor Joe Lockwood, who sketched out the North Fulton County city’s experience since becoming a city in 2006.

Echoing Cobb incorporation backers, Lockwood said their number one concern was local control, driven in large measure by Fulton County’s geography-stretching 70 miles from north to South.

“People were tired of decisions being made 40 miles away,” he said.

Lockwood said that advantages since cityhood have ranged from the ability to attend public meetings close by to being able to more closely interact with city leaders.

“When the people making the decisions are in the grocery store with you,” sad Lockwood, “you have a better sense of what’s going on. “

He also said the city has performed well from a financial standpoint. With the millage rate capped. he said, the city has given residents more service than when it was part of unincorporated northwest Fulton County for the same dollars.

From a less tangible viewpoint, the mayor said that Milton’s being its own city has built a sense of community pride and belonging that has only increased over the years.

Check out the interactive map of the proposed city

8 Comments on "East Cobb Cityhood advocates say support for new city is growing"

  1. Linda Devlin | May 24, 2021 at 1:41 pm | Reply

    All for it.

  2. Bob Robertson | May 26, 2021 at 3:01 pm | Reply

    So East Cobb will be a “city” of neighborhoods and strip malls? What central hub is there? What cultural and community center is there like downtown Alpharetta, Roswell, Marietta, or Woodstock? Whole Foods? Home Depot? The Avenues? C’mon. This whole exercise is ridiculous. It’s either about keeping wealth, political power, or both.

  3. Margaret Moss | May 27, 2021 at 11:28 am | Reply

    I think this concept of an East Cobb is ridiculous and of no real benefit. It seems to me to be an attempt to be elitist.

  4. Bernice Isaac | June 6, 2021 at 9:47 pm | Reply

    It all sounds good until you see that you live at one of the boundaries. Murdock Road… if you live off of Murdock, we are split… if you live on the west side of Murdock, you are East Cobb. But right across the street is my subdivision. So, if I live on the west side of Murdock, your out! That makes a whole lot of sense. It would seem to me, if you live in 30062, you should be part of East Cobb. Just a way to push out those of us folks who live in the older parts of East Cobb out. That is unfortunate.

  5. Shania Spraggins | July 26, 2021 at 4:47 pm | Reply

    What exactly is the point of this? Are the taxes and city services in Marietta that bad? We just bought a house off Canton and Piedmont outside of the boundaries shown for this because I couldn’t stand the thought of being miles deep in nothing but neighborhoods and needed to be closer to shopping, restaurants, and downtown areas in Marietta, Woodstock, and Kennesaw. I might be missing something, but it looks like the area highlighted is literally just a bunch of houses.

  6. This city incorporation idea looks good in theory….
    Seems to make for half-way decent common sense, too.
    BUT….
    Please dont use that hokey name “East Cobb City”.
    and
    Refine the city borders so that y’all dont split subdivisions into opposite sides of streets either being inside or outside city limits. All or none.
    Good Luck.

  7. is being proven that cityhood has its benefits, specially for the wealthy neighborhoods which allow more flexibility to manage their revenue dollars; however the map does not look inclusive and it just seems to segregate the wealthy neighborhoods and affluent businesses of the area…
    so specific example: the city will take Indian Hills, all the neighborhoods on Sope Creek elementary district on Paper Mill Rd, taking Walton High and Dickerson Middle, but the Elementary school and cobb county fire station #2 will have to stay manage by city of Marietta and cobb county that just looks like a punch in the face…

  8. Pretty sure I am a no.

Leave a comment

Your email address will not be published.


*


This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.