Photo above: Mableton resident Susan Steinway speaks out on school bus depot during public comment at school board meeting

By Rebecca Gaunt

The Cobb County School District issued a bid request for a general contractor to develop the 6.92-acre site at 440 Veterans Memorial Highway in Mableton, a clear message that it intends to move forward with a transportation facility over the objections of the community.

The RFP (request for proposals) was issued May 6 with a final due date of June 3.

Robin Meyer, a member of Mableton’s newly established planning commission, stood before the board and Superintendent Chris Ragsdale last October and asked them to listen to the community.

This week, she called the forward movement by the district “discouraging.”

Mableton advocates, including Mableton City Council member Patricia Auch, have attended school board meetings for months, asking the district to reconsider the location and collaborate with city officials and residents. There is also an online petition with more than 900 signatures.

Read more: Mableton Bus Depot – Cobb Courier

At the May meeting, Susan Steinway said she was concerned about noise pollution in a residential area.

“This operation will probably begin in the early morning hours during the school year and we don’t want the added noise and traffic,” she said.

Nickolas Dimondi has spoken at multiple meetings and previously said his home backs up to the site of the proposed depot.

In May, he said, “The residents of Mableton, your constituents the board are supposed to be serving, have spoken in no uncertain terms. The bus fuel depot goes against our plans and is not wanted. Yet the board has closed their ears to our consistent and even-handed appeals for the fuel depot to be placed somewhere where it serves the community instead of harming them.”

Dimondi informed the board that Mableton residents would explore legal options to stop the depot and “engage in a long and drawn out public opposition to all board members, making sure to inflict maximum political fallout in Cobb County.”

The school district purchased the property in 2022 for $1.1 million, but did not publicly disclose intentions for the property. When an engineering company began work on the site in August 2024, one of the workers informed an inquiring resident that it would be used for school buses. 

The district declined to confirm that information until school board member Randy Scamihorn, then serving as board chair, confirmed the plans to the Marietta Daily Journal.

The county’s comprehensive plan for the area designates it as a neighborhood activity center, but the school district is exempt from such zoning ordinances.

According to Mableton Mayor Michael Owens, neither Ragsdale nor anyone from the district has responded to requests for a meeting. 

The district has not responded to the Courier’s request for comment.