Land buys for parks a priority

From the Atlanta Journal Constitution, Sunday, June 11, 2006 by Richard Whitt

$40 million bond issue may appear on fall ballot

The campaign for a $40 million bond issue to buy parkland in Cobb County before developers can is getting broad public support and will likely come before the County Commission on July 11, Chairman Sam Olens said. Commissioners plan to hold a public hearing at their 7 p.m. June 27 meeting, at county offices at 100 Cherokee St. in Marietta.

"The response from the public has been outstanding," Olens said. "If you ask me is it very likely I would place the item on the July 11 agenda, the answer is yes. "But I still want to continue hearing from the public at our meeting on June 27."

A favorable commission vote would place the question on the November ballot, giving voters the final say. If the measure passes, Olens said, officials will begin looking for large tracts that would be suitable for parks. Olens already has his eye on a 54-acre tract that borders East Cobb Park and Fuller's Park on Roswell Road. He has been talking with owner Wylene Tritt about a possible purchase if money becomes available. Tritt said she's interested in selling. "I just want something to be conserved for future generations," Tritt said. She has lived on the property for nearly 56 years.

The Cobb Parks Coalition, a grass-roots citizens organization promoting the bond issue, is getting help from the national nonprofit Trust for Public Land. In the next few weeks, the trust will conduct a poll of Cobb residents to determine what voters want, said David Carter, conservation finance program director for the trust's Southeast region in Raleigh.

The poll information will be used as a guide on the wording of the ballot question, Carter said.
The land trust has a decade of experience in structuring financing for land conservation measures and ballot issues.

The organization had an agreement to purchase Hyde Farm, a 95-acre parcel in east Cobb, for $12 million. But heirs of J.C. Hyde sued in an attempt to void the 1992 agreement between the preservation group and the farm's longtime owner, who died in March 2004. Another organization interested in preserving the land, Friends of Hyde Farm, raised more than $250,000 to help the trust pay for the land. If the bond issue passes, Olens said, some bond money could help pay for the farm.

Time is running out for Cobb to save land for parks, Carter said. "This may be the last generation that can do this," Carter said.

Other metro Atlanta counties have aggressive programs to purchase green space. DeKalb County voters approved bond issues totaling $355 million in 2001 and 2005, with $118 million earmarked to purchase green space, said Susan Hood, assistant county administrator. The county has bought 2,300 acres since 2001, Hood said. It recently bought the Donaldson Homestead in Dunwoody. Likewise, Forsyth and Gwinnett counties have been buying land for parks with special purpose local option sales tax money approved by voters. In recent years, Forsyth County has purchased the 715-acre Sawnee Mountain Park, said Jerry Kinsey, director of parks in Forsyth.