Talking it over

From the Marietta Daily Journal on Friday, January 26, 2007, by MDJ staff writer Amanda Casciaro

MARIETTA - A 15-member appointed parks bond residents advisory committee met for the first time Wednesday to define its role and decide how parkland will be purchased using a $40 million bond voters approved in November.

The county will receive the money in two installments - $25 million in the first year and $15 million in 2008 - and committee members will serve about 12 months or until all of the funding is spent.

Regardless of what buys the members recommend to the Board of Commissioners, officials said Wednesday the most important facet is how they serve the public.

"If you understand the importance of the work we're doing, you understand we have a great responsibility," said Bob Ash, director of Cobb Public Services Agency. "We have a great committee here representative of residents from across the county, and that in itself is a good thing."

Trust for Public Land officials and Cobb Parks Coalition members who were instrumental in the bond's passage also attended the meeting.

"We all know the $40 million isn't going to solve all the green space issues in the county," Olens said. "But you're here to see we do the best with that $40 million."

The committee, formed using three appointments from each Cobb commissioner, will start from scratch using more than 50 land nominations that have been submitted by residents and property owners.

The nominations, which are still being collected by the Cobb parks department, are used as a basis for potential purchases with criteria such as lot size, proximity to existing green space, cost, accessibility, topography and historical significance coming into play, said Jimmy Gisi, director of the Parks, Recreation and Cultural Affairs Department.

"We know some property we'd like to buy, but whether we buy them is another decision. - You're not a rubber stamp and we haven't made up our minds," Olens said. "Clearly we want to provide park land throughout the county, but we're not going to make decisions based on political boundaries. We're not going to take that $40 million and divide it into four."

The size and cost of lots will be dependent on location, with larger tracts possible in west Cobb and small pocket parks in areas such as Vinings.

Because a small tract in Vinings will most likely cost more than a larger parcel in south Cobb, "it's going to be a dollars and sense issue of what's a good deal," Olens said.

The $40 million will be used only to purchase land, related environmental studies and legal services. Development of tracts is not included.

"If you buy a piece of land and the county doesn't improve that piece of land for five years or 10 years, I'm perfectly fine with that," Olens said. "The real issue wasn't how fast you can develop park land; the issue was let's buy as much as we can and preserve it for future generations."

Committee member Roger Buerki suggested members attach a report stating the intended use once they provide commissioners with recommendations.

"The public needs to know our intentions," said Buerki, a Cobb Parks Coalition member who formerly helped with passage of the Metropolitan River Protection Act.

No purchases will be pursued without cooperation from property owners and the surrounding community, Ash said.

Members are scheduled to meet again at 7:15 p.m. Feb. 8 at 100 Cherokee St., Marietta.

acasciaro@mdjonline.com

Cobb to begin park buys in spring

From the Marietta Daily Journal on Friday, January 19, 2007, by MDJ staff writer Amanda Casciaro

PINE MOUNTAIN - Cobb County will begin spending money from a $40 million bond to buy land for future parks in March or April, Cobb officials said Thursday.

The bond garnered hefty voter support in November at the polls.

About $25 million will be received from bonds this year and another $15 million will be available in 2008 to buy green space throughout the county.

Hundreds of purchase nominations already have been submitted through the Parks, Recreation and Cultural Affairs Department, but the challenge has come in finding out if owners are willing to sell, parks director Jimmy Gisi said.

"I was literally getting 25 to 30 calls a day from people about potential land purchases," Gisi said. "And a lot of them were from property owners who had no idea their land had been nominated."

Requests now must come through completion of a nomination form, which officials will use to determine where residents want green space and what tracts are available.

Pocket parks, which will be built in neighborhoods with little vacant land, will range in size from a third to a half acre.

Five to 20-acre neighborhood parks, 20 to 75-acre community parks, and 50 to 250-acre regional parks are all targets, as well as special-use tracts for recreation purposes such as the newly opened Sweat Mountain Dog Park.

The county will also look for natural resource areas where development is not possible and greenways to serve as links between cities, parks, schools, commercial areas and neighborhoods.

"I would hope we'd be ready to do agenda items in April for the first buys," Cobb Commission Chairman Sam Olens said.

To help identify tracts in each district, commissioners appointed a 15-member advisory committee in November made up of several members from the Cobb Parks Coalition, a group that formed to campaign for the bond's passage.

Olens said the role of the parks committee would be made clearer when they meet next Wednesday.

acasciaro@mdjonline.com

Olens, MDJ thanked for parks bond support

A letter to the editor from the Marietta Daily Journal on Thursday, December 28, 2006, by CPC founding-member Paul Paulson

DEAR EDITOR:

Much credit has been given to the efforts of the Cobb Parks Coalition in encouraging the successful vote on November's Land for Parks $40 million bond referendum. But, lest we forget, the idea for this measure came not from the grassroots. That vision of spending public funds to preserve our rapidly disappearing natural landscape was the brainchild of one elected official alone, Sam Olens, chairman of the Cobb County Board of Commissioners. Without his will there would have been no way to accomplish it. We are lucky to have had the likes of him at the helm at this crucial juncture in the course of our checkered developmental history.

And, had it not been for the careful reporting and editorial support of the Marietta Daily Journal, our hometown newspaper, it's unlikely that his idea could have reached the 72 percent of voters who chose to put permanence over the temporal rewards of a few dollars saved today.

What the Cobb Parks Coalition did more than anything was to engage those professional journalists to tell Chairman Olens' story. Let it be a lesson to all citizens with a dream, or an issue about justice or the lack of it. Ours began with a simple letter to the editor last March and culminated in a community endorsement of saving what we all feel to be important; the character of our community. The MDJ is the voice of that community; without it, the people would never have known.

On behalf of the 300-plus members of the Cobb Parks Coalition, I extend heartfelt gratitude for helping make the future a better place for the children of tomorrow.

Paul Paulson
West Cobb

Sierra Club lauds activist Paulson

From the Marietta Daily Journal on Thursday, December 28, 2006, by MDJ staff writer Ashley Hungerford

Marietta - The Sierra Club's Centennial Group has named Cobb Parks Coalition leader Paul Paulson Activist of the Year and honored the group with its 2006 Award for Outstanding Achievement.

Paulson and the coalition, a grassroots group, campaigned to pass Cobb's $40 million park bond. Cobb voters overwhelmingly approved the bond by 72 percent in November. The bond will be used to buy new land for future park use.

Sierra Club chairwoman Kathryn Hutton said the coalition and Paulson each deserved the awards.

"We look at people who have contributed not only to the group, but also what the Sierra Club stands for," she said. "Paul really took on this project of informing the public of the parks bond."

The Centennial Group of the Sierra Club promotes conservation and follows issues that impact the environment. The group includes Cobb, Cherokee and north Fulton counties.

Ms. Hutton said when the club sees an effort like the Cobb Parks Coalition and Paulson's then they feel it should be recognized.

"I think the Sierra Club is out there to protect the environment, and there have been very few displays of our local government that have gone to protecting our local environment," Paulson said. "Finally something was done in Cobb that was right up their (Sierra Club's) alley."

Paulson said the coalition is a group of regular residents who came together without a lot of money to promote green space preservation in Cobb.

"A lot of people worked hard, and without the group effort it would not have happened," he said.

Joni Cope, a member of Cobb Parks Coalition, said the coalition's effort to pass the bond got the attention of many activist clubs.

"(The parks bond) brought home the message that green space is important to everyone in the community," Ms. Cope said. "And the green space issue crosses political lines."

Cobb commissioners this month appointed a 15-member committee to help determine which properties to buy with the bond money. Cobb Commission Chairman Sam Olens has said the committee will start meeting in January, and land purchases could begin in March or April.

ahungerford@mdjonline.com