Latest purchase could set stage for next parks bond

From the Marietta Daily Journal on Wednesday, June 11, 2008 by Joe Kirby, Editorial Page editor

Hot on the heels of Friday's acquisition of the remainder of the Hyde Farm property in east Cobb for parkland, the Cobb Board of Commissioners on Tuesday voted unanimously to acquire 137.45 more acres at the other end of the county for parkland as well.

"This is a beautiful property with creeks running all through it," Cobb Commission Chairman Sam Olens said of the Stana tract in southwest Cobb. "It's a property for generations to come and enjoy the vistas and quiet time that will occur there."

The property is tucked southwest of Powder Springs on Brownsville Road along Sweetwater Creek, hard by the Paulding County line. It adjoins the 88-acre Stout property, which the county has already acquired for a park. The goal is to merge the two properties into a single 225-acre park, which would be the county's largest. A 4,291-square-foot house on the Stana property will be purchased with hotel/motel tax money and converted into a senior center or community center, according to Olens.

The county will spend $5.1 million on the Stana property, money that is part of the $40 million bond overwhelmingly approved by Cobb voters in a 2006 referendum.

With the Stana purchase, the county will have purchased five of the top six properties proposed for acquisition by the county's parks bond advisory committee. The exception is the 54-acre Wylene Tritt property on Roswell Road in northeast Cobb.

Now, with most of the money from the bond spent, and having been done so without major controversy; and with the county's need for additional parkland still apparent, it is time for the commission and the community to consider whether to ask voters to approve a follow-up parks bond this fall. With the economy, and especially the real estate market, in a rut, there may never be a more opportune time for the county to have such a wide selection of properties from which to choose, and at prices that favor the buyer.

The commission, and the grassroots leaders who led the 2006 effort, would be well advised to put that ball back in play.