KENNESAW: City's dilemma: Condos or park?

From the Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Friday, October 24, 2008 by Dan Chapman, AJC staff writer

Park-starved Cobb County appears to have settled on a perfect spot for its next green space acquisition: a 9.85-acre forested idyll behind Kennesaw's City Hall.

A creek runs through the site popular with beavers and filled with tall pines and hickories. In the 1860s, Confederate soldiers drilled on the property that garnered National Register of Historic Places designation.

A Cobb park advisory committee lists the property among its top 10 priorities. More than enough money remains from the county's 2006 parks bond referendum to buy it. And the price, at roughly $1.3 million, is reasonable.

What's the hang-up?

Kennesaw wants to build condos and shops there. But the city doesn't have money to buy the land. Nor are developers clamoring to build upon it.

Still, Mayor Mark Mathews and other Kennesaw officials are beseeching the county, Commission Chairman Sam Olens in particular, not to buy the land. Olens said Thursday commissioners will discuss the acquisition in closed session Monday.

Green space advocates question the commissioners' role, especially since a countywide apolitical citizens group designated the land for purchase. Paul Paulson, a parks booster who led the push for $40 million bond referendums in 2006 and this year, said he might quit his considerable advocacy for the Nov. 4 parks referendum.

"I'd be hard-pressed to work knowing politics rule the day, " he said. "This is about buying what's best of what's left."

Olens denied politics plays any role in the decision to buy, or not, the property. Commissioners, he added, are taking the same informational steps with Kennesaw's Camp McDonald site as they have with other bond-backed land buys.

"I personally would be in support of the acquisition, " Olens said, hinting at a compromise between Kennesaw and the pro-parks coalition.

With 90 percent of Cobb's 220,000 acres developed, few residents dispute the need for more green space. Two years ago, 70 percent of voters approved the parks bond. A public winnowing process reduced the number of properties for purchase from 94 to 18.

Six of the top sites recommended by a citizens' advisory committee were bought. Roughly $3 million remains to be spent. A dozen of the initial 18 sites remain high on the county's wish list, including the Kennesaw forest.

"It should be saved. It's the last big piece of green space in Kennesaw, " said Martha Boyce, a city resident who has collected nearly 1,000 pro-park signatures. "It's very important to the residents of Kennesaw."

Mathews said developing downtown Kennesaw is equally important.

"We've targeted that site as a key piece of our redevelopment effort for the last five, six years, " he said. "It all ties into our downtown master plan. It's a key piece to the puzzle."

A developer wanted to build townhomes and shops on the site while preserving a slice of green along the creek. A lawsuit, though, stymied Madison Retail's efforts. The suit was dismissed in July 2007; Madison walked away from the project earlier this year as the economy soured.

Jim Hamby of Marietta, whose father, William Hamby, owns the property, said the county remains the only possible suitor.

"I'd prefer it be saved as green space, " Jim Hamby said. "It's another aspect of the history of Kennesaw. It's the center of what was Camp McDonald."

Commissioners may discuss a compromise Monday: the county buys maybe two-thirds of the property with Kennesaw buying the rest for a parking deck or retail.

dchapman@ajc.com

Q&A - Cobb County Residents

From the northeastcobbmonitor.com, issue 41, on Thursday, October 23, 2008 by David Poteet, editor

As a Cobb County resident, what are your thoughts on the November 4 parks bond referendum that would provide taxpayer funds to purchase more park lands in Cobb County, if passed?

Susan Vickery – Owner of X-Static Pets; a pet sitting service
“I don’t use parks much. There may not be a raise in taxes, but the money has to come from somewhere. How do we determine how much land is enough, anyway? The other side is I like the idea of slowing development by buying park space. That is a better argument for it.”

Sarah Behlmer – Student at Kennesaw State University and works at Johnny’s Pizza in Merchants Walk Shopping Center
“I think it’s a great idea. Passing it would mean less development and create more peaceful environments.”

Dale Adkinson – Dentist at Kennestone Dental Associates
“With the hard economic times we are in now, I’m not sure that’s the best way to be spending our dollars. Open land is not a big deal to me. We’re looking far ahead for parks, but looking for roads that are needed is different.”

Jeremy Jimmney - Painter
“As long as I don’t see a tax increase from it, I’ll back it. My concern is how long the property will just sit without any improvements. Somewhere there has to be a line drawn between development and too much development. We need more development for the tax base, but we need less for our roads and quality of life.”

Shawn Parmly – Systems engineer for Sun Microsystems
“I’m for it. We need more parks for walking or pets.”

Tracy Parmly – Works in sales for School Announcements
“Parks build a sense of community. There has never been a real sense of community in this area (northeast Cobb). It’s all been implemented by the schools. The more parks that are built, the more the community can build a sense of support. I would vote for it.”

Tony Simmons – Director of telecom software for Hewlett-Packard
“If you move funds this year from the fire fund, there is a likely hood the fire fund will be under-funded next year or in the future. If so, we will have to raise taxes for that. I do think it would be awesome to buy the properties, but will any improvements have to be made to maintain them?”

Backers of Cobb parks land optimistic

From the northeastcobbmonitor.com, issue 41, on Thursday, October 23, 2008 by David Poteet, editor

The primary organizer of a group hoping to see another $40 million Cobb County parks bond pass to buy more property in Cobb is confident the measure will be accepted by voters in the November 4 election.

His comments come on the heels of reports that mayors in three of Cobb’s cities had potential opposition to the bonds because it would raise taxes in the cities by .1 mill. That equates to $8 a year on a $200,000 home, according to county officials.

Paul Paulson, head of the Cobb Parks Coalition, said his optimism is based on how well the land buying process has gone with the $40 million parks bond voters approved in 2006.

“People trusted the process for the last bond because the Cobb Board of Commissioners had a public committee to do the work,” said Paulson, who also lead the charge for the bond two years ago. “That group had 94 properties committed for purchase consideration and it whittled the number down to 18. It was a grass roots effort that was properly executed. This bond should do well because of the success of the first”

The 2006 parks bond passed with 72% of the voters backing it. There are about $3 million left in that bond, and with the economic slowdown, county officials and members of the Cobb Parks Coalition are hoping passage of the 2008 parks bond will lead to the purchase of choice land that could have other wise been developed.

The county wants to finance the 2008 bond by moving .1 mill of county property taxes from the county fire fund to the debt fund. Taxpayers in unincorporated Cobb will see no change in their tax bills because the funding is implemented through a transfer of taxes from one fund to another.

However, taxpayers in Marietta, Smyrna and Austell will see the .1 mill rise in taxes because the three cities have their own fire departments. That means there is nowhere to offset the .1 mill tax.

Cobb County Commission Chairman Sam Olens said while mayors of those cities did have concerns about the potential raise in taxes for their residents, talks with Austell Mayor Joe Jerkins and Mayor Max Bacon of Smyrna have led to their support of the measure.

“Marietta, Smyrna and Austell had concerns about the situation, but since the reports about those concerns came out, Smyrna and Austell have gotten on board with the park plans,” said Olens.

Olens said the rise in taxes was unintentional and occurred because the Cobb Board of Commissioners rushed to place it on the election ballot before the Nov. 4 election. He also emphasized land appreciates twice as much as the interest rates paid on the bonds to purchase them.

Cobb County consists of 220,000 acres, of which 90% is already developed. Major purchases from the 2006 bond include the 135-acre Hyde Farm in East Cobb and Bullard Farm, which includes 112 acres off Dallas Highway in West Cobb.

Paulson said properties considered as a potential purchase for a park do not have to be nominated by the property owner or 15-member citizens’ advisory committee for the parks.

“Anyone can nominate properties for consideration in this process,” said Paulson. “It doesn’t matter how small or large the property is. The passage of this parks bond would help us continue to warehouse properties until the economy turns around.”

A total of about 300 acres has been designated as perpetual green space in Cobb County.

Cobb eyeing Kennesaw land

From the Marietta Daily Journal on Wednesday, October 22, 2008 by Ashley Hungerford, MDJ staff writer

KENNESAW - With a little more than $3 million left in the $40 million parks bond approved by voters in 2006, the county could be looking to purchase a tract of land directly behind Kennesaw City Hall with a portion of the remaining funds.

Located on Watts Drive in Kennesaw, the 9.85 acres owned by W.E. Hamby was listed as a tier 3 priority by the Cobb parks bond citizens advisory board.

Cobb Chairman Sam Olens said he has had discussions with Hamby, on behalf of the county, and he is working with the county's park department about a possible purchase.

"I am very interested in the Hamby property, based on history and the beauty of the property itself," he said.

Hamby's broker Dan Gentz with Re/Max said Hamby is looking at offers, and is "favorable" to the county purchasing the land for a park.

He said the county ordered an appraisal of the lot, and he's "confident that a sale could go through."

Although not revealing an exact dollar figure, Gentz said there has been a "meeting of the minds" between Hamby and the county concerning an offer, and "everything has been going along fine."

But the county's interest in the property isn't exactly in line with the city of Kennesaw's intention for the property.

"It's in the core of our downtown and a key piece to the planning we've done in the last five to six years," Kennesaw Mayor Mark Mathews said.

Mathews said if the county does purchase the property, then it causes the city to rethink a lot of their master plan for how what they want to accomplish with their downtown area.

To redevelop the downtown area, city officials have said they want to attract more commercial development.

The most recent commercial interest in the site came from Atlanta-based Madison Retail who wanted to build town homes, retail space and a three-story parking garage on the property. Plans also called for green space preservation and landscaping for public access and use.

Madison reportedly offered Hamby $1.5 million for the land.

The Madison project became tied up in lawsuits when Kennesaw resident Peter Popham sued, saying the rezoning of the property was illegal. Superior Court Judge Mary Staley dismissed the lawsuit in July 2007.

And when the real estate market began to slump, Madison Retail walked away from the project early this year.

The property has challenging topography for any development - with creeks flowing in the middle of the property. And to the property's south is the city of Kennesaw's cemetery.

If the property were ever developed, city officials said they would preserve the space along the creeks as green space. Mathews said the city has always pushed for preservation, even applying for a preservation grant for the property's creek beds.

Mathews said the city is supportive of the county's effort to acquire new park space, but said there are other options available.

Gentz said, currently, there are no contracts on the property with developers. Hamby has been trying to sell the land for about six years, he said.

Another factor that has stalled the sale of the property is the debate over its historical significance.

Some claim, including Popham in his lawsuit, that the Hamby property is the last remaining portion of the Confederate Civil War encampment, Camp McDonald.

Gentz said from everything he's seen and read; he doesn't doubt the property was part of Camp McDonald.

Mathews said most of downtown was probably a part of Camp McDonald - from where McCollum airport now sits all the way up to Kennesaw Due West Road.

But, he said, the Hamby property does not contain any historical significance from the Civil War, including structures or trenches left over from the camp.

In an attempt to settle the debate, the city hired New South Associations of Stone Mountain in the summer of 2006 to conduct an archeological study of the Hamby tract to determine the historical significance.

In the study's conclusion, principal investigator J.W. Joseph states that the area of the Hamby property was within the historic boundaries of Camp McDonald.

But the conclusion also states "historical and background research indicated that no historic structures or archaeological sites had been recorded in the project area."

The camp housed troops primarily in tents, and did not have permanent structures, the study states. It also found no clear evidence that any battles were fought in the area.

The study did look into a large trench that resembled a Civil War fortification. But the investigators did not find any artifacts or evidence to support that.

"No clear evidence was found for Civil War military activities in the project area and the single cultural feature identified during the survey cannot be conclusively attributed to the war period or assigned a clear function as a fortification," the conclusion states. "The survey determined that the project area is extensively eroded and did not result in the discovery of any significant cultural resources."

Mathews said the city of Kennesaw has given Cobb a copy of the archeological study.

The city's hesitation to support the county's move is not because they're against preserving a piece of history, Mathews said.

The core of Kennesaw's downtown contains an enormous amount of history, he said, especially Civil War. He said the city takes any opportunity available to talk about and memorialize their heritage.

The city's concern is how the purchase would affect their plans to redevelop the downtown area.

"We will work with them and make a viable project, whatever way they go," he said.

Gentz said he presumes the sale to the county would be approved, but said politics are getting in the way of the purchase.

"We've agreed in principle to the purchase," he said. "We have no issues with (Cobb's) parks commission. The only issue we have is that Kennesaw has thrown politics into this ... this will be nice green space for Cobb County. And Kennesaw gets it for no cost."

Olens said county staff is currently reviewing the history and development materials concerning the property that were provided by the city of Kennesaw, and he said he expects a decision on whether the county purchases the property no later than a month from now.

Mathews said he doesn't know what the city's next step would be if the county purchases the property.

"We'll cross that bridge when we get to it; we'll see," he said.

ahungerford@mdjonline.com

Smyrna city leaders back $40M park bond

From the Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Thursday, October 9, 2008 by Kent A. Miles

Smyrna city leaders now say they will endorse a $40 million park bond issue on the Nov. 4 ballot in Cobb.

The mayors of Marietta, Austell and Smyrna had been critical of the financing formula, which would have resulted in property tax increases for the cities. They also wanted the county to ensure parks would be created in or near their communities.

Smyrna councilman Wade Lnenicka said county officials and advocates for the park met with city leaders this week and “expressed a willingness to work with us in part.”

Lnenicka said the council made no demands of the county. County Commission Chairman Sam Olens and Bob Ott, the Republican candidate for the county commission district covering east Cobb, met with council members and were sensitive to their concerns, he said.

“They encouraged us to nominate parcels to be considered, and to play a more active role,” Lnenicka said.

The funding formula would transfer one-tenth of 1 mill from the county fire district tax to the countywide debt service fund. If passed, county property owners won’t see an increase in taxes.

The measure will result in a small increase for property owners in the three cities, which run their own fire departments and do not pay into the county’s fire service district.

Marietta Mayor Bill Dunaway says he isn’t opposed to the bond, but questions its fairness on city taxpayers.

Some ballot initiatives deserve a YES vote

An editorial from the Atlanta Journal Constitution on Thursday, October 9, 2008 by AJC editors Jay Bookman, Maureen Downey, Mike King, Jim Wooten

Metro Atlanta voters will not only choose elected leaders on Nov. 4, they will also be asked to vote on a wide array of initiatives, from increasing taxes for certain projects to changing a form of government. The following are recommendations on those ballot initiatives.

COBB COUNTY

Two years ago Cobb County voters approved a $40 million bond issue to buy park land. It was a smart move. A couple of real jewels, the Hyde and the Bullard farms, were acquired and are therefore protected for the enjoyment of future generations.

Another $40 million parks referendum is on the Nov. 4 ballot. The 2006 referendum passed with 70 percent voter support. This one should, too, so vote YES.

About 90 percent of Cobb’s 220,000 acres is already developed. The lull resulting from the collapse of the housing market is an opportunity to acquire recently threatened greenspace vital to the quality of life in Cobb. Forty million is a modest sum for a marvelous opportunity to buy treasures before they’re lost. Our grandchildren will be grateful.

(Note: This editorial also endorses ballot issues in counties other than Cobb.)

Development, crime top issues for Cobb commission candidates

From the Atlanta Journal Constitution on Wednesday, October 8, 2008 by Kent A. Miles

Two of the five seats on the Cobb County Commission will be filled by new members next year. The four candidates have experience in civic involvement and a knowledge of local issues.

Crime prevention and the pace of development are common themes in their campaigns.

Republican Bob Ott, a candidate for the District 2 seat representing unincorporated east Cobb, defeated incumbent Commissioner Joe L. Thompson in August’s primary runoff. Ott is challenged by Democrat James Royal.

In the southwest, District 4 contenders are Republican Barbara Hickey and Democrat Woody Thompson. Thompson, a former Republican who served on the commission from 1997-2004, defeated incumbent Annette Kesting in the primary runoff; Kesting won the seat from Thompson four years ago.

Commission chairman Sam Olens, who has established himself as a regional leader, is unopposed for a second term.

“I am looking forward to a great board,” said Olens, who sees the county’s infrastructure needs as a major issue facing the board. The effects of the recession on the county’s recently adopted $756.4 million budget is another key issue.

“We will not agree on all issues, and that would be a good thing,” Olens said. “You gain much from listening to different opinions.”

Public disagreement among board members is rare.

“It’s been pretty amicable the past several years,” said Kerwin Swint, a professor of political science at Kennesaw State University who has lived in Cobb for nearly two decades.

“Under Bill Byrne, there was some contention, some personality conflicts. Sam Olens has been an inclusive leader, so there have been fewer personality clashes these days,” Swint said.

Here’s a closer look at each of the commission candidates:

JAMES ROYAL JR., Democrat, District 2
commissionerjamesroyal.com

Occupation: Kennesaw State University athletic department transportation manager.

Civic experience: Member, Transportation Advisory Board.

What do you consider the most pressing issue residents face?

In east Cobb, their concern is basically zoning. They want to make sure that their homes don’t depreciate, and they want to make sure when a county code goes into effect, nobody abuses it. I commend them. The other problem would be, in the south of the county, they don’t have that type of organization to make sure they [developers] are in compliance with the county codes.

Where do you stand on the $40 million park bonding referendum? How do you propose the county spend the funds?

I understand the reason why a certain group wants to buy up properties. They’re a buffer zone from these developers who build up all these houses, and it makes sense. Whether we’re overdoing it, paying taxpayer money to buy up all these properties, I’m not sure. I can only speculate on whether we’re getting a good deal on $40 million.

BOB OTT, Republican, District 2
http://www.bob4cobb.com/

Occupation: Pilot, Delta Air Lines; president, DBO Software

Prior public office: County planning commission and board of zoning appeals.

Civic experience: East Cobb Civic Association; Transportation SPLOST Oversight Committee.

What do you consider the most pressing issue county residents are facing?

We need to come up with a comprehensive plan to deal with the water and transportation issues. Sometimes we go about it backwards, and deal with it after the fact.

Where do you stand on the $40 million park bonding referendum?

I’m in support of it. But at the same time, there needs to be a more comprehensive plan on how we acquire green space. The parks bond is a good start.

WOODY THOMPSON, Democrat, District 4
http://www.woodythompson2008.com/

Occupation: Real estate broker, Thompson Realty Advisors LLC

Prior public offices: District 4 county commissioner, 1997-2004; county planning and zoning commission, 1984-88.

Civic experience: Current board member, Habitat for Humanity of Cobb County, Marietta Kiwanis Club; Cobb County Chamber of Commerce board of directors.

What do you consider the most pressing issue county residents are facing?

In my district, probably close to the top, is to make sure we get a handle on the crime, especially in the lower section, down near I-20, which is the Six Flags area. The other thing that is important as a priority to me, especially in my district, is economic development.

Where do you stand on the $40 million park bonding referendum?

I can support it completely. If the county had not gone ahead and acquired some of these large tracts, they would all have come under contract for something else. And, as you grow like we’re growing, you need to have quiet places where people can go. It helps our quality of life.

BARBARA HICKEY, Republican, District 4
barbarahickey08.com

Occupation: Owner, Etiquette School of Atlanta

Civic experience: Chairwoman, South Cobb Area Council; board member, Salvation Army; vice president, Cobb County Republican Women; board member, Cobb County Chamber of Commerce

What do you consider the most pressing issue district residents are facing?

We have two cities, but the unincorporated areas are pockets where safety is the number one issue. And safety transcends all my other issues that I consider important. If safety is an issue, you’ll probably not be involved in your community.

Where do you stand on the $40 million park bonding referendum?

I think the first time, in 2005, it passed. They have spent it so well. And we are blessed — we have two purchases for District 4, two of the six are in District 4. I’m so impressed with Paul Paulson and his committee. These people know that if we want our children to stay here, in Cobb County, we’d better have the green space, the parks and recreation spaces for them to raise they children and see their grandchildren.