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