Editorial: The Parks Bond It's a 'buying opportunity' for Cobb residents

An editorial from the Marietta Daily Journal on Sunday, November 2, 2008

Even a crashing economy has its bright spots.

To stockbrokers, they're known as "buying opportunities" - those stocks that are so undervalued that they're suddenly a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. And as Cobb voters head to the polls this week, they have the chance to exercise just such a buying opportunity themselves - the opportunity to set aside $40 million with which to purchase additional parkland for the county.

Thanks to the sagging economy, the local real estate market is not just dead in the water, but under the waves. Development and redevelopment are at a standstill. That's not good, but the silver lining is that there are numerous undeveloped parcels that likely could be purchased for parks and at a much more taxpayer-friendly price than would normally be the case. Not only are more landowners than usual likely to lend a receptive ear to inquiries about selling their land for a park, it's also true that interest rates are at rock bottom, meaning county taxpayers would get even more for their money.

If approved on Tuesday, this would be the second such bond Cobb voters have passed via referendum in recent years. The first, also for $40 million, was passed two years ago. That referendum proved amazingly popular with the public, passing by a 70-30 percent margin.

The county has used that money wisely, following the recommendations of the Cobb Parks Bond Citizens Advisory Committee. Its showpiece purchases have been the 112-acre Bullard Farm on Dallas Highway in west Cobb, a pristine piece of farmland for $18.6 million; and the 137.4-acre Stana property on Brownsville Road in southwest Cobb for $5.76 million.

Other purchases include the 70-acre Mabry Centennial Farm in east Cobb, the 17.7-acre Price property on Stilesboro Road and a 16-acre tract in Mableton. In addition, the county officially designated $5 million of the bond proceeds to help purchase 95 pristine acres of the one-of-a-kind Hyde Farm property along the Chattahoochee River in east Cobb.

All told, the county has purchased just more than 300 acres for $37.67 million.

Now, with our nest egg nearly gone, it's time to replenish it.

After all, did the purchases of the past two years satisfy our need for parkland? They were a good start, but no.

Did they ensure that we have sufficient parkland not just for our current needs, but for future decades when our population will have grown past the 750,000 mark steadily toward 1 million? Not hardly.

And will Cobb be better served by waiting a couple decades to buy more parkland - if indeed, there is any left to buy by then? No. The better option than buying it at 2018 or 2028 prices is to buy it now, at 2008 prices, which, thanks to the economic collapse, are more like 1998 prices.

As to the economic impact on your wallet should the measure pass, it will be about $11 per year during the life of the 15-year bonds for the owner of a $200,000 house. In other words, your contribution toward assuring Cobb's parkland needs for years to come would be the equivalent of a couple cups of cappuccino, or several gallons of gas.

It's a bargain, in other words. Or, to use another expression, a "buying opportunity" we probably won't see the likes of again. And it's up to you to help make it happen when you go to the polls.