Citizens prep for parks project

From the Marietta Daily Journal on Wednesday, February 25, 2009 by Ashley Hungerford, MDJ staff writer

MARIETTA - The nominations have tripled, the public interest has intensified, and now is the best time to make a lasting impact of future generations to come.

This was the scenario laid out before the 15-member 2008 Parks Bond Citizen Advisory Committee during the group's first meeting Monday night.

The committee has been tasked with sifting through 310 nominations of parkland, narrowing it down to about 20 recommended pieces for the Board of Commissioners to consider purchasing with the $40 million parks bond approved by voters in November.

"We've got a lot of work ahead of us," said Bob Ash, public services director.

With the 2006 parks bond, the Board of Commissioners decided to appoint a citizens advisory committee.

Because the parks bond has been citizen-led and driven, Cobb Chairman Sam Olens said it was important to maintain citizen involvement when it came time to choose which properties to purchase.

"You are the interface with the community," Olens said. "The last committee did a fantastic job and we listened to them ... I don't think there is anything the county has done with as much public interface that has been as successful. You're providing joy to future generations."

With the first $40 million parks bond, which was approved by more than 70 percent of voters, the county was able to secure 10 properties, totaling more than 375 acres of green space.

"This is a unique opportunity for you," Ash said to the committee."Most governments don't do it like we do in Cobb. Most do it in-house. You have an opportunity to contribute to the legacy of the park system here in Cobb."

Joni House, a returning member of the committee and District 2 appointee, agrees with Ash.

"This is probably the last generation that can help contribute to conserving green space for parks," she said.

But the amount of work before the committee now has intensified. The first committee only had to consider 94 properties.

"Some of the your first discussions should be how to deal with the large amount of properties," Olens said. "This is not a three-year project."

The goal is to make its 20 recommendations to the board by August, Ash said.

"As bad as the economy is, the benefit to the taxpayer is getting these properties at the best price," Olens said.

With that said, Olens said some properties should be automatically thrown out because the property owner is looking to the county to be a substitute for developers.

"We're there to make the best decisions for the county and the residents," he said. "We're not there to buy property simply because developers are broke. We are there to be good stewards of the residents' tax dollars."

Ash said the county employees are compiling information on each nominated property. The only culling by county staff is finding out if the nominations have willing sellers. The county will only consider property with willing sellers.

The committee members will soon receive on CD data on all the properties including tax assessments, interesting features on the land, typographic and wetlands maps, parcel boundaries, and proximity to other parks.

The information will be kept confidential, Ash said, and any discussions regarding specific property will be done in executive session.

Because there is so much public interest in this process, Ash suggested that the committee consider conducting several meetings specifically for public comment.

"It can be a reasonably lengthy process at times," Ash said. "This way keeps the public involved."

The returning members, like District 3 appointee Debbie D'Aurelio, said they were glad the county decided to once again launch an effort to buy parkland.

"We looked at that last $40 million and thought it would be the last money we had to spend," she said. "I'm thrilled that we get to do this again."

Knowing the task at hand, several returning members offered words of encouragement to new members by discussing the reward at the end of the day - more parks for the county.

"With the first parks bond, it was a lot of work, but extremely satisfying," said John Pape, who is appointed by Olens. "What is also satisfying is that the board actually took and listened to our recommendations."

During Monday's meeting, the commissioners offered encouragement and some advice for criteria when considering parkland.

"The results last time around were wonderful, and I would expect the same results this time around," District 1 Commissioner Helen Goreham said. "I wish you good luck; you have an awful lot of work ahead of you. Wear bug spray."

Both District 2 Commissioner Bob Ott and District 3 Commissioner Tim Lee, who represent the eastern half of the county, appealed for more consideration this time around for smaller, pocket parks.

"Small pocket parks are very much appreciated," Lee said. "The park on Scufflegrit is covered up by people who walk there."

Undeveloped land in east Cobb is not as plentiful as west Cobb, but the residents in east Cobb are just as eager to see new parks in their area, they said.

"An eight- or 10-acre piece of property in east Cobb is just as valuable as a 50 acre piece in west Cobb," Ott said. "And it will mean just as much to the residents."

Goreham also said the committee should look at the potential future uses of the park land, saying some may be considered for active parks in the future.

District 4 Commissioner Woody Thompson echoed Goreham.

"Some day there might be facilities on these parks," he said.
"Facilities that will get kids out of the parking lots and into structured environments."

Olens also told the committee to think countywide when considering parkland.

"There are areas of the county that don't have parkland," he said. "Consider the underserved areas ... this is a county initiative, and we need that broad look."

The returning members of the board are: Durham; House; D'Aurelio; Doug Reed, representing district 3; and Connie Taylor, representing district 4. All three of Olens' appointees - Pape, Larry Ceminsky and Gary Wolovick - are returning members.

New to the committee are: Barbara Savage and Jeff Wood, of district 1; Bruce Hollmuller and Veronica Jones, of district 2; Matthew Phillips, district 3; and Chandon Adams and Barry Yeager, of district 4.

The committee will meet on March 5, March 16 and March 30, followed by the first and third Mondays of each month at 6:30 p.m. in the county training room, 100 Cherokee St. in Marietta.

County sees huge influx of parks bond applicants

From the Marietta Daily Journal on Thursday, February 19, 2009 by Ashley Hungerford, MDJ staff writer

LAKE LANIER - The 2008 Parks Bond Citizens Advisory Committee has a daunting task before them.

Bob Ash, Cobb's public services director, revealed at the county manager's retreat at Lake Lanier on Wednesday that the county has received more than 310 parkland nominations for the $40 million parks bond.

Cobb voters approved the second $40 million parks bond in November. The first $40 million parks bond, approved in 2006, secured more than 300 acres of green space.

For the 2006 bond, Ash said the county had 94 total nominations.

The 15-member committee, whose members are appointed by the Board of Commissioners, has its first meeting Monday at 7 p.m. at 100 Cherokee Street.

"The parks bond program is very much centered around citizens involvement," Ash said. "We're following the same model as we did in 2006. Our mission is to find the best parkland. It's not a political process."

District 1 Commissioner Helen Goreham said it's vital to have the citizens involved in choosing the parks because it's the citizens who supported, promoted and voted for the parks bond.

Monday's meeting is more an informational meeting to discuss the process for recommending purchases to the board of commissioners.

Eight members of the committee served the first round, while seven are new to the process, Ash said.

There will be a time for comments from the commissioners. Several commissioners indicated at the retreat they have ideas for criteria they would like the committee to consider when dwindling down the nominations.

"I would like to see what the community feels is important to the rest of Cobb County," Goreham said. "Hopefully we can get a broad view of the county to get the best overall value."

With the 2006 parks bond, large parcels were weighted more during the assessment.

This time around, District 3 Commissioner Tim Lee, who has been a big proponent of pocket parks, said he would like the committee to take a closer look at small parcels.

He said in his district, there aren't large tracts of land available. But his residents could benefit from smaller pocket parks that they could walk to.

Lee said he was pleased there were more nominations in his district this time around.

"The community woke up and saw that the property wasn't in their district," he said. "Now, they're saying, 'if I'm going to support it, I want to see the benefits.' They were more active in the nominations this time."

Eddie Cannon, Cobb parks director, said they are currently going through the nominations to verify there are willing sellers. So far, he said he has 280.

Cannon said they will create packages for the committee that include a wealth of information about each nomination, including significant or historical features of the property, information from the tax assessor, maps that show the property's location and proximity to other county parks.

The packages will be on disk this year because of their expected size, Cannon said.

Chairman Sam Olens expressed worry about how the committee was going to go through all the nominations.

"The first committee busted their tail; there's no way this committee is going to be able to look at 280 properties," he said.

Olens suggested doing a first culling by district, and allow the district representatives on the committee to look and see which land would actually fit into the needs of the district.

"It's a major undertaking, no question," Ash said.

Time isn't an issue, but Olens said he'd like to try to take advantage of the current economy.

"I'd like to buy some of these properties when we could get them cheaper," Olens said.

The county cannot purchase the properties for higher than the appraised value.

Olens said part of the increase in nominations could be likely due to property owners looking for a quick way to sell their property in the current economic climate.

"This is not the opportunity to sell your property, because developers are not knocking on your door anymore," he said. "We have to make the best decision for the residents, not the seller. We got to pick the properties where we'll get the most bang for the buck."

The property size of the nominations range from 150 acres to 0.2 acres, Cannon said. They've had more involvement from real estate agents and homeowners, and assemblages of properties this year. Cannon said they've even had people nominate homes within a subdivision for consideration.

The county also had nominations in four of the county's cities: Acworth, Kennesaw, Marietta and Smyrna.

Ash said all discussions of purchasing specific properties would be taken in executive session.

The committee will likely compile a four-tier list of about 20 properties and make their recommendation to the board in August, Ash said.

He did say they have contacted property owners from last year's recommended purchases that weren't bought to see if they're still interested.

Olen's appointees are Larry Ceminsky, John Pape and Gary Wolovick. Goreham's appointees are Jimmy Durham, Barbara Savage and Jeff Wood. Lee's appointees are Debbie D'Aurelio, Matthew Phillips and Doug Reed. District 2 Commissioner Bob Ott's appointee's are Bruce Hollmuller, Joni House and Veronica Jones. And District 4 Commissioner Woody Thompson's appointees are Chandon Adams, Connie Taylor and Barry Yeager.

The Retreat

The Board of Commissioners, along with County Manager David Hankerson and department managers, are on a three-day retreat at the Legacy Lodge and Conference Center at Lake Lanier Islands.

Olens is paying for the entire retreat out of his campaign fund, an estimated $11, 000 expense.

"I'm thankful to the Chairman for seeing the importance of our retreat," Hankerson said.

Both Goreham and Lee said the retreat is a great time to get a wealth of knowledge about what's going on in the county at once.

"We're able to hear from all the department heads, and we're all working from the same frame work," Lee said. "You can't beat doing this."