Public can give input on park purchases

From the Marietta Daily Journal on Thursday, April 2, 2009 by Ashley Hungerford, MDJ staff writer

MARIETTA - Cobb residents will soon have a chance to lobby for potential park purchases.

The citizens advisory committee has set April 21 at 6:30 p.m. in the Board of Commissioners' meeting room, 100 Cherokee Street, as a public hearing for citizens to express their opinions on potential purchases.

The committee is sifting through more than 300 parkland nominations and will recommend about 20 parcels to the Board of Commissioners for possible purchase, using money from the $40 million parks bond voters approved on Nov. 4.

Committee members have set some ground rules for the public hearing. Speakers will need to sign up ahead of time. The sign-in sheet will open at 6 p.m. and close at 7:30 p.m.

Speakers will be limited to three minutes each, and the chairman of the committee, John Pape, may limit repetitive comments.

The hearing will last a maximum of three hours. If there are still people waiting to speak, the committee may schedule a second hearing.

The county is trying to create an online comment section on the parks and recreation department's Web site, www.prca.cobbcountyga.gov. Only members of the committee would be able to view the comments.

And community members are invited to attend meetings of the advisory committee. The committee usually meets the first and third Monday of each month at 6:30 p.m. in the training room at the county administration building, 100 Cherokee Street in Marietta. The first 15 minutes of each meeting are open to public comment.

The parks bond committee's next meeting is April 13.

The committee has set its own criteria for possible purchases.

"The first thing we're looking at is areas that are underserved," said committee member Gary Wolovick. The committee defines an underserved area as "areas in need of additional public parks."

Most of the 15 committee members agree that when they're considering property, they should be envisioning passive parkland, not more ballfields.

"This money is not like the stimulus money that has been handed to the commissioners. This money has been voted on by the public," committee member Debbie D'Aurelio said. "We need to think what the citizens want first. And the citizens of the county want passive use."