Cobb to narrow possible park purchases

From the Marietta Daily Journal on Tuesday, June 16, 2009, by Ashley Hungerford, MDJ staff writer.

MARIETTA - The 2008 Parks Bond Citizen Committee is still deciding how to narrow down a field of more than 200 nominated park properties to a manageable number for the committee to visit.

"We need to decide how we're going to eliminated properties," Committee Chairman John Pape said. "We can't possibly look at and visit 240 properties."

The citizens committee is reviewing about 240 nominated parcels that have willing sellers and will make a recommendation to the Board of Commissioners on which properties should be purchased using the $40 million in bond money. Voters approved the bond on Nov. 4.

The Board of Commissioners appointed the 15-member citizen committee. Chairman Sam Olens nominated Pape.

After hearing from seven citizens lobbying for various nominated park properties on Monday, the committee went into executive session to review the committee's rankings of all the properties.

Each of the committee members ranked the nominated parcels based on criteria agreed upon in April. The criteria includes property in underserved areas and passive uses.

Committee member Larry Ceminsky, also appointed by Olens, suggested narrowing the field down to about 50 or 60 properties to visit.

"The prices have dropped, and there are not as many large, expensive parcels like last time," he said.

Large parcels were weighted heavily with the 2006 parks bond. Then, the committee only had to consider 94 properties.

The complete list of nominated properties has remained under wraps because the parcels are potential real estate purchases, which are exempt under Open Records laws. Any discussion on specific properties by the committee is done in executive session.

Any information about the properties is gleaned from the two public hearings the committee conducted earlier this year, and the public comment portion of each committee meeting.

Jared Conroy, along with a dozen of his neighbors from the Rose Arbor development off Mars Hill Church Road in Acworth, attended Monday's meeting to lobby for a 7.6-acre tract of land on Mars Hill Road.

"We would very much appreciate a nice park to take it easy in," he said.

Cindy Brake presented a slide show of the Jake Canup property at 1205 Villa Rica Road. The 26-acre property has a lake and creek, and it's directly across the street from Mud Creek Ranch. Brake said the property would be a perfect location for area schools to come see nature.

"It would be a very big help to have a passive park here for our community and the local schools," she said. "Think about how we can take this easy property and enrich both adult and children's lives."

The question was raised as to when the list would be made public.

"That's not my call," Pape said.

Jimmy Durham, who was appointed by Northwest Commissioner Helen Goreham, said that's a decision left up to the Board of Commissioners.

"The direction we have (from the commissioners) is that once we make a cut, we will notify the landowners of the properties that are cut," said Bob Ash, Cobb's public service agency director.

The others will be kept secret until a recommendation of properties is made to the commissioners, he said.

Eddie Cannon, Cobb parks and recreation director, said the committee would likely present a recommendation to the Board of Commissioners in September. The committee is expected to nominate about 20 properties for the board to consider purchasing.

That could be pushed even later as it appears the committee won't begin making site visits to the parcels until August. Nine of the committee members have travel plans in July.

The committee's next meeting is July 6 at 6 p.m. at 100 Cherokee St. Public comment is open the first 15 minutes of the meeting.