Coyotes an Ugly Fact of Cobb Life

More than 100 people heard updates on road projects and redevelopment and raised concerns about everything from reservoirs to crosswalks at Cobb County Commissioner JoAnn Birrell’s town-hall meeting Thursday night.

The District 3 commissioner, who represents Northeast Cobb and East Cobb north of Roswell Road, spent 90 minutes with constituents at the Mountain View Community Center.

Among the news she and county officials delivered:

• The construction at Sandy Plains and East Piedmont roads is scheduled to be completed March 31. The main missing pieces are the utility poles, but the county staff is working closely with contractor C.W. Matthews to get the job done.
• The repaving of Jamerson Road between Canton and Trickum roads should be done by the end of March.
• Construction of the district’s first traffic roundabout, and the county’s fourth, should begin at the intersection of Holly Springs and Davis roads this summer.
• The schedule is similar for pedestrian-friendly improvements to the intersection of Holly Springs and Post Oak Tritt roads.
• In a district that has added four subdivisions in the past year because of the appeal of Pope, Walton and Lassiter high schools, another development of single-family homes on Holly Springs Road at Post Oak Tritt will come before the Board of Commissioners at its monthly zoning hearing at 9 a.m. Tuesday.
• If the TSPLOST referendum passes in July, about $35 million will be available for transportation projects just for District 3. Birrell’s plans for that money include $6 million for sidewalks and $1.5 million for a road to the new Mabry Park.
• Cub Scout Pack 471 planted more than 60 trees at Mabry Park a couple of weekends ago.
• The county is finalizing an online listing of redevelopment sites, and 13 of them are in the Canton Road Corridor. Asked whether the government was playing favorites by picking those sites to help real estate agents move them, Birrell said she’s willing to look at other sites people think should be on the list. “We can always add to the list,” she said. “Hopefully we’ll be removing from the list.”
• A movie theater with restaurant-style food and drink service is proposed for a largely vacant shopping center on State Route 92 (Woodstock Road and Alabama Road) between Sandy Plains and Mabry roads.

Meanwhile, questions during the meeting included coyotes killing animals near Rocky Mount Elementary School and Pope High, flood maps, strategic water plans and reservoirs, the rules on replacing trees destroyed by construction, development along Wigley Road, and county spending on fringe benefits that exceed what the private sector offers.

The elected officials and candidates who attended at least part of the meeting included county Board of Education member David Banks, whose district covers Pope, Lassiter and Sprayberry high schools and who is up for re-election this year; Marietta City Council member Van Pearlberg, a prosecutor who is running for Superior Court judge; Board of Commissioners chairman candidates Larry Savage and Mike Boyce; and first-term state Rep. John Carson.