TONIGHT! Cobb BOC meeting, while Chairwoman hosting town hall on Wednesday; Powder Springs holds it own town hall while continuing LCI progress
ABC also held its own event Wednesday — a Sip & Stroll in Marietta!
“Town hall” just might be the word of the day in this latest ABC newsletter, as Powder Springs held its latest quarterly town hall on Thursday, while Cobb Board of Commissioners Chairwoman Lisa Cupid leads her latest “All In” town hall — this one focused on Economic Development — on Wednesday night. Cupid’s town hall will come a day after commissioners’ regularly scheduled Tuesday night meeting. Like the Board of Commissioners meeting, Wednesday’s event will be held in the second floor BOC meeting room of the Cobb Government Complex.
A pleasant stroll through town, meanwhile, is what those who took part in ABC’s Sip & Stroll got on Wednesday night. Attendees dodged rain but got to visit three Marietta watering holes during the evening, with many discovering a new public space along the way.
Read on for more details on what’s happened and what is happening!
We sipped, we strolled, and event made a discovery…
Rain threatened but didn’t put a damper on ABC’s Sip & Stroll through the downtown of the Gem City, Marietta.
While the weather made us skip Atherton Square, we had a great time at Third Door, Contrast, and Two Birds.
Board member Matt S. reports: “The best part was that over half of the people who attended didn’t even know about the new Church Street Park along the M2R Trail!
“Also, thanks to the Indivisible group for joining us and bringing a ton of fun energy!” Matt added.
Stay tuned for details on our next Sip & Stroll.
Powder Springs-a-Palooza: City holds its quarterly town hall; schedules Livable Centers Initiative ‘Visioning Workshop’ Sept. 9 while survey period continues through Sept. 12
The City of Powder Springs is updating its Livable Centers Initiative (LCI) Plan, last completed in 2016, and it has scheduled a drop-in “Visioning Workshop” Tuesday, Sept. 9, at its new City Hall at 4483 Pineview Drive.
We’re re-imagining what’s possible, and we need your ideas to bring the vision to life. Come share your thoughts on the plan’s goals, see exciting concepts take shape in real time, and tell us what matters most to you.
Drop in anytime between 2 and 8 p.m. on Sept. 9 to chat with our consultants as they sketch bold ideas for downtown, gather your feedback, and give you a sneak peek at what’s next.
The city continues to seek feedback on the LCI plan via an online survey, found here, and more information on the Livable Centers Initiative Study Update can be found at springsinmotionlci.com.
Town hall touches on LCI process, development & redevelopment
During their quarterly town hall held Thursday night, Powder Springs officials encouraged those in attendance who had not submitted their LCI plan survey to do so before the Sept. 12 deadline.
The 90-minute town hall, held in the city’s Ford Center, didn’t have any moments of contention, but was heavy on information, from the timeline of the likely upcoming county and municipal Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST) renewal vote and possible city projects for its SPLOST funding, to the progress of the city’s capital projects, residential development progress, downtown redevelopment, and the aforementioned LCI study.
Presenters also shared the results of last month’s LCI open house, and also the city’s findings that its downtown area has more parking spaces than currently needed — an estimated 389 parking spaces versus a parking demand of 310 spaces. But it also found that there is “an awareness and distribution issue” because there is excess supply of parking north of Marietta Street (the main street that runs through downtown) but excess demand south of Marietta Street. Potential solutions they suggest are integrating parking into new development, optimize existing capacity, and using streetscape improvements as a solution.
Want to watch or re-watch the town hall? You can visit this page on the city’s website to find links to the video stream on the city’s Facebook page or streaming site, and also a PDF of the slides presented during the town hall.
Tuesday, Aug. 26th Board of Commissioners Preview
On Tuesday, Aug. 26, there will be the 7 p.m. Board of Commissioners Regular Meeting.
What was originally going to be a pretty simple meeting has now escalated to be a pretty spicy meeting due to the discussion of the Veterans Memorial Park. This park has continued to see its costs risen and the county being asked to put more and more taxpayer dollars into it.
Here’s a preview to Tuesday night’s Meeting:
Presentations (2 items)
Public Comment Round 1 (10 speakers, up to 3 minutes each on any topic)
Consent Agenda (21 items)
Regular Agenda (9 items)
Transportation tab, Items 27, 29 & 30: Three contracts will be considered to upgrade a total of 170 curb ramps across the county per Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) specifications.
SPLOST Revenue Above Projections will be approved. Items had to already be included in the original SPLOST list to be funded and this is where the meeting is expected to be SPICY with some fireworks.
Here’s the MDJ article (which tries to rile up the public on the matter): https://www.mdjonline.com/news/local/a-slap-in-the-face-cobb-to-weigh-funding-request-for-veterans-memorial/article_87d5154d-7bb6-4a4e-9caa-0a826a00f054.html
Here’s the agenda item: https://cobbcoga.portal.civicclerk.com/event/990/files/report/15047
Here’s the list of SPLOST items to be funded with the additional revenue: https://cobbcoga.portal.civicclerk.com/event/990/files/attachment/39260
Highlights include the E-911 Center and a new Animal Services Facility
Public Comment Round 2 (10 speakers, up to 3 minutes each)
Appointments & Announcements (3 items)
County-hosted town hall to focus on Economic Development
As mentioned, Wednesday night will see the BOC meeting room host the latest in Chairwoman Lisa Cupid’s “All In” town halls. Per the county’s Facebook page:
Get ready to be part of the conversation about Cobb County’s economic future! 📈 Join Chairwoman Lisa Cupid on Wednesday, August 27, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. in the second-floor BOC meeting room to hear from Sabrina Wright, economic development director, and Sonya Grant, executive director of Cobb Workforce Development and CEO of CobbWorks Inc.
This is your chance to learn about exciting growth initiatives, ask questions, and share your ideas to help shape Cobb County’s future. ✨
That’s it for this edition of the ABC Newsletter! Don’t forget to sign up as an ABC Member to receive future newsletters! We’re working on our schedule for the next events so stay tuned for that information!