Council Votes to Award Concord Road Contract Monday

Smyrna City Council should vote Monday to award a contract for the completion of improvements to Concord Road even though the city has yet to acquire all the property needed for the project.

Mayor, Council and city staff discussed the acquisitions at Monday’s Committee of the Whole meeting.

“It’s not unusual to award a project without having all the property. Cobb County does it all the time,” said Larry Terry, of Croy Engineering.

There are still nine partial sections of property the city needs on both sides of Concord Road. Council will vote Monday whether to acquire seven of these pieces of property through eminent domain.

City Engineer Keith Williams said the city has negotiated with these property owners for the past 18 months.

“There’s a reason this road hasn’t been built yet and it’s because of this process right here,” he said.

The city still needs to acquire sections of the following properties:

• New Avenues, 3295 South Cobb Drive (the piece of property needed abuts Concord Road)
• Regions Bank, 888 Concord Road
• Property formerly home to Fat Boy Drive Thru, 852 Concord Road
• , 1166 Concord Road
• , 1295 Concord Road
• A vacant house located at 1270 Concord Road
• BP, 3002 Concord Road

Williams said that if an agreement can be reached with the property owners before Monday’s meeting it will not be necessary to move forward with eminent domain.

As of now, the city will continue to negotiate with and the owner of the building formerly home to G. Scott Home Furnishings on Concord Road. A temporary easement is needed on a piece of the church property during construction and the city seeks to purchase a section of the G. Scott property outright. Smyrna City Administrator Eric Taylor said the city could ultimately decide to acquire these properties through eminent domain as well if the involved parties cannot reach an agreement.

to acquire another property for the project. An agreement could not reached over the price of a travel agency located at 955 Concord Road.

“We exercised eminent domain and condemnation at one of our recent City Council meetings,” Taylor said. “We came to terms with them on the final price after the condemnation action was taken.” 

that the project should begin in Septmber with utility relocation. Concord Road actually has a pair of projects set to be completed with monies used from the 1-cent 2005 Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax and the 2011 SPLOST. From the older SPLOST, $3,335,000 has been dedicated to the Concord Road Trail/Streetscape project, which will provide a multi-use trail on the north side of the road between Atlanta Road and South Cobb Drive; and $5,280,000 for the widening of Concord Road to include turning lanes and median between Spring Road and South Cobb.

The City of Smyrna’s website and one provided by the county outline this info and amounts used to cover the full design and most of the Right of Way acquisition. Funding from the 2005 SPLOST does not cover construction of the project as that funding, $11,755,00, is to come from 2011 SPLOST money.

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