Smyrna Council Meeting; Ward 7 Public Forum Tonight

A busy week for Smyrna election candidates begins with many expected to address Jonquil City voters at tonight’s Smyrna City Council meeting.

But most likely, the four candidates running for Ward 7 city council won’t be among them despite a scheduled council vote concerning the construction of a new GLOCK, Inc., 60,000-square-foot manufacturing facility located at 6000 Highland Parkway in Ward 7.

That’s because candidates Ron Fennel, Garry Osborne, Ziad Salameh and Vic Yankouski will be participating in a public forum hosted by the Vinings Estates Homeowners Association. The forum begins at 7:30 p.m. at the Crescent Ridge Clubhouse, 655 Crescent Ridge Trail.

The event will allow the four candidates seeking to replace Charles Pete Wood as Smyrna’s Ward 7 councilman to present their platform to the 855-plus homeowners in Vinings Estates, as well as to field questions from interested residents in the community. Smyrna-Vinings Patch will be providing live coverage, so check back here Monday night.

Those four candidates and the 15 others running for Smyrna office in the Nov. 8 general election, have been invited by the Smyrna Business Association to a candidates’ forum on Tuesday night. 

Candidates will talk to residents and answer questions from the audience at the 7 p.m. forum at Brawner Hall, 3180 Atlanta Road. A reception will follow to allow candidates and voters to interact.

And the will be held Thursday, Oct. 20 at 7 p.m. at the Cobb County Commissioner’s Office, 100 Cherokee Street in Marietta. The public is invited to attend and come prepared with questions for the candidates. The forum will also be televised on TV23, the Cobb government access channel.

Tonight at City Hall, in addition to the vote to approve the GLOCK commercial building permit, the Smyrna council will conduct a public hearing concerning a zoning amendment request involving just less than three acres located at South Sherwood Road and Park Manor Drive.

Two items of note on the consent agenda are the approval of No Parking Signs along interior side of the curve on Springleaf Circle beginning at 1466 Springleaf Cicle and extend to 1476 Springleaf Circle. And the approval of the road closing of West Spring Street Tuesday and Wednesday, October 18-19, from 7 a.m. to noon for Market Village HOA to conduct cleaning of buildings.

And despite the likely absence of the Ward 7 candidates, there’s likely to be a comment or two about GLOCK in light of all the furor following the council’s unanimous vote 14 months ago to permit the gun manufacturer to build four new buildings on its 18 acres.

Numerous nearby residents, especially those in the Wetherbrooke subdivision, have opposed GLOCK expansion for a number of reasons, including environmental, safety and noise concerns.

The full agenda can be found here and Patch will have complete coverage of tonight’s meeting from the City Hall building located at 2800 King Street.

The public is invited, but the meeting will be televised live on Charter Communications Public Access Channel 19. Replays of council meetings air the second and fourth Thursday of the month on Channel 23 at 7 p.m. See the TV23 section at www.cobbcounty.org for a complete rebroadcast schedule.