Commissioners Deny Walmart Waiver Request

The supercenter sought a waiver to be able to sell alcohol, even though the store is located fewer than 600 feet from a church.

The Cobb County Board of Commissioners denied a waiver request Tuesday by Walmart for a location on Barrett Parkway in South Cobb County to be allowed to sell packaged beer and wine, with commissioners voting against the waiver stating that the supercenter didn't have sufficient evidence that alcohol sales wouldn't affect a nearby church. The waiver is needed because the the store is fewer than 600 feet from Pine Grove Baptist Church in Powder Springs, the distance required by the county's ordinance. According to the ordinance, a waiver may be granted for a business closer than 600 feet to a school or church if it can show that the sale of alcohol won't affect property values or adversely affect the use of the institution. Evidence …

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Speakers Challenge BOC on Finances, Chickens

Two Cobb citizens came before the Board of Commissioners to plead for their causes.

An otherwise routine Tuesday evening meeting of the Board of Commissioners of Cobb County was colored by the appearance of two public speakers coming before the board pleading for the right to own chickens and to rail against money in politics. Joseph Pond, founder of the Backyard Chickens Alliance of Cobb County, once again stressed his recommendation that the board alter the 40 year old zoning code and allow chickens and ducks to be counted as pets and not livestock. With the current code, chickens and ducks can only be kept on properties exceeding two acres in size. Pond said that if the code was amended, neighborhoods with HOAs would be able to restrict chicken keeping. Pond lost his job two weeks ago and his chickens in the fall of …

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Federal IMAGE Certification Program Designed to Expose Illegal Labor Largely Ignored in Cobb

Illegal immigration is big business in Georgia; according to the federal government, we rank ahead of Arizona.

Cobb Support Services Agency to be Reshuffled

Several positions will be eliminated and others will be promoted in a move to improve efficiency.

Cobb County's Support Services Agency is getting an overhaul to increase operational flexibility and to keep the agency up to date with current technological standards. A presentation was delivered by Support Services Agency Director Virgil Moon during the Cobb County Commissioners meeting on Tuesday morning outlining the proposed changes. According to the presentation, the Support Services Agency worked hand in hand with the Finance Department and the County Manager to ensure that the reshuffling was budget neutral; in fact, the plan will bring some savings to the county. Under the proposed changes, agency information services will take on the additional responsibilities of records management and mail services. Moon said that because …

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POLL: Are You Impacted By the Woodland Brook Drive Closure?

The Vinings road will be closed for six weeks this summer.

Woodland Brook Drive officially closed for construction this week. Contractors will work this summer to remove the dual 48-inch pipes that run beneath Woodland Brook and replace them with a 25-foot by 6.5-foot bottomless arch culvert. The roadway is expected to open again July 29. How has the closure of Woodland Brook Drive impacted your commute? What do you think about the Randall Farm Road detour? Some residents who live on Randall Farm were concerned about the increased traffic volume and speeders, though District 2 Commissioner Bob Ott said there will be increased police presence in the area to prevent speeding. Have you had to change your driving habits to accomodate the closure?  Read More About Woodland Brook Drive on Smyrna-Vinings…

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Vinings Vision Plan: What Do You Think?

Once comments have been reviewed, the plan will be presented to the Cobb County Planning Commission and the Board of Commissioners.

The final draft of the Vinings Vision Plan is available for public viewing and comment on the Cobb County community development website and now its up to Vinings residents to let the department know how they feel about it. The document that was developed by the Vinings community over the past year is a master plan for the community that includes a breakdown of Vinings demographics, zoning and land use maps and historic assets. The goals and objects of the plan were categorized into pedestrian infrastructure, preservation of land uses, natural environment, community facilities, historic preservation and building and street aesthetics. One highlight of the plan was the proposal to redraw the lanes at the intersection of Paces Ferry and New …

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Former Deputy Chief to Chairman: Cobb Police Leaving for Other Jobs

There is a “great police department here (in Cobb), but we do have some problems,” Bill Mull said at Tim Lee's town hall meeting on Monday.

With almost five years since a pay increase for county employees, Cobb is losing members of its police force to other agencies, retired Deputy Police Chief Bill Mull told Cobb CommissionChairman Tim Lee during Monday night's town hall meeting. There is a “great police department here (in Cobb), but we do have some problems,” said Mull, who spent 42 years on the force, retiring in 2008, and is the president of Cobb’s Fraternal Order of Police chapter. He added: “We spend lots of money recruiting employees, we spend lots of money a year training them … and then we lose them to go to other agencies.” Mull said new municipalities, like those in northern Fulton County, are “stealing our employees.” For Cobb, recent furloughs were “negative,” …

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Bob Ott's code changes could increase redevelopment

It is the hoped that the changes will increase redevelopment that doesn't cost the county a dime.

The Cobb County commissioners have before them Tuesday a proposal that could help redevelopment efforts in the county. The Cobb County Development Standards code has been written through the years for new development, said Commissioner Bob Ott. He explained at last week's District 2 Town Hall Meeting that these measures were originally intended to protect undeveloped land and that when the code was being written officials hadn’t considered redevelopment. Over time he said it became more expensive for developers to redevelop an old site than it would be to construct a new one. “So what happens is that’s really why you see a lot of green field development and we’re leaving this trail behind us of worn down, worn out shopping centers and …

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