#Local Government
Target:
Cobb County Community Development and Board of Commissioners
Region:
United States of America

In spring 2007 the Board of Commissioners authorized the Community Development Agency to develop the River Line Master Plan (RLMP). The RLMP is a mid-to-long range plan that will address land use, transportation, and preservation issues, which are all important in improving the quality of life in an area of southeastern Cobb County (http://comdev.cobbcountyga.gov/river-line/downloads/study-area.pdf ).

The plan began fall 2008 and should end spring 2009. The study area is bounded to the east by the Chattahoochee River and to the west by Buckner Road. It encompasses southern portions of Oakdale Road and eastern portions of Veterans Memorial Highway. Most of the study area is within unincorporated Cobb County, however the southern tip of Smyrna covers some of the land tracts with direct access to Oakdale Road.

The study area has excellent access to the interstate highway system, superb access to employment in downtown and midtown Atlanta, the Cumberland Community Improvement District, Sandy Springs and Marietta. In addition, the surrounding area has seen considerable investment in residential and commercial developments over the past 10 years. Some of this new development includes mixed-use communities in and near the Cumberland CID and Vinings. There are older and more mature neighborhoods and newer single-family subdivisions that exemplify strong and well-maintained residential areas and there are also some single-family and multi-family housing areas in need of reinventing through redevelopment/revitalization.

A mixture of land-use issues and preservation concerns exist in southern Cobb County, specifically in the study area. It is obvious at first glance there is no single character that identifies the area due to the diversity of the surrounding area. There are established villages like Vinings and Mableton, areas of intense commercial and residential developments in the Cumberland CID Regional Activity Center, older communities in the process of undergoing redevelopment and revitalization such as Oakdale and historic artifacts such as the shoupades and Civil War trenches that stretch throughout the area. Also, the City of Smyrna is involved in growth and land use change in the area as annexation occurs. This area, between Oakdale and Mableton, is a place that has no definitive character of its own. Many of the residents in this area identify with one of the surrounding communities (Smyrna, Vinings, or Mableton). This area has much to gain from a study to help manage growth and create a sense-of-place.

The transformation of this area is great for the residents of South Cobb, but the plan as it currently is drafted does NOT include the area south of Mableton Parkway (http://www.screencast.com/t/xuzdPci4l2) and neither does the Six Flags Corridor Study (http://comdev.cobbcountyga.gov/downloads/sixflags-StudyDraft.pdf).

A strong support for this petition will demonstrate the need for expansion of the River Line Project to include the newly formed communities in South Cobb that are affected by the same issues that the River Line Project is meant to address.

We, the undersigned, request the Cobb County Community Development and Board of Commissioners act to include the area south of Mableton Parkway along the river line in the River Line Master Plan outlined at http://www.screencast.com/t/xuzdPci4l2

This area has been developed over the last few years to include a number of newly constructed residential neighborhoods and includes large amounts of public land, close proximity to the river with easy access to the interstate and Six Flags Park. Including this area in the River Line Project would greatly increase the quality of life for Cobb residents and make Cobb an even more desirable county in the Atlanta Metro area.

Ignoring or excluding this area from the plan would leave unused public land along the river line, force more industrial companies into the area compromising the quality of life for existing residents, and does not maximize the potential residential, commercial, or greenspace development for mixed-use purposes.

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The Expansion of River Line Project Plan petition to Cobb County Community Development and Board of Commissioners was written by Andre Weathers and is in the category Local Government at GoPetition.