South Cobb Redevelopment Authority Plans $60,000 of More Studies
Two studies of South Cobb would cost $30,000 each.
The South Cobb Redevelopment Authority, which met Monday at the South Cobb Government Service Center, talked about conducting two $30,000 studies of the South Cobb area to determine the feasibility of a Tax Allocation District in the Six Flags area and in the Historic Mableton area, the Marietta Daily Journal reports.
In order to develop TADs in those areas, the Cobb Board of Commissioners and the Cobb Board of Education would both have to agree to give up their portion of tax revenue for those particular areas in hopes that the area's property value would increase and thus bring in more money once the district was lifted.
At a past meeting, Cobb Planning Manager Dana Johnson even explained that a TAD could be used for a new ride at Six Flags Over Georgia.
The SCRA has funds left over from a one-time $1 million grant the former South Cobb Development Authority was awarded by the Georgia Department of Community Affairs in 2000. SCRA has known about the funds, which were neither "discovered" nor forgotten, since its first meeting in October.
It is unclear how much money is left over from the grant, since according to the expenditure summary statement for the grant, $998,469.87 has been spent from the grant. A complete breakdown of the expenditures is attached to the article.
The SCRA also plans to acquire three low-vacancy apartment complexes on Six Flags Drive to demolish them for redevelopment.
Other future plans include:
- a $30,000 to $40,000 rebranding initiative for South Cobb
- $60,000 for a part-time administrative employee, who would be an employee of the SCRA, not the county
Some SCRA members felt the rebranding initiative may be more costly than $40,000 and others said $60,000 for a part-time employee is just too much.
Read more about the SCRA's five-year plan attached to the article here.
South Cobb Patch will continue to report on SCRA and its initiatives.
What do you think about the SCRA's tentative plans? Does South Cobb need $60,000 in more studies? What does South Cobb need most? Tell us below in the comments.
Claudette Clarke
9:25 am on Tuesday, June 19, 2012
Will we be able to vote on this before it is instituted? I would like to know how successful this is in other cities or are we guinea pigs?
Kiri Walton
9:52 am on Tuesday, June 19, 2012
TADs have been used for many, many years in places all over the country. They are usually quite successful.
Claudette Clarke
9:29 am on Thursday, June 21, 2012
Thanks. I was looking for some examples of what worked and didn't work. Does it work with the demographic represented on Six Flags? What problems should we look out for?
Desiree Summers
1:10 pm on Tuesday, June 19, 2012
I'm looking forward to more studies and a re branding of the area. It's summertime and we get a huge amount of visitors to the area and we're missing out on a lot of revenue.Purchasing the apartments and demolishing them is a step in the right direction.
Just A Grunt
2:53 pm on Tuesday, June 19, 2012
So almost a million dollars spent with most of it going to people sitting around a table to come up with catchy slogans. Is that about right? And now they want to have more meetings to outline a PR strategy.
As far as building a new ride at Six Flags, somebody is getting taken for a ride that's for sure. Let me know when they plan to post that job opening too since it pays more then my full time job.
The time for studies is over. Do something, even if it is wrong at least you are trying and not talking.