A paradox.
On a Monday the county chairman tells residents in Mableton that Cobb needs to strengthen its industrial sector.
The next day, the county commission denies a petition for a Mableton industrial site to expand its operation.
These two events seem contradictory, and I too feel mixed.
Support of industrial business is a plus for Cobb County's tax base and an encouragement to persons who want stable employment in a sector that the county says it will support. As a former manufacturing/ process engineer, I would also like to see increased business and job opportunities in the technical and skilled trade arena.
Still, as a homeowner in South Cobb I have some concern about Cobb becoming a booming industrial center when that boom would take place in my back yard. South Cobb is home to a significant number of Cobb's industrial businesses, and several sit right next to newer residential areas including mine.
My 10 year old subdivision was built right next to two industrial land parcels in South Cobb. The one site across from my subdivision is a good neighbor, always keeping its lawn manicured and free from debris. The one on the other side of my subdivision—of course the side I did not drive by during all my house hunting trips—is an unsightly forklift cemetery.
Sometimes I wish a larger tree barrier blocked the view of industrial equipment on both parcels. I also wish a pungent sewer smell didn't rest so heavy in the air at night. (My husband and I never thought to view our property at night before purchasing it!) Moreover, I don't like the fact that nearby streets are in endless disrepair due to increased traffic from trucks and homeowners.
So why did I and do others move here?
The saying is true: if they build it, they will come.
It is no secret that South Cobb is a great place to live if you want quick access to the interstate and downtown Atlanta. Some of its new subdivisions are also quite attractive and affordable.
Moreover, the experience of getting a great real estate bargain, or a new home, brings along with it a set of rose-colored glasses.
But it is not just the glasses. County plans and studies have continually shown South Cobb as becoming more residential near industrial sites. In fact, two new communities sprouted next to mine within years after mine was built. And just 5 minutes away higher end communities were built next to industrial parcels off Veterans Memorial.
Certainly all of the homeowners in the area, including me and my husband, did not blindly nor purposefully move here to battle with or get rid of Cobb’s industrial sector.
Yet the recent zoning showdown between a heavy industrial site and a newly built subdivision exemplified the great conflict in neighboring residential and industrial property owners.
SHARED OPPORTUNITIES
While residents and industrial business owners have competing and often encroaching interests, the opportunities lie within our shared interests.
Employment. While industrial businesses are always looking for good employees, there are many skilled residents here in South Cobb that need employment. I am almost certain that industrial organizations that employ from their neighboring communities are going to face less opposition when going through rezoning. Employing local residents could also make for a reliable or at least more punctual workforce.
Transportation. Industrial companies need a strong network of roads to ensure good access to and exit from their locations. Likewise, residents also want faster and safer commutes. When new subdivisions or businesses come in the area both parties could come together to ensure the county modifies roads to accommodate increased usage.
Residents and business could also come together to demand better transit, sidewalks, and lighting so that persons can arrive to and from work safely and on time.
Education. Having great schools is a top interest of residents who have families. It is also important for businesses that want to attract and retain good employees. Together we can partner with our schools to ensure a strong work force and solid future for our children.
Amenities. While residents seek complimentary amenities to their neighborhoods—like grocery stores and restaurants—industrial organizations would appreciate having places for their employees and suppliers to eat. Together we can make a strong case for improving access to food options in South Cobb.
We can also advocate for more health services to treat injured employees or ailing loved ones. We can also use good lodging options for visiting consultants or relatives.
Beautification. Having a community that is inviting to customers and guests is also a shared desire of residents and businesses. Together we could join forces to spruce up our corridors.
ADDITIONAL SUGGESTIONS
Now, admittedly, my suggestions are no panacea. Issues such as unpleasant odor, increased road debris, and disruptive noise from industrial sites make them less than ideal neighbors for bedroom communities.
Still, better land use planning along with mutual concessions can go a long way.
Better Land Use Planning. If the county is serious about supporting industrial businesses it cannot intersperse residential sites among them. The county also cannot put residential areas right next to sites primed for heavy industrial and expect residents not to protest.
Better land use planning would help avoid future conflict. Residential and industrial land uses need to be separated with adequate buffers placed and preserved in between them.
The county should also create an “Industrial Zone” with clear boundaries to help industrial organizations better plan for how to invest in their properties.
Mutual Concession. County leaders can also play a key role in helping address conflicts between residents and owners of industrial property.
Through closed meeting, negotiation, or mediation, the county can help residents and businesses determine how to better move forward as neighbors. Shared resolution can include limiting hours of operation, relocating truck or residential entrances, and installing odor reduction controls. Though each measure may have accompanying cost, the cost may be less than 1) having residents take multiple days off work to protest zoning, 2) laying off good employees due to limited business potential, or 3) filing suit in court.
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I do not envy the difficult position our county is in to balance opposing interests of taxpayers. But I do know that not taking the time to address ongoing land use issues is fueling frustration among persons who help make our county as great as it is.
As a committed resident, former engineer and mediator, I know we have plenty of opportunity to explore how to do better, and with your vote on July 31st we together can do so.
...Do you have ideas for how to reduce conflict between South Cobb Industrial Sites and Residential Neighbors? Please share...
All of the GOP power players within the Republican-dominated Cobb Legislative Delegation live in North Cobb and, especially, in West Cobb and East Cobb, which explains the reason why the I-75/US 41 Corridor gets a $1 billion proposed light rail line (that is mostly unwanted by transit-adverse conservative voters in Northern Cobb) changed to $700 million in bus service and a $150 million widening of Windy Hill Road and a $1.2 billion "Lexus Lanes" (HOT/carpool lane) project proposed for Interstates 75 & 575.
Ironically, when Hwy 78-278-8 (formerly Bankhead Highway), Mableton and South Cobb were in its relative heyday, Cobb County was a community that was much more suburban, exurban and even semi-rural to rural in nature in most places as Cobb County was something similar politically, socially and development-wise to what more exurban Paulding and Cherokee counties are today.
11:05 pm on Friday, June 8, 2012 "We have significant opportunity to streetscape, rehabilitate property, and boost our neighborhood and commercial amenities." One of the ways that the South Cobb community can boost its relatively moribund fortunes in the future is to embrace the (currently unfunded) plans for regional commuter rail transit service on the Amtrak/Norfolk Southern rail line right-of-ways that run through the area that the state has on the books. Here are the links to those tenative commuter rail plans if you have not seen them: http://www.dot.state.ga.us/travelingingeorgia/rail/Documents/CommuterRailMap.pdf http://www.dot.state.ga.us/maps/Documents/railroad/nga_passenger.pdf http://www.garprail.org/documents/MACOC_Commuter_Rail_%20Plan_Update_Final.pdf The plans in those links are very tentative as they are something of a rough-draft or rough outlines of a regional commuter rail plan that includes two regional commuter rail lines on the Amtrak/Norfolk Southern rail line that runs through South Cobb with stations proposed for Mableton, Austell and Powder Springs.
The other regional commuter rail line is proposed to run from Atlanta to Rome on the NS corridor and eventually up to Chattanooga using the NS/Chattooga & Chickamauga line and is proposed as a rail transit alternative to I-20 West, Hwy 278-6, Hwy 101 and Hwy 27-1 between Atlanta, Rome and Chattanooga. This line is also proposed as a western alternative to the other regional commuter rail transit line that is proposed to connect Downtown Chattanooga, the Chattanooga Airport, Downtown Atlanta and the Atlanta Airport by way of the historic CSX/Western & Atlantic line that parallels I-75 between Atlanta and Chattanooga.
A "New Suburbanism" that includes dense, walkable, transit-friendly mixed-use residential and commercial development centered around commuter rail transit stations in the historic downtowns and neighborhood centers or suburban and exurban communities where formerly only dispersed sprawling low-density auto-oriented, auto-dominated development (like strip malls with miles of above ground parking centered on freeway interchanges) was the only priority.
South Cobb and South Fulton have alot in common, many people have settled for second best or live with the fact are 'stuck' in the area. That is a major factor that holds a community back. Many people complain about the organizations in Mableton, two in particular, but their names will be withheld at this time. Groups are only responsive to the active people. If you or your community never have representation there, what do you expect. Everyone wants prosperity but no one wants to step up and get it done.
I stand corrected as you did say that money and power in addition to race were relevant factors. I may have been speaking from the many comments I hear in the community about race being the driver as to why South Cobb is regarded the way it is. I don't deny race as being a possible factor but as you shared acknowledge other factors at play. You have provided a wealth of information. I am grateful for it. It is interesting and perhaps not coincidental that the southern part of Cobb and the entire Metro Area have lagged behind to other areas when it comes to development despite the fact that the southern areas have great commercial and global opportunity being closer to the airport and to the Savannah port. We need to do better in increasing the level of influence of politicians who can make sure development of Cobb and Metro Area are equitably distributed for all who reside here.
Please continue the good fight in working with S. Fulton. Douglas County could also benefit in expanding transportation alternatives west of Atlanta. I wrote an article last December about bringing rail west along I-20 instead of up I-75N: http://southcobb.patch.com/articles/letter-to-the-editor-cobb-leadership-should-re-examine-transit-rail. There are many more persons out here who would be receptive to rail coming out this way. With respect to criticizing organizations, complaining is a lot easier to do than getting out and involved. But you know what..not even all of that is required. What we need is for people to pick up the phone or get on their computers and call and email their elected leaders. We also need to vote. We need to make ourselves matter. I love the Patch for giving us the opportunity to sound off but we may be more productive in sounding off to the persons elected to respond. If they don't respond, we then need to seek new leadership. How can we complain and keep sending the same people back to office?? In the meanwhile those who have the time, energy, and passion to serve in community organizations, need to do so. Even if imperfect these organizations at least help bring attention to issues that would only get worse or overlooked. It is going to take all of us to be able to turn things around...still if even a few of us organize to move in the right direction, that is more productive than just talking among ourselves.
4:00 pm on Sunday, June 10, 2012 "I wrote an article last December about bringing rail west along I-20 instead of up I-75N........There are many more persons out here who would be receptive to rail coming out this way." Make no mistake about it, Ms. Cupid. Just because there may be a bit of strong resistance by established affluent and conservative factions in the I-75 Corridor does not mean that the cupboard is completely bereft of any type of meaningful support in the I-75/575/41 Corridor, but quite the contrary.
Ironically, Jeff Mullis also supports the HOT lane concept as the Chairman of the State Senate Transportation Board which strangely makes transit more viable by limiting the amount of extra capacity added to the freeway system.
Thanks for sharing that. Makes sense why are projects are going where they are going. What do you suggest as solutions to drive investment elsewhere?
I've also noticed that there seems to be increasing interest in creating a more of a traditional downtown/town center atmosphere in unincorporated Mableton where the only thing even remotely close to a downtown/town center has been the old K-Mart anchored shopping center on Hwy 78-278-8/Bankhead Hwy (now Veterans Memorial Hwy). I've heard of informal plans to retrofit the center of Mableton with a town green or town square of sorts above (north of) the Amtrak/Norfolk Southern line, which is interesting as there are railroad towns around the greater Atlanta Region like Smyrna, Kennesaw, Acworth, Norcross, Duluth, Lawrenceville, Buford and ESPECIALLY, Woodstock, Suwanee and Oakwood (in Hall County outside of Gainesville off of I-985) that are tailoring their future development and re-development plans specifically around the sites of future regional commuter rail stations on the existing rail lines that run directly through their historic downtowns.
Here are a couple of links to the 20-year plan for the City of Oakwood, Georgia in which development is centered and planned to be built around a future commuter rail station: http://www.oakwood2030.com/Transit-Station.htm http://www.cityofoakwood.net/Oakwood-2030.aspx
The trend in future commercial (and residential) development here in the Atlanta Region and across the county will be in walkable, high-density, transit-friendly "human-scale" development centered on rail transit lines along existing freight rail (and Amtrak) right-of-ways in traditional small town settings (like all of the aforementioned suburban/exurban railroad towns) as opposed to the sprawling automobile-dominated low-density development built to "car-scale" anchored by and centered on major freeway interchanges and junctions (like a Town Center Mall near the I-75/I-575 Junction, a Gwinnett Place Mall near the I-85/GA 316 Junction, or a Mall of Georgia near the I-85/I-985 Junction).
The bad news is the plans for the commuter rail line that would bring a very much desired rail transit station have just as funding as the light rail line on 41 would have if the T-SPLOST is rejected by voters, which is ZERO funding.
Thanks! Any suggestions for areas outside of Mableton particularly in DT Austell, Powder Springs, or the Six Flags area?
I've also noticed that one thing that holds an unincorporated area like Mableton back in particular is that it does not have very strong control over its zoning and longer-term planning as all of Mableton's zoning and planning decisions are basically controlled by the Cobb County Board of Commissioners because it is an unincorporated area. If an unincorporated area like Mableton could someone gain more control over its zoning and long-term planning decisions, it might would help greatly aid the area in its redevelopment efforts to lure investment and develop the small-town, town square environment that Mableton so sorely lacks at present.
For an unincorporated area like Mableton that is further along in the transition from being a relatively popular suburban area to a post-suburban urban area, having control over zoning and future planning decisions will be very important in determining whethere the community goes further into decline or remains a desirable place to live over the long term.
The City of Austell had been making some minimal attempts at revitalization that were in their very early stages, but has been setback to a measurable degree by the Great Flood of 2009 which obviously had a very negative effect on the city and the surrounding area. Since the City of Austell (along with the City of Powder Springs) is already incorporated and has control over its zoning and long-term planning decisions, probably the only thing that could speed along their development and re-development hopes is to get ahead of the state and regional interests on the issue of commuter rail and start drawing up their plans for future high-density mixed light commercial and residential development according to where they want their future commuter rail stations to be as have many of the railroad-anchored Northern suburbs in Metro Atlanta have done for their historic downtowns.
Powder Springs seems to be on the right track in keeping and making their historic downtown area more viable with their infrastructure projects, they just seem to need some help from the region and the state from a transportation standpoint in helping to spur more outside investment.
Converting Hwy 278-6 into a high-speed separated-grade expressway would help the road, which is already extremely-heavily utilized because of the industrial areas it runs through and services in Southwest Cobb, Eastern Douglas and Southwest Fulton and because of what is arguably the largest truck-train intermodal facility on the Eastern Seaboard, better handle the extremely heavy cargo truck and rush hour traffic by separating local traffic from through traffic where needed. Converting Hwy 278- 6 into a toll road would also greatly help Southwest and South Cobb by providing a direct expressway connection between the area and the World's Busiest Airport, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, which would make the area even more attractive to outside commercial and industrial investment as Highway 6 runs directly into the airport terminal as the heavily-congested, stoplight-littered Camp Creek Parkway.
There are also completely-unfunded plans (with funding nowhere in sight, ever) to put one, maybe two, reversible tolled carpool lanes on I-20 between Thornton Road and I-285 West, where the state plans to use the T-SPLOST money to conduct an extremely-long overdue reconstruction of the I-20/I-285 West interchange, which in and of itself is a very good project. Even though the reconstruction of I-20/I-285 West interchange is a very good project, the extremely unfunded plans to put one or two HOT lanes on I-20 from I-285 out to Thornton Road don't go anywhere near far enough in helping that cross-country interstate (which brings in national traffic all the way into Georgia from the West Coast as I-20 connects Atlanta with Birmingham, AL, Jackson, MS, Dallas, TX and continues on west as I-10 out to El Paso, TX, Tucson, AZ, Phoenix, AZ and Los Angeles, CA) which transports extremely heavy continental traffic, much like I-285 West and I-75 North.
Atlanta is also a major transportation nexus in Southeastern North America with the movements between the Florida, the Port of Savannah (which in recent years has grown into one of the busiest seaports on the entire planet) and the Upper Midwestern States via I-75, the movements between the heavily-industrial oil-rich Gulf Coast and the heavily-populated Mid-Atlantic/Northeastern States via I-85 and the movements between Southern California, Arizona, highly-populated North Texas and the seaports of the South-Atlantic (Savannah, Charleston, Wilmington and Norfolk) via I-20 all meeting up right here in North Georgia to give us the severe traffic congestion nightmare that we experience here in Metro Atlanta on an almost-daily basis.
Having I-20, I-75 and I-85 meetup in Atlanta is the equivalent of having a very busy I-5 and I-10 in Los Angeles and a very busy I-95 in the Northeast (Boston-NYC-Phila-Wash DC) all meetup at the same spot as that is how so very busy and vitally-important to cross-continental movements and national commerce and industry each of our Interstates (I-20, I-75 and I-85) are.