A Cobb greenways and trails master plan that would include extensions of the existing Johnson Ferry Trail and Noonday Creek Trail in East Cobb was approved last week by the Cobb Board of Commissioners.
The master plan, developed by Cobb DOT after more than a year of open houses and public feedback sessions, is the first for the county, and features the following components:
- increasing connectivity between existing trails;
- having trails in all six Cobb cities;
- having 92 percent of all existing county parks within a mile of a trail;
- having 57 percent of Cobb’s total population also within a mile of a trail.
The master plan also calls for eight “priority trail” projects, including the Johnson Ferry and Noonday Creek trails.
We posted back in April about the details of those proposals, which would add 3.3 miles from the Johnson Ferry Trail to Hyde Farm at an estimated cost between $4.3 million and $4.7 million.
The Noonday Creek extension would cover 3.6 miles almost to the Cherokee County line, at an estimated cost between $11.1 million and $12.2 million.
The approval of the Cobb greenways and trails master plan does not include any additional funding for any projects that may be developed. Those matters would be taken up separately.
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The commissioners also were briefed last week about the recommendations for a new Cobb parks master plan for 2018-2028, but there wasn’t a vote taken.
The proposed “investment” over that 10-year period, by a design firm hired to do a master plan study, comes to $239.8 million. The majority of the recommended spending, around $158 million, would be for new facilities and green space development. Another $80 million would be for maintenance of existing facilities.
Here’s the executive summary by Lose & Associates, presented at a commission work session, and which includes the following recommendations:
- increased staffing and funding;
- the creation of an administrative services division;
- the creation of a park maintenance plan;
- the adoption of a comprehensive revenue policy;
- enhanced branding and marketing to help generate revenues;
- establishing a rental system for pavilion use;
- increasing user fees;
- expanded programming for fee generation;
- assessing a per-participant maintenance fee;
- increase staffing of Cobb Police Park Ranger staff.
Approval of the master plan was put on hold due to questions from commissioners. Approval makes it a “working document” for the county, but funding and spending issues are done in a separate process.
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