Tritt property

Tritt property purchase on Cobb 2022 SPLOST referendum list

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Tritt property, Cobb 2022 SPLOST list

The project list for a six-year renewal of Cobb County government’s Special Local-Option Sales Tax (SPLOST) is heavy on transportation projects, public safety improvements and community amenities, including more park space and development.

Among the latter is an $8 million earmark to complete acquisition of 24 acres of land owned by Wylene Tritt next to East Cobb Park.

It’s the most expensive item on a lengthy list of “community impact projects” that are part of a $810 million SPLOST list approved by the Cobb Board of Commissioners in a unanimous 5-0 vote Tuesday.

That list will be included in a referendum on the Nov. 4 general election ballot. If voters approve, the county will continue to collect one percent in sales tax from Jan. 1, 2022 to Dec. 31, 2022 to fund the projects, which include technology and security upgrades, equipment and facilities and other capital improvements within county government.

(You can read through the full project list here.)

The current 2016 SPLOST expires on Dec. 31, 2021, but Cobb Commission Chairman Mike Boyce asked for a renewal referendum this year. Boyce scheduled town halls this spring to solicit feedback on the 2022 project list, but they were cancelled due to COVID-19.

Nearly half of funding on that list—an estimated $329.8 million—would go for transportation and road improvement projects. The rest of the projects would be funded accordingly:

  • $82 million for public safety
  • $46 million in countywide projects
  • $32 million for community impact projects
  • $27.8 million for public services (parks, libraries)
  • $18 million combined for projects in Cobb’s six cities
  • $4 million for Cobb Sheriff’s Office improvements

In 2018, Cobb commissioners approved spending $8.3 million for 22 of the 53 acres of the Tritt property, and Wylene Tritt donated another 7.7 acres.

At the time, the aspirations were that the county would seek to acquire the remainder of former farm property that had once been eyed for a massive senior-living development.

That project generated strong community opposition and commissioners rejected a rezoning request.

Wylene Tritt had planned to sell her land for $20 million and sued the county in 2016. That case was later dropped, and the county entered into lengthy negotiations with her about a sale for park land.

The Tritt property acquired by the county two years ago has been designated for greenspace, with eventual (but for now unapproved) aspirations of turning it into an extension of East Cobb Park.

Those ideas fall along the lines of what a citizens group that opposed the senior-living project touted in 2014.

Before Tuesday’s vote, Concerned Citizens of East Cobb urged its supporters to contact commissioners to include the Tritt property on the project list.

Another park project on the list is $4 million for the repurposing of Shaw Park in Northeast Cobb. During a commissioners work session on Tuesday, District 3 commissioner JoAnn Birrell cited the need to change the nature of the park, since the ball fields aren’t used much any more, and to have it tie in with upcoming renovations at nearby Gritters Library.

Cobb Fire Station 12
Replacing the aging Fire Station No. 12 near Shaw Park is included on the Cobb 2022 SPLOST project list.

Also in the vicinity is Cobb Fire Station No. 12, which is on the project list for a replacement. It’s among public safety construction projects that include a new Cobb public safety headquarters building on Fairground Street in Marietta.

A new Cobb animal shelter costing $15 million also is on the list.

Of the transportation projects, the bulk of the funding—pegged at $213 million—would go for road resurfacing, with another $13 million for bridge repairs and $10 million to maintain drainage systems. A total of $25 million would be spent for traffic management, including signal timing and planning, and another $11 million would be devoted to sidewalk construction and maintenance.

Of those new road projects, the big-ticket item is East Cobb is $3.9 million for intersection improvements at Post Oak Tritt Road and Holly Springs Road. Another $2.4 million would be used for Canton Road corridor improvements.

Public park land the county purchased in 2017 on Ebenezer Road would be fully developed with 2022 SPLOST funding, around $3 million, after a master plan for Ebenezer Downs was approved by commissioners last year.

Also on the project lists are renovations and improvements at Fullers Park, Sewell Park, Terrell Mill Park, the Mountain View Aquatic Center. additional amenities at East Cobb Park and video surveillance cameras at the Mountain View Regional Library.

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Cobb to reimburse Friends for the East Cobb Park donation

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Friends for the East Cobb Park donation, Tritt property
Friends for the East Cobb Park helped complete Tritt property acquisition last year with a donation from its endowment. (ECN photo)

As noted in a previous post, the Cobb Board of Commissioners on Tuesday voted to approve a $90,213 reimbursement to the Friends for the East Cobb Park, which donated nearly $120,000 last summer to help the county purchase part of the adjoining Tritt property and preserve it for green space.

The vote was unanimous (it was on the board’s consent agenda).

Wylene Tritt sold 22 acres at 3540 Roswell Road to the county for a cost of $8.4 million, but a supplemental parks bond account established in 2017 had only $8.3 million available.

The Friends for the East Cobb Park stepped in to make the donation from its endowment. Shortly after that, the group announced a fundraising campaign to replenish the endowment.

Tritt, who had owned a total of 54 acres on what was once a working farm, had planned to sell her land for $20 million for a senior living development proposed in 2013 by the son and brother of U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson.

But rezoning for the $200 million Isakson Living plan, which was dubbed Tritt Walk, was rejected by Cobb commissioners in 2015 after community opposition. Isakson Living sued, but dropped its legal challenge in 2016 and did not purchase the land.

At that time, Wylene Tritt wrote Cobb commissioner Bob Ott asking that her property be considered for future county acquisition for park purposes.

The funding for the reimbursement will come from the Cobb Parks 2008 bond fund balance.

The Friends group is a private, all-volunteer, non-profit citizens organization that was formed in 1998 and helped acquire land and made improvements to create East Cobb Park, which opened in 2003.

The organization stages events at the park, including concerts and a holiday tree lighting, and helps fund continuing improvements.

The commissioners tabled another action item Tuesday that would have approved spending $168,000 for license plate reader devices at select Cobb County parks, including East Cobb Park, Fullers Park and Terrell Mill Park.

Ott objected to the matter, saying installing the cameras would be an invasion of privacy.

Commissioners also approved a change order to delay completion of ongoing Sandy Plains Road construction work until December.

Commissioner JoAnn Birrell said her office has been communicating that delay—prompted by weather and utility relocation issues—and wanted to make it formal.

She said she’s received a lot of calls from constituents, and understands the frustration over traffic backups, especially with school back in session.

“I don’t want to see another extension on this,” Birrell said.

 

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Friends for the East Cobb Park starts new fundraising campaign

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Friends for the East Cobb Park

After donating more than $100,000 this week to help Cobb County acquire some of the Tritt property (previous East Cobb News post here), the Friends for the East Cobb Park is replenishing its endowment with a new fundraising campaign.

The contribution made by the non-profit citizens group helped Cobb take in nearly 30 acres of the adjacent Tritt land, and complete green space purchase around the county with $27 million of a 10-year-old parks bond referendum finally funded last year.

At Tuesday’s Cobb commission meeting, District 2 commissioner Bob Ott said he would be chipping in to help Friends begin its fund drive, and here’s what he sent us and is sharing with his constituents and the community today:

I, along with the rest of the Board of Commissioners, am especially grateful to Friends for the East Cobb Park. You may have read in the newspaper that this nonprofit group contributed to make up for a shortfall in County funds needed to close this purchase. The final figure isn’t available just yet but is expected to be over $100,000. You’ll recall that this is the group of community volunteers who raised over $1 million to purchase the original 13-acres of the East Cobb Park almost 20 years ago. This is a very unique public/private partnership that we are all very proud of. The Friends group once again stepped up to assist so that the east Cobb community’s much-loved park can literally double in size.

What wasn’t in the paper is that these funds came from an endowment fund established over 15 years ago from a generous grant matched by funds that the group raised. Interest from this endowment has been used over the years to make various improvements to the park. The Friends group, with the assistance of the Cobb Community Foundation where the fund is held, received permission to utilize some of the principal from the account to cover this shortfall, with a promise to launch a new fundraising campaign to raise money to replenish the fund.

The board of Friends for the East Cobb Park is planning to launch a new fundraising campaign, and you can soon learn more about it on their website www.eastcobbpark.org. It’s my hope that the east Cobb community will rise to the occasion and consider participating in the campaign. Remember that the community will one day have the opportunity to purchase the remaining acreage, and any funds raised over and above the amount needed to restore the endowment fund will be earmarked to assist with this potential purchase down the road. I have heard from many, many of you over the years regarding the Tritt property, and now the east Cobb community will have the opportunity to be a part of this exciting project. I have personally pledged $1,000 to the campaign, and challenge each of you to consider how you and your family can help. To make a tax-deductible contribution please make your check payable to “Friends for the East Cobb Park” and mail it to P.O. Box 6313 Marietta, Georgia 30065.

I’ll continue to provide updates in my newsletter and look forward to seeing a long list of supporters!

 

The Friends for the East Cobb Park has set up an online payment system via PayPal, and you can contribute directly at this link, in any amount that you like. You can make a one-time contribution or set up a monthly payment.

 

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Cobb commissioners approve purchase of Tritt property in East Cobb

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Tritt property
The county has acquired the Tritt property in green, a total of 29.7 acres on Roswell Road.

The Cobb Board of Commissioners voted Tuesday to spend $8.3 million to buy some of the Tritt property next to East Cobb Park.

It was a 3-0 vote (with commissioners JoAnn Birrell and Lisa Cupid absent) to purchase 22 acres from Wylene Tritt with proceeds from the 2008 Cobb Parks Bond referendum. She’s donating 7.7 acres and the Friends for the East Cobb Park is donating around $102,000 as part of the acquisition.

The vote was greeted with applause and cheers from the audience, including members of the Cobb Parks Coalition, who pressed for the funding of the bond that commissioners finally approved last year.

However, commissioners funded only $27 million of the original $40 million amount that voters approved 10 years ago, due to legal reasons in the referendum’s payment schedule.

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Before the vote, Roberta Cook, active with the Cobb Parks Coalition, spoke during the public comment, bringing a tin cup as a reminder to commissioners that “the $40 million cup is still not full.”

“We are thankful for the Tritt property acquisition and look forward,” she said, to securing the remaining $12.5 million “that will fill up the cup.”Bob Ott, Tritt property

After the vote, Cobb commissioner Bob Ott, whose District 2 includes the Tritt property, saluted Cook and Jennifer Burke of the Friends for Tritt Park. He set a large decorative stein before him, saying it was “my cup” for the Tritt Park.

For now, the newly acquired land will remain as green space. It’s the only land in District 2, which includes most of East Cobb, that was purchased with the parks bond funding.

With that sale, all of the $27 million has been spent. The Tritt parcel was not on the original list of possible property for possible purchase.

Tritt had sued the county in 2016 after her attempt to sell the land to a developer, Isakson Living, for a senior living complex was thwarted due to a rezoning denial. That case was later dropped, and the county entered into lengthy negotiations with her about a sale for park land.

The reason this park is going to be realized, Cobb commission chairman Mike Boyce said, “is because the board agreed to change the list.

“Every one of these commissioners cares passionately about the county,” and not just his or her district. “Because they do that, we’re going to have this property.”

Ott said the first discussions the county had with about Tritt for the land came when Sam Olens was chairman, and continued with his successor, Tim Lee.

But the bond approved by voters in 2008 was not funded then due to the recession.

During the Isakson Living zoning case, East Cobb citizens opposed to that development urged the county to buy the entirety of the 53-acre Tritt land, which reportedly was valued at $20 million.

That was before the bond was finally funded last year. Boyce, who campaigned on providing the funding in his 2016 election victory over Lee, said at times he wished he hadn’t, given the difficulty of some of the negotiations.

Commissioner Bob Weatherford said that “I’ve never worked as hard as I did on these park properties. It’s not as easy as you might think, when you have $27 million and want to buy something.”

Burke said she and her group are “very excited” to have what is being called for now as Tritt Park “for our children and grandchildren.”

 

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Portion of Tritt property next to East Cobb Park set to be acquired by county

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Tritt property
Wylene Tritt has lived on former family farmland along Roswell Road since 1950. (East Cobb News photo by Wendy Parker)

More than half of the 53-acre Tritt property that adjoins East Cobb Park on Roswell Road is set to be purchased by Cobb County and preserved as green space.

UPDATED: Commissioners approve purchase of Tritt property

Cobb commissioners are scheduled to vote on Tuesday on a proposal to acquire 29.7 acres of land owned by Wylene Tritt for a cost of $8.3 million. The funding would come from the 2008 Cobb Parks Bond referendum, inlcuding last year’s $24.7 million in supplemental bond funds.

The proposed contract states that the purchase is for 22 of the acres; Tritt is donating the rest to the county as part of the deal. The Friends for the East Cobb Park, a non-profit citizens group, is donating $102,000 for the land acquisition, according to documents included in Tuesday’s meeting agenda.

Here’s the agenda item summary, and here’s a copy of the proposed property sale agreement.

The land that would be acquired by the county (noted in green in map provided below by Cobb County) would be adjacent to East Cobb Park and at the back of the Tritt property line.

According to information released late Thursday afternoon by Cobb government, the Friends for the East Cobb Park will begin a fundraising drive to purchase the rest of the Tritt property (noted in white, including the Tritt residence) and for future enhancements to the park.

“The chance to purchase some of the Tritt Property is an exciting opportunity and it would preserve a pristine part of Cobb County that could be enjoyed for generations to come,” District 2 Cobb commissioner Bob Ott said in a statement.

“I want to thank Mrs. Tritt for her willingness to work with the county. District 2 has the least amount of available land for parks and this is a significant contribution to the neighbors who have been asking us to look at this property for years.”

Tritt property map

Tritt, who’s in her 80s, tried to sell her entire property several years ago for a reported $20 million for the development of a senior living complex. Isakson Living’s purchase of the land was contingent on rezoning, but Cobb commissioners denied the request in 2015 after strong community opposition to a project some considered too dense for the area.

Isakson Living, which is led by the son and brother of U.S. Senator Johnny Isakson, sued the county, but legal action was dropped in 2016. The developer cancelled its contract with Tritt, whose family once held vast farmland in the East Cobb area.

While the Isakson Living case was proceeding, a citizens group was formed called Concerned Citizens of East Cobb, which advocated keeping the Tritt property park land. That effort extended into the formation of Friends of Tritt Park, which sought to gauge public interest in raising money to buy the land.

Doug Rohan, a resident of the Sadlers Walk neighborhood adjacent to the Tritt property, has been involved with both groups and opposed the Isakson living proposal.

He told East Cobb News that “we are thrilled at the prospect and we feel this plan is a very responsible approach to the fiscal interests of the county, the financial needs of the Tritt family, and the public interest that this project has generated.

“It seems like a win/win/win and we are hopeful it proceeds according to plan. We will continue to monitor the progress and we plan to attend the meeting next week to make sure this goes through.”

Cobb’s proposed purchase of the Tritt property comes as commissioners are set to tackle an anticipated $30 million budget deficit for fiscal year 2019 and that could include the possible closing of parks and recreational facilities included on draft lists.

Cobb also is building new parks, including Mabry Park under construction on Wesley Chapel Road. On Saturday, the county is holding a public viewing for recently purchased land on Ebenezer Road in Northeast Cobb that will be developed into a passive park.

Tritt, the aunt of country music star Travis Tritt, moved with her late husband Norris to the property in 1950. He inherited what had been 80 acres of farmland from his aunt, Odessa Tritt Lassiter, and gradually sold off portions to nearby families.

Some of the land was sold to the Bowles family, which in turn sold that land. The property included 13 acres that formed the original boundaries of East Cobb Park, which opened in 1998.

In her will, Lassiter insisted that the trees on her property be preserved, and that “no timber is to be cut off either place except for building and repairs on those farms.”

 

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