BUSINESS & ECONOMIC DEV.
Cobb’s Community Improvement
Districts closing in on big projects
2022 | FACTBOOK 73
By Aleks Gilbert
agilbert@mdjonline.com
Along with its six cities and county governments, Cobb is home
to three community improvement districts, or CIDs.
A CID is a self-taxing area established by property owners to
improve local infrastructure and public safety. There are more
than two dozen CIDs in Georgia, according to the Georgia
Municipal Association.
A statewide constitutional amendment to allow CIDs in Georgia
passed in 1984, with the formation of the state’s first CID, then
called the Cobb County Community Improvement District, beginning
the next year. It was officially established May 1, 1988.
Nearly a decade later, it changed its name to the Cumberland
CID following the formation of the Town Center CID in the
mid-1990s.
Cobb’s newest CID is the Gateway Marietta CID, which was
established in 2014.
CUMBERLAND
Some basic facts about the original Cobb County CID: It counts
190 property owners within its 6.5 square miles, each paying an
additional 5 mills to help the area leverage state and federal dollars
to improve transportation, infrastructure, and beautification.
According to the CID, the Cumberland area is home to 17% of
the county’s jobs and a whopping 62% of the county’s management
level jobs.
The district has made progress on a number of big-ticket projects
in the past year.
The CID is working with the National Parks Service to renovate
the Paces Mill segment of the Chattahoochee River National
Recreation Area.
In June, renderings showing the new design were unveiled at a
meeting of the CID’s board. Designer John Fish told CID members
his goal is to turn a mere parking lot into a place which feels
like a national park.
The area in question, at over 750 acres, approaches the size of
New York City’s Central Park (843 acres). Given the driveway
from Cobb Parkway is the only true ‘main entrance,’ it should
enjoy a design befitting the park’s grandeur, he said.
Under the new plan, the large parking area which greets visitors
as they turn from Cobb Parkway would be moved upriver. At
the entrance would instead be a meadow area ringed by a winding
driveway. The proposed redesign would also add more river
overlooks and install an amphitheater-type seating area under the
Cobb Parkway overpass.
Also in June, the county’s governing board passed a resolution
in support of a grant application for planning expenses for
the Cumberland Multi-Modal Path, a bike and walking trail
encircling the district.
Hunter Riggall
Cumberland CID Executive Director Kim Menefee cuts the ribbon on the
Galleria Garden bike share station.
link
/towncentercld.com