Which District Has the Least Amount of County Parks? District 2

20-acre East Cobb Park in District 2

The 54-acre Tritt property, located next to 20-acre East Cobb Park, was the impetus for the entire Park Bond 2006 program.  When the Tritt property in East Cobb wasn't purchased in 2006, it was again recommended for purchase by Cobb County's Citizen Advisory Committee in 2008.  

The 112-acre Bullard Farm & Stockton Property in West Cobb, located near Oregon Park, was purchased for $18.5 million from the $40 million Park Bond 2006 Referendum funds.  The Bullard/Stockton property was renamed Green Meadows Preserve, and it was the other major property along with the Tritt property that inspired the Park Bond process.

• It's worth mentioning only 3 out of the 29 properties recommended for purchase with the 2008 Park Bond were in District 2.  However, now 8 years later, the Tritt property is actually the only District 2 property left from the 2008 Park Bond list, because the other 2 -- the 2 1/2-acre Stillhouse property in Vinings & the 9-acre Robinson Road property near Old Canton -- were both developed.  Also two more nearby potential park properties in District 3 -- 16-acre Pinkney near East Piedmont &  31-acre Holly Springs Road -- have already been developed. 
  
  
• Of the 13 properties on the New Park Bond 2008 list published November 2, 2016, zero properties for District 2 are listed as a Tier 1 property, and only 1 property is listed on Tier 2.

• We are grateful to have 20-acre East Cobb Park!  Even still, District 2 has the lowest number of county and city parks, despite the highest population density and least land available as greenspace or parks.  
  
  These county park and city park numbers are based on the 2017 redistricting, so the number of parks in District 2 has been even lower.  

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These parks numbers are found here on Chairman Lee's page.

District 1
city parks 535 acres +
county parks 3238 acres
= 3773 acres
 
District 2
city parks 82 acres +
county parks 313 acres
= 395 acres
 
District 3
city parks 390 acres +
county parks 509 acres
= 899 acres
 
District 4
city parks 183 acres +
county parks 1109 acres
= 1,292 acres
  ​

Note:  Adding in the National Parks and FEMA floodplain means that Districts 2 and 4 are close in the amount of total greenspace, with District 3 the lowest.  

Here are the Parks and Recreation Master Plan documents in 2002 from Lose & Associates (This is the same company the Board of Commissioners recently approved to complete a new Master Plan in 2017): 
2001 Parks Master Plan (sections 1-3)
2001 Parks Master Plan (sections 4-6)
2001 Parks Master Plan (sections 7-9)

The Master Plan is over 150 pages, and on page 1 the report says "southern & eastern Cobb are the most deficient areas for city and county parkland." That's still true today.   

The 2016 Property list for Park Bond 2008 

Recommended property list for the 2008 Park Bond

The MDJ obtained the New 2016 property list for Park Bond 2008.  In 2008, 29 properties were listed for purchase, yet in 2016 only 13 properties are selected on the New Park Bond 2008 list just published.  For Distict 2, no properties are listed in Tier 1, as you can see on the map. There is one 14-acre property in Tier 2 for District 2, but it's not shown on the map.
 
Tritt property supporters should be heartened with the fact that any community can still push for their ideal park property to be purchased by the county, as the Board makes the final decision on parkland acquisition.  Also, District 2 has no other Tier 1 properties. As we know, the Tritt Property was the impetus and motivation for the entire Park Bond program, and the Tritt property was recommended for purchase on both the Park Bond 2006 and Park Bond 2008 lists. The Friends of Tritt Park are working on fundraising to help create a Tritt park in District 2.

You can fill in the form or email your own letter to [email protected] ​