A Real Crowd Pleaser
Fledgling park's neighbors can't wait to recreate
Mia Taylor - Staff
Thursday, July 10, 2003
courtesy of Atlanta Journal-Constitution
www.ajc.com

Not long after the sun starts shining each day, the parking lot fills up. Soon after that, the playground, the walking trails and the open spaces are all overflowing with activity. Driving along Roswell Road toward east Cobb County, it's hard to miss the crowds. East Cobb Park has yet to officially open to the public, but neighborhood residents, long frustrated by the lack of open space in east Cobb, aren't letting that stop them. "I'm very excited, and I know a lot of other moms who are talking about this park," said Liz Gainsford, who on a recent day was out with her 2-year-old daughter, Stella. "There's no other parks around here like this. There's some nice church parks, but there hasn't been anything close by of this kind of quality."

East Cobb Park was formerly private land. But a few years ago, a grass-roots group of area residents came together under the name Friends of the East Cobb Park, raised money and purchased the 13-acre parcel that is now the park. After that, Cobb County contributed $900,000 for installation of some of the amenities necessary for a public park. During the first phase of work, which wraps up in about two weeks, picnic shelters, compacted gravel walking trails, a group picnic pavilion and a parking lot are being completed. Some drainage and landscaping work has yet to be finished, Friends of the East Cobb Park member Kim Paris said. But once the bulldozers are gone for good, two weeks from now, the park will officially be open.

Meanwhile, Friends of the East Cobb Park is still raising money for further improvements on the land, such as building an arts center. The county just paid about $850,000 for 7 acres of adjacent undeveloped land along Roswell Road and added it to East Cobb Park, increasing the park's size to about 20 acres. The 7 newest acres will be used for walking trails. There's still more good news for east Cobb residents on the open space front. According to Cobb County Commission Chairman Sam Olens, the county is currently seeking to purchase an additional 22 acres of undeveloped land across the street from the park. The land is mostly flood plain, which means it would most likely be used only for passive activities such as walking and biking, Olens said. Still, he said, such a purchase would add to the area's growing cluster of parks and open spaces. That purchase is expected to be completed by the end of this week or next week, Olens said.

The county is also considering buying 45 open acres to the east of the new park. That land, owned by one individual and the site of one house, is the largest, undeveloped tract of land remaining in east Cobb, Olens said. The commission chairman said the property owner has promised that the county will be given first choice regarding purchase of the land. Olens said he's doing everything he can to make sure the county has the money available when the opportunity arises. "At present, the county is running a budget surplus this year, and I'm saying no to spending on things I wouldn't otherwise be saying no to, because in the back of my mind I'm trying to save as much as possible of the surplus for this land," Olens said. "East Cobb has such a shortage of park space, we can't afford to let that property go." He expects the selling price for the 45 acres to be in the millions of dollars.

In the meantime, east Cobb residents are busy enjoying what is already available. Ida Mae Moconduit and her family have lived in east Cobb County only about a year. But during that time she hadn't found many parks close to her Sope Creek Drive home. She noticed that East Cobb Park was open on a recent Sunday afternoon when she drove by and saw the crowds. Not long after that, she returned with her son. "It was loaded with people when I drove by," Moconduit said. "There were just so many people out there having a good time."