Good morning Cobb!
Forty kinds of snake live here, a Mableton bridge is closed until next July, and a Marietta daycare lost its grandfathering for being two days late on a form. Big week for having a plan.
In today's Insider:
The Old Floyd Road bridge, out for a full year
A co-op ballot due 5 p.m. Wednesday
Soul at Mable House, Parade on the Square, and a corn snake in Smyrna
COBB BY THE NUMBERS
40+ — snake species in Cobb
1 year — Old Floyd Road closed both ways
2 days — how late that daycare license was
$2.50 — CobbLinc Go fare
20,000+ — people Taste of Smyrna is expecting
5 p.m. Wed — when EMC bylaw ballots are due
The numbers: Like a group chat that suddenly has strong opinions about rezoning, Cobb has a lot going on at once this week: a year-long detour, a co-op election, and 20,000 people about to eat their way across Smyrna.
YEAR-ROUND DETOUR
Old Floyd Road is closed until July 2027
The Old Floyd Road bridge in Mableton is shut both ways for Cobb DOT widening, from July 6 of this year through July 6 of next year. That is not a season. That is a year of Fontaine / Floyd / Veterans Memorial becoming a personality trait.
Shorter, and this week only: Kimberly Drive is closed both ways for emergency repairs through 4 p.m. Friday.
Looking ahead… GDOT is pausing interstate construction-lane closures from noon Friday through 5 a.m. Tuesday, including I-285 in Cobb. The holiday gets a road too.
TWO DAYS LATE
A Marietta daycare goes to Council on Wednesday
Praise El Learning Academy has been at 1516 West Oak Drive since at least 2014. This summer the 2026 license was filed two days late: July 2, and the grandfathering that let it operate in an R-2 neighborhood went with it.
Marietta City Council hears a request Wednesday to rezone the site to CRC so it can keep operating. Staff has flagged OI as a narrower option. The Planning Commission already heard it. Council has not voted.
Wednesday, September 9, 7 p.m. (review at 6), 205 Lawrence Street. Bring a position, not a rumor.
UNPLUG, MAYBE
Kennesaw is expected to pause data centers for a year
Expected. Not passed. The MDJ reported that a 12-month data-center moratorium is likely on Tuesday's consent agenda while the city reviews its zoning rules, following similar moves in Cobb and Marietta.
Tuesday, September 8, 6:30 p.m., Kennesaw City Hall, 2529 J.O. Stephenson Avenue. Until they vote, it is a proposal.
YOUR CO-OP CALLED
EMC bylaw ballots are due 5 p.m. Wednesday
Cobb EMC members can vote on bylaw amendments by mail or online through 5 p.m. Wednesday, September 9. Miss that, and the bylaw vote is in person only.
The 88th Annual Meeting is Saturday, September 12, 8 to 11:30 a.m. at Jim R. Miller Park. Register between 8 and 9:30, they are not kidding about no late registration, and bring a photo ID. Districts 1, 6, and 7 are uncontested and go by voice vote.
Details at cobbemc.com/annual-meeting.
THE VAN THAT COMES TO YOU
CobbLinc Go moved 3–2. That was not the expansion vote.
On August 25 the Board of Commissioners approved two Title VI analyses so staff can keep working on a CobbLinc Go expansion, more of south Cobb and northwest Mableton, plus an Acworth–Kennesaw pilot. Commissioners Gambrill and Birrell voted no.
The fare on the table is $2.50. Vendor contracts have not been approved. Staff said those could come back in September. This was the civil-rights paperwork, not the keys to the vans.
NOT A FIT… YET
Two projects the Planning Commission doesn't like go to the Board on September 15
Neither of these is decided. On September 1 the Planning Commission recommended denial on both. The Board of Commissioners hears zoning Tuesday, September 15, 9 a.m., at 100 Cherokee Street.
2840 Plant Atkinson Road, Vinings. 250 apartments plus about 8,500 square feet of retail on 3.47 acres, next to heavy industry and about 300 feet from the Plant Atkinson Transfer Station. Second try, the first version was denied in August 2023. Commissioner Fred Beloin told the MDJ it was the most "egregious case of an incompatible use" he'd seen in eight years.
Haven at Eastside, Lower Roswell. Eastside Church's campus: 85 assisted-living units plus eight cottages on 8.75 acres. Neighbors have raised density, stormwater, and traffic. Still a recommendation, not a decision.
Looking ahead… the last Flock camera town hall is that same Tuesday, 6:30 p.m., at the North Cobb Senior Center in Acworth. FOX 5 put the camera count at 182. Monthly public audits were announced. The rewritten policy has not been published.
WEEKEND, ASSEMBLED
Soul, snakes, and a musical two miles from the marker
Friday, 11 a.m. — meet a corn snake. Cobb Water's Sarah Dunn leads a free hour at Freeman Poole Senior Center, 4025 South Hurt Road, Smyrna. Cobb is home to more than 40 kinds of snake. Registration required, because apparently this is the one free program that fills.
Friday night through September 20, Parade at the Strand. The Tony-winning musical about the Leo Frank case opens at the Earl and Rachel Smith Strand Theatre on Marietta Square. FOX 5 notes the Leo Frank lynching marker is about two miles from the theater. That is not a set piece. It is a walk.
Saturday, 7 p.m. — An Evening of Soul. October London, Leela James, and Eric Benét at Mable House Barnes Amphitheatre, 5239 Floyd Road, Mableton. Doors at 6. If you needed a reason to go south of the river this weekend, that is three of them.
SAVE THE 12TH
Taste of Smyrna is expecting 20,000 of you
Saturday, September 12, 11 to 6, Village Green in downtown Smyrna. Thirty-plus restaurants, beer gardens, kids' activities, live music, and an organizer who is planning for more than 20,000 people. Wear shoes you can stand in.
REPLY AND SETTLE IT
This weekend: soul at Mable House, or Parade on the Square? Hit reply with one word. We'll print the split next week.
SHOWER THOUGHT
Every county has exactly one bridge whose closure rearranges the entire personality of everyone who uses it. Cobb currently has a one-year lease on that feeling.
Featured photo: Judy Gallagher / Flickr via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0).
That's Cobb. See you Thursday.
If someone on your street would enjoy it, forward this.