Good morning, Cobb.
Tuesday is the first public hearing on the county's first real rulebook for data centers. Not a single warehouse vote. A draft Special Land Use Permit package that would set how big, how tall, how loud, and how far from homes a facility can sit in unincorporated Cobb.
Illustrative data-center cooling plant (not a Cobb campus). Photo: Rsparks3 / Wikimedia Commons (CC0)
What the draft actually says (proposed, not decided)
From the Sept. 22 work-session packet and the county's October code-amendment notice:
Sites between 5 and 30 acres
Buildings capped at 50 feet (HVAC, towers, and generators count toward height)
300 feet from homes, schools, daycares, churches, or parks (50 feet from other nonresidential lines)
Noise at a residential property line capped at 65 dB(A) by day and 55 dB(A) at night
Closed-loop cooling (no routine dump into the county wastewater system)
A decommissioning bond before certificate of occupancy
Allowed only in LI and HI, and only with a SLUP
The existing data-center moratorium still runs through Feb. 24, 2027 while this path gets written. Treat every number above as proposed until the board votes.
Who is affected, and how to weigh in
If you live near industrial land, or you just want a clear "hits you how" before cooling yards stack next to neighborhoods, this is your week. Planning Commission takes Chapter 134 on Tue Oct 6 at 9 a.m. at the David Hankerson Building, 100 Cherokee Street, Marietta. Board of Commissioners public hearings follow Oct 13 at 9 a.m. and Oct 27 at 7 p.m., with a board vote expected Oct 27. Draft text is on file with the Clerk; county notice: cobbcounty.gov/news/code-amendments-reviewed-october-2026.
Same package also opens the ADU (granny-flat) path. That short lives in Civic Roundup below so the Lead stays on data centers.
SAVE THE DATE
Thu Oct 9: Root House Museum Midnight Wake VIP (Marietta). Candlelit wake tied to the Victorian funeral exhibit; ages 12+; $50. Details: roothousemuseum.com/funeral.html
Wed Oct 15: Cobb Diaper Day at EMC Solar Flower (18th annual). Goal is 150,000+ diapers; food stamps still do not cover them. cobbchamber.org
Fri Oct 16: Smyrna Spooky Festival, Market Village. Free Friday Halloween unlock before the Saturday pile-up.
WHAT'S HAPPENING IN COBB
Friday: exhibition open on the Square
Golden Hour Opening Night at dk Gallery: Fri Oct 2, 25 West Park Square. Free opening during Art Walk, with Philharmonic notes in the mix. Named exhibition night, not "another First Friday." dkgallery.us
Friday night: last First Friday of 2026
Kennesaw First Friday: Fri Oct 2, 7 to 9 p.m., Main Street Plaza. Groove Daddies. Season closer only (last of the year), so it earns the card.
Saturday: lyrics night, then two daytime picks
Wicked Sing-Along at The Strand: Sat Oct 3, Strand Theatre on Marietta Square. Lyrics on screen for Defying Gravity night. earlsmithstrand.org
Smyrna 154th Birthday Celebration: Sat Oct 3, downtown Smyrna. Free stage day into night (Culture & Spirit 11 a.m., Tonic 4:30 p.m., Larkin Poe 7 p.m., Darius Rucker 8:30 p.m., fireworks after). Short card only this week. The Lead is hearings, not the festival pile-up.
East Cobber Parade & Festival: Sat Oct 3. Parade 10 a.m. from Princeton Lakes toward Olde Towne; festival 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the JFBC south lot. eastcobb.com/east-cobber-parade-festival/
OPENINGS AND SPECIALS
Root House Victorian Funeral exhibit (opens today)
William Root House Museum, Marietta. Photo: Andrew Register / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Black crepe on the rooms, hair mourning jewelry in the cases, and a cooling board that makes the 1850s house feel colder than the calendar. Root House Museum, Marietta, exhibit runs Oct 1 to 31. Pair it with the Midnight Wake on Oct 9 if you want the full spooky lane. roothousemuseum.com/funeral.html
Cotto Modern Italian soft-open in Vinings
Dark moody room, half-moon booths, burrata finished with balsamic pearl instead of a drizzle, scratch pastas, wood-fired pizza, and a wine list that is almost all Italian (~85 bottles). Cotto at Vinings Jubilee (2850 Paces Ferry Rd SE) replaced Stockyard; Fork U Concepts' second Cotto after Gainesville. Soft open landed mid-September; still first-print for most of you.
CIVIC ROUNDUP
Agendas = proposed. Minutes = decided.
Cobb County Courthouse, Marietta. Photo: Thomson200 / Wikimedia Commons (CC0)
Branch Z-21 mixed-use: minutes unlock at Atlanta Rd / Plant Atkinson
Zoning Commission on Tue Sep 15 adopted Z-21 (Branch Properties) 3-2, with Birrell and Gambrill opposed (motion Allen, second Cupid). HI to RRC mixed-use on the Vinings edge: up to about 250 units plus roughly 8,500 sq ft retail, with HOA seven-day review conditions after industrial / Waste Management truck-traffic objections. That is decided in minutes (CivicClerk fileId 10249), not a press-kit claim.
Mableton: Stallings named Interim Police Chief 6-0
City Council on Sep 9 named Stallings Interim Police Chief on a 6-0 vote (minutes text unlocked inside the Sep 30 consent packet). PD standup now has an operational chief title in writing. Do not confuse this with the earlier Public Safety Director hire still riding press-lead until that body's full minutes post.
Same hearing week: ADU (granny-flat) path also starts Oct 6
Unincorporated Cobb still bars accessory dwellings while several cities already allow them. Draft Ch.134 (proposed): ADU capped at 850 sq ft or 50% of the primary (whichever smaller), rear yard, owner-occupied, no short-term rentals, one off-street space, HOA affidavit. Same hearing ladder as the data-center package: PC Oct 6, BOC Oct 13 and Oct 27. Short card only because the Lead already covers the hearing week.
Reply and tell us: Are you showing up Tuesday for data centers, ADUs, both, or neither? One vote. We read them.
See you Thursday.
The Cobb Insider