COBB COUNTY - Cobb County's Parks Bond Citizen Committee will convene again on Sept. 14, and Chairman John Pape says the 15-member committee is hoping to present a list of final nominations to the Cobb County Board of Commissioners by the end of September or beginning of October. The county has been allotted $40 million in bond money to create new parks from approved tracts.

"We had hundreds of nominations that each of us went through, to narrow it down to the properties that fit the criteria, such as size, location, topography, etc." Pape said. "In '06 and '07 we would get the nominations in written packet form, but now we get them on a memory stick, which makes things much easier. But, I'd still say that it takes the average committee member around 30 hours to go through everything."

Pape said the committee members rate all of the properties, and that those with the highest ratings go to the top of the list of potential finalists. Each committee member also has the opportunity to add some properties back in that may have missed the cut because he or she felt they were important properties that had simply fallen through the cracks. Pape said that this has been a positive move in the past, as some of those often end up at the top of the list.

The first portion of the Sept. 14 meeting will be devoted to public discussion, during which residents can speak before the committee on behalf of or against properties, and the second half will be held in executive session. "We'll discuss the 41 properties we have narrowed it down to, more or less, and we hope to come to a resolution to be able to present them to the board at the end of September or beginning of October," Pape said.

Some of those attending the pulic forum may be supporting a parcel of land in south Cobb presented in the original nominations. The tract of land is made up of almost 20 acres and is surrounded on three sides by Floyd Road, Concord Road and Hicks Road.

Howard Zuckerman, the original broker and now spokesman for the property, said that the Dutch property owners, who did not wish to be named, purchased the land in December 2008 via a foreclosure sale. The land is currently zoned as a high density residential property, and Zuckerman said that the owners will wait for the market to turn around and either develop the 114 homes the property is allowed to hold or sell the land to a builder or developer.

Zuckerman said they put up a sign in front of the property to try to generate community interest in making the property a county park. "We put the sign up nine days ago after one of the commissioners suggested it would be a good idea. To date, I've received 180 emails and around 50 phone calls from residents in support of turning the property into a park," Zuckerman said.

But Zuckerman said he was told just days after posting the sign that the property was not short-listed by the committee. "I've emailed 150 of these comments to the parks department just to try to make them aware that this is something many residents want and to hopefully push them to reconsider the land," Zuckerman said. "I also told all of the people that emailed me to try to get in touch with the board of commissioners and the parks bond committee to push for this land. My belief is that they would do what the people want, and from the overwhelming response we've gotten in just a little over a week, it's pretty evident that the people would like to see a park here.

Public support for a property will not necessarily make the property a finalist, Pape said. "Just because 10 or 15 people vouch for a certain property doesn't mean we'll automatically choose that property," Pape said. "Especially if it's the owners who are pushing for it, because they're motivated to sell their land. We have to do what's best for the county as a whole and find park land that would serve everyone in the county well, not just a select group of residents. Which can be difficult, because, for example, in East Cobb, there just isn't as much open property as there is in west Cobb."

Pape said the committee is hoping to continue the ecological trend of creating parks that will do the least amount of damage to the land as possible. "The parks we are gearing towards are really green space sort of parks, where we can focus on conservation and create as little disturbance as possible to existing land. But we have to be reasonable, as there has to be some area mapped out for parking and roadways and there has to be lighting, trails created, etc.," Pape said.

The Sept. 14 meeting will be held at 6:30 p.m. at 100 Cherokee Street Marietta, GA 30090.