Next Tuesday, July 15th, at 9:00am is the next Board of Commissioners zoning meeting where case Z-7 will be voted on. This case was held last month and this month it is listed on the Agenda as “BOC Only” which means the public will no longer have a chance to share their concerns about this rezone from Residential to Fee Simple Townhomes outside of Public Comments that can be ignored if they are not submitted by Wednesday, July 9th, 2025.
Flint Hill Road – March 2025
On Flint Hill Road, near the golf course, there is a farmer. This farmer uses his land to provide fresh produce to his neighbors in the area. His name is Joe.
Farmer Joe returned from a fishing trip to find his lower field flooded with water. Sometimes he would get a little bit of runoff but it typically pooled in the lower areas of his property closer to the creek. But this water seemed to be seeping from under the road and made his field so muddy he couldn’t get his tractor through it which had never happened before.
Some people might blame the retention pond on the other side of the road. But Farmer Joe has been a member of this community for many years, so he remembered when Cobb County put a water main under Flint Hill Road some years prior. He was concerned about the damage it could do to the road and he reached out to the Cobb County Government to have the line checked out.
Two Months Later – May 2025
At this point I had spent over two hours on various calls and holds trying to learn what evidence the County had used to determine this was a spring. Finally, I was called by a gentleman who told me over the phone that they had collected four different water samples and sent them to two different labs. These results were indicative of groundwater and they described Farmer Joe as a local disgruntled landowner. I asked them to email me that information but the email only stated they had “tested” the water and didn’t outline the rigorous testing described on the phone. I replied requesting more information but my email bounced back and was labeled as “permanently blocked.”
That same evening, I received a message that the police were at Farmer Joe’s house! I went over immediately and learned that the Department of Transportation had sent someone out sometime after 6 p.m. to take down the signs. The signs were located within 15 feet of the road so the Department Of Transportation has the right to remove them. But Farmer Joe didn’t know why a stranger was hitting his sign with a hammer. Since it was his property, he rode out on his golf cart just like he did when I came to visit. He unknowingly took a pellet gun with him since he kept it mounted on the back of his cart. After speaking to Farmer Joe, the DOT employee left to sit in their vehicle. Joe did not reach for the pellet gun at any point in his discussion with the DOT employee. Within a few minutes, five Cobb County Police officers showed up and demanded he raise his hands over his head and back towards them slowly.
Joe was not given a citation or warning of any kind, just treated like an armed robber on his own property. His brother, unfortunately, arrived home while this was unfolding and received the same treatment from the Cobb County Police Department. The DOT removed all signs within 15 feet of the road and left. Joe had them back up with adequate distance a few days later.
After this harrowing experience, I urged Farmer Joe to attend the next Cobb County Commissioners meeting and make a Public Comment, which is what he did on May 27th. He only knew about the meeting and that he could make a comment because I looked up the information on the Cobb County Government website for him. I also contacted the Department of Transportation and did not stop following up until I received an acknowledgment that my email had been read.
A few weeks ago, Joe reported Cobb County turned off the water line and the stream flowing through his property stopped running. Flint Hill Road was closed recently to repair the water main.
The Moral of the Story
If you want your elected officials to listen to you, you must place yourself in the same room as them. Emails, phone calls, and even petitions can be swept aside and ignored. Standing in the room and making a Public Statement is the only way to request transparency in a manner that cannot be ignored.
As a single citizen, I cannot make this happen. As a small group of four or five, I cannot make this happen. But if twenty people place themselves in the room with me? Elected officials must listen because that is what their role requires. We must each take responsibility to put our physical bodies and physical voices in the room or our opinion will be disregarded.
