Cobb County Considers Changes to Historic Preservation Law

Cobb County Commissioners are hearing public comments on proposed changes to the County Code at the next two Board of Commissioners meetings. If you are receiving this newsletter, it is probably because you are interested in Cobb County Parks, Heritage Park, the Silver Comet Trail, and the Covered Bridge Historic District. These are all affected by the latest revisions being discussed.

Section 66 of Cobb County code governs the Historic Districts in Cobb County and has been unchanged since its creation in 1986. You can view the proposed changes to Section 66 here. One change writes in the Secretary of the Interior’s guidelines for rehabilitation to be used for new construction in the district. This standard was previously found to be the incorrect standard according to the Board of Commissioners and the Cobb Superior Court during an appeal. Another change requires that proposed modifications to the district be considered in the context of the entire historic district rather than the immediate neighborhood as currently required. This could potentially smooth the process for approval of an application that would have an impact on the Concord Covered Bridge’s “immediate neighborhood” as shown in this map:

Section 90 of Cobb County code governs the county parks, and has several revisions and additions. You can view the proposed changes to Section 90 here. For other sections besides 66 and 99, you can access the proposed revisions here.

There are two Board of Commissioners Public Hearing dates on the calendar for discussion of these code revisions:

Board of Commissioners Public Hearing Dates 
January 28, 2020 – 7:00 pm
February 11, 2020 – 9:00 am

If you are interested in these changes and want to voice an opinion, the hearing dates are an excellent opportunity.

You can also email Cobb’s Commissioners with your thoughts: