Cobb officials: No time to delay Cobb-Braves stadium deal vote

• Maggie Lee
• Supporters of the new Braves stadium wear their ‘Cobb Home of the Braves’ shirts at a Marietta town hall meeting.

Hundreds of Cobb County residents last night expressed their support, raised concerns, and asked questions about the proposed Atlanta Braves stadium at a town hall meeting.

With Cobb officials scheduled to vote next Tuesday on funding for the Braves’ new home, which would be located near the intersection of I-75 and I-285, more than 200 supporters and opponents had their first opportunity to grill elected officials about the proposed deal.

Despite growing calls to postpone the vote, Cobb Chairman Tim Lee and Commissioner Helen Goreham insisted that the vote would take place on Nov. 26. Lee predicted that the proposed $672 million stadium and adjacent $400 mixed-use development would bring hundreds of new jobs to the county and increase the area’s tax base.

“It will be a home run for Cobb County,” Lee told residents at the Senior Wellness Center in Marietta.

If passed, Cobb would fund an estimated $300 million of the stadium’s total cost, which would mostly be paid with a combination of hotel, motel and rental car taxes, plus cash that nearby businesses will tax themselves to raise. Postponing the county’s vote, Lee said, would threaten the stadium’s timeline.

“There’s a lot of work that has to be done to play baseball in 2017,” Lee said.

If Lee and his colleagues approve the Memorandum of Understanding, which answers some - but not all - questions about the county’s deal with the Braves, they promised to address angry Cobb residents’ concerns over parking, traffic, property values, and contractors.

The Braves-Cobb MOU specifies that the team would play at the new stadium through 2046 Major League Baseball season. Given the decision’s long-term effects, some citizens want to slow down the process to increase public input.

“This decision affects every resident in Cobb County,” Cobb resident Jill Kowalski said to the commissioners. To find out about it 10 days ago, and have a commission vote in less than one week, is not fair to the residents of the county.”

Goreham responded that the vote - despite a new poll that says more than 80 percent of Cobb residents support the delay - would take place as scheduled. That won her cheers from a decidedly pro-stadium contingent in the crowd, who donned T-shirts that read: “Cobb Home of the Braves.” Many attendees, who wore the apparel over their dress shirts and ties, insisted that the stadium would be a boon for the county.

“I can honestly say this is the biggest, the best news economically that’s happened to Cobb County,” Cobb resident Butch Thompson said. “Economically, this cannot fail.”