East Cobb, Georgia


East Cobb is an unincorporated community in Cobb County, Georgia, United States, with a population of about 175,890 people. It is an affluent northern suburb of Atlanta.

Geography

East Cobb is roughly bounded by:
No part of East Cobb technically falls within incorporated city limits. East Cobb consists primarily of unincorporated areas near Marietta, and a significant portion of unincorporated area near Roswell, as defined by United States Postal Service ZIP codes. A small sliver of an unincorporated area near Atlanta is in the extreme southern tip near Vinings, and a portion of the northwest is in an unincorporated area near Kennesaw. ZIP codes that are associated with this area are,,,,,, and some of.
East Cobb does not fall within any census-designated place, but within the Northeast Cobb census county division.

History

Small communities, many established early in the area's post-Cherokee history, include Mount Bethel, Shallowford Falls, Sandy Plains, Noonday, Blackwells, and Westoak. The area was developed as a suburb of Atlanta beginning in the 1960s. The "city" of Chattahoochee Plantation, which never had a city government, was established along the river by the Georgia General Assembly entirely to prevent Atlanta from annexation in 1961, and was officially abolished in 1995 along with dozens of other Georgia towns with defunct governments.

Incorporation as a city

In contrast to other northern suburbs of Atlanta, East Cobb has remained unincorporated. The idea of incorporating East Cobb as a city was suggested in 2009 by the organization "Citizens for the City of East Cobb". Yet the first serious discussion of incorporating East Cobb was initiated in 1998 by then Cobb County chairman Bill Byrne. Under Byrne's proposal, the city's boundary lines would be drawn by the Cobb Legislative Delegation, the county government would continue to provide water, sewer, police and fire services to the city for a nominal fee of one dollar per year, and the city would be governed by an elected mayor and five City Council members, with wards drawn by the Cobb Delegation. However, Byrne was defeated by Cobb County Chairman Incumbent Tim Lee, who dismissed the idea of incorporating East Cobb as "solution looking for a problem." In March 2019, Matt Dollar, a local representative in the Georgia House of Representatives announced that he would be submitting a bill to create the legislation necessary for East Cobb cityhood. The bill could not be approved by the legislature or by referendum until 2020. If East Cobb were to incorporate as a city, it would be the largest in the county and the second largest in metro Atlanta, with around 150,000 residents.

Economy

Shopping

Merchant's Walk is a open-air shopping center with retailers, restaurants, and a movie theater originally built in 1976 and since expanded and twice renovated, once in the early 1990s and again in 2008–2011. The East Cobber newspaper called the center the "heart" of the East Cobb community. Tenants include Cook's Warehouse, Kohl's, Stein Mart, PetsMart, ULTA Beauty, Old Navy, Whole Foods Market, Marlow's Tavern, and SEED Kitchen & Bar, as well as a movie theater. The center is located at the intersection of Johnson Ferry and Roswell Roads.
East Cobb Library was once located in Merchant's Walk; it has since relocated to Parkaire, a nearby strip of stores on Johnson Ferry Road.
The Avenue East Cobb is a open-air shopping center at 4475 Roswell Road anchored by a Bed Bath & Beyond and Michaels arts and crafts store. It has a horseshoe-shaped form and a "period-style Main Street design" and "town square" concepts, according to its designers.
Paper Mill Village is a collection of 33 buildings linked by over a mile of pedestrian walkways. The Village includes retail tenants, restaurant tenants, and service provider tenants. The village also hosts a monthly food truck night from April–October each year on the last Monday of each month.

Culture

A popular community event is the Taste of East Cobb, held annually. The YMCA operates the McKlesky Family-East Cobb YMCA at 1055 East Piedmont Road. East Cobb park is a popular recreational area for the community. The community is also home to a civic association, a Kiwanis Club, and a Rotary Club. The paper-only weekly East Cobb Neighbor has a circulation of around 44,000.
East Cobb is home to some of metro Atlanta's largest churches. Johnson Ferry Baptist Church, located between Johnson Ferry Road and Woodlawn Drive, has roughly 7,500 members. Mt. Bethel United Methodist Church, located off of Lower Roswell Road by the Cobb County Government Center, has over 9,000 members. The Catholic Church of St. Ann is located at the corner of Bishop Lake Road and Roswell Road as well. East Cobb is also home to three centers of Jewish life: Chabad of Cobb, Temple Kol Emeth, and Congregation Etz Chaim.

Government

Various neighborhood and subdivision community associations are represented within the overall East Cobb Civic Association, which promotes dialog between government and community organizations and seeks to shape county government policy and improve the community's quality of life.
The United States Postal Service operates the East Cobb Post Office branch.
Cobb County operates the East Cobb Government Service Center. The center contains a county Police precinct, a Cobb Fire and Emergency Services station, and a Tag Office. East Cobb comprises districts 2 and 3 of the Cobb County Commission.
Cobb County Public Library operates the East Cobb Library.

Education

Public schools in East Cobb are part of the Cobb County School District. The area comprises several high school attendance districts: Pope, Sprayberry, Wheeler, Kell, Walton, and Lassiter. The western half of the Kell district lies outside of East Cobb. The extreme western portion of the Sprayberry district also lies outside of East Cobb. The extreme southwestern and southern portions of the Wheeler district lie west of I-75 and south of I-285 respectively, thus excluding these small areas from being considered a part of East Cobb.
The area known as East Cobb comprises the following middle school districts: Daniell, McCleskey, Simpson, Hightower Trail, Mabry, East Cobb, Dodgen, and Dickerson.

Notable people