Cobb County Board of Commissioners Meeting – October 27, 2026

The Cobb County Board of Commissioners met on the evening of October 27, 2026, for a lengthy meeting that included three proclamations, the second and final public hearing on the 2026 code amendments, extensive public testimony, section-by-section votes on the zoning and development code, and approval of routine contracts and appointments. Chairwoman Cupid presided. The meeting stretched past midnight.

Proclamations and Presentations

• The Board proclaimed November as Native American Heritage Month, honoring the Yamasee/Guale Nation of Georgia and its cultural preservation work. Megan Dickon and Joseph Jordan accepted on behalf of the nation.
• The Board recognized Special Needs Cobb for 70 years of service. The organization was founded in 1956 and currently owns and maintains 23 group homes in Cobb County.
• The Board proclaimed November as National Family Literacy Month, with the Fielding Lewis Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution recognized for promoting literacy.

Public Comments & Testimony

• Richard Grome, East Cobb Civic Association, opposed several amendments, especially stormwater enforcement, accessory dwelling units (ADUs), higher unrelated-adult occupancy, and expanded driveway parking, asking the Board to pause or reject them.
• Virginia Chote of Indian Hills Civic Association and several other residents opposed ADUs, citing property value losses, water and sewer capacity, parking overflow, covenant enforcement, and neighborhood character concerns. Don Barth said he supported the ADU concept but did not think Cobb County was ready, and Christine Rosman also opposed the ADU proposal.
• Housing advocates, students, and residents including Nikki Thomas, Peyton Mathies, Carson Farmer, Melissa East, Sam Foster, and John Morgan supported ADUs and shared-housing reforms as tools for affordability and family caregiving. Several urged the Board to go further on affordable housing.
• Melanie Kagan, Center for Family Resources CEO and lead agency for the Cobb Homeless Alliance, supported more housing options but questioned whether the proposed housing incentive program would be strong enough; she asked for measurable outcomes and incentives for smaller developments.
• Haley Bauer of Clipper Petroleum, Dan Brown and Park Sough of Racetrack, and Matt Yarbrough and Carson Brown of the Council for Quality Growth opposed or asked the Board to hold the proposed fuel-station distance restrictions. Yarbrough cited an ARC estimate that Cobb needs about 37,000 new housing units by 2035. Racetrack said it has about 850 headquarters employees and 600 team members at 24 Cobb stores.
• Many speakers opposed data centers or asked for much stricter rules, including Joelan Smith, Joel Becker, Jesse Derivera, Michael Dreyer, Christopher Wong, Gretolyn Donato, and Comrade Cam of the Black Panther Party Georgia chapter. Concerns included water use, emissions, noise, agriculture impacts, surveillance, tax incentives, and AI risks. Some urged a ban or moratorium; others asked for a citizens' oversight committee.
• One resident urged approval of Chapter 83, saying two years of living next to a nuisance property had shown code enforcement needs stronger tools.
• Jeff Daniel, who said he works in power generation and data centers, encouraged flexible data-center standards and mentioned geothermal cooling.
• In later public comment periods, JT Jackson promoted the Stuff-a-Bus holiday toy drive, and Craig Harfoot criticized the size of the code package and raised concerns about data centers and student debt.

Discussion Items

• Community Development Director Jessica Gwynn presented the second and final public hearing on the 2026 code amendments. She noted the draft had been through a September 22 work session, an October 6 Planning Commission hearing, and an October 13 first public hearing. She highlighted changes between draft one and draft two, including removal of the Chapter 83 nuisance-in-rem article, removal of Chapter 86 non-discrimination and homelessness provisions, revisions to Chapter 54 fire code sections, clarifications to Chapter 83 junk-vehicle/outdoor-storage rules, and Planning Commission recommendations on Chapter 134.
• The Board discussed Chapter 2 incentives at length. It voted to keep the existing 125% county-average-wage criterion and positive-fiscal-impact criterion, but amended the housing incentive program by removing the $10 million investment and 50-unit eligibility thresholds.
• Chapters 66, 106, and 118 were each approved 5-0 without changes. Chapter 10 and Chapter 50 were approved 5-0; Chapter 50's stormwater enforcement was clarified to apply to detention and retention systems rather than routine homeowner pipe failures. Chapter 54 was approved 5-0. Chapter 6 was approved 5-0 with clarification of package-store distance measurement. Chapter 78 was approved 5-0 after adding an annual measurement standard for the 75% vapor-product sales threshold. Chapter 83 was approved 5-0, and the Board agreed to study utility-easement weed-maintenance responsibility for a future code cycle.
• On Chapter 134-1 definitions, the Board approved a family definition that strikes the fourth-degree limitation, and set single-family occupancy at two unrelated adults or four or fewer unrelated adults, while keeping the five-vehicle driveway parking allowance. The vote was 3-2.
• Purpose-built student housing density was approved at 50 units per acre, down from the proposed 60, after debate about prior approvals and bed-count calculations. The vote was 3-2.
• The ADU provisions in Section 134-37(35) were approved as drafted, 3-2, including requirements that the property remain owner-occupied, that ADUs and primary structures cannot be short-term rentals, and that occupancy and parking limits apply across the lot.
• The data-center provisions in Section 134-37(36) were approved 3-2. The Board then voted 5-0 to restrict data centers to heavy industrial (HI) zoning in the use chart and 5-0 to add language to Chapter 2 stating data centers are not eligible for the county's economic development incentives.
• The gas-station distance amendment in Section 134-266 was tabled. Staff warned that if it is not acted on within the statutory 60-day advertising window, it would need to be readvertised. Sections 134-193 through 134-199 were approved 4-1.
• Chapter 86, which had included non-discrimination and homelessness-related provisions, was formally pulled at the sponsors' direction and received no vote.

Consent Calendar

• The Board approved the revised consent agenda by a 5-0 vote, authorizing the chairwoman to execute the necessary documents.

Other Agenda Items and Contracts

• The Board approved seven Department of Transportation items, all 5-0: two drainage-design task orders totaling $970,000; two drainage-repair contracts totaling $245,367.10; a $444,551 task order for Barrett Parkway traffic-signal improvements; a $1,068,453 LMIG intergovernmental agreement with Mableton; and a $9,039,903.58 countywide resurfacing contract with C.W. Matthews.
• The Board approved, 5-0, the purchase of approximately 1.52 acres at 45 Concord Road for $360,000 plus $20,000 in due diligence, adjacent to the Silver Comet Trail.
• The Board approved, 5-0, a $2,964,758 supplemental agreement with Hogan Construction Group for the Highland Rivers Behavioral Health Crisis Center renovation and buildout at 1758 County Services Parkway, and a separate $833,274 contract with Striker Construction for shell-space buildout at 3830 South Cobb Drive.
• The Board announced appointments to the Cobb Workforce Development Board: Alicia Hargret, Marshall Redman, Taylor Von Pelt, Kevin Smith, and Sabrina Wright, with terms expiring June 30, 2029.

Key Outcomes

• The 2026 code amendments were approved with several modifications, except for Chapter 86, which was pulled, and Section 134-266, which was tabled.
• Notable votes: definitions and ADU provisions approved 3-2; purpose-built student housing and data-center sections approved 3-2; data-center HI restriction and incentive exclusion approved 5-0; most other code chapters approved 5-0; Sections 134-193 through 134-199 approved 4-1.
• The Board agreed to study utility-easement weed-maintenance responsibility for a future code cycle rather than change it that night.
• The Board reminded residents that early voting ended Friday, October 30, with Election Day on Tuesday, November 3; Chairwoman Cupid reported advanced voting was up about 25% from the prior year.