MARIETTA, Ga. — Lost Mountain is a park run by Cobb County’s government. Next year, the park could be the centerpiece for a new city of Lost Mountain – a bedroom community west of Marietta.
State Rep. Ginny Ehrhart (R-Cobb County) thinks it’s time.
"What it’s about is local control. And the belief that people who live in a certain community ought to be able to make decisions about that community," said Ehrhart, who sponsored the bill to create the city of Lost Mountain.
Currently, Lost Mountain has representation on the Cobb County Board of Commissioners which flipped from Republican to Democratic control in the 2020 election. But Lost Mountain is in an area of Cobb that didn’t flip.
State Rep. Erick Allen thinks cityhood now is no coincidence.
"I think it’s more of a reaction to the 2020 election more so than a long-term strategy or thought process of what needs to be done," said Allen, a Democrat representing Smyrna.
Ehrhart said it's not about political parties.
"It is a reaction, I guess, to a difference of opinion on what positive, effective development looks like," she said.
The proposed city of Lost Mountain would take a swath of land west of Marietta. The cities of Mableton, Vinings, and East Cobb would consume much of what remains of unincorporated Cobb.
New cities are often contentious – with implications for change at the neighborhood level. Yet Allen said some of Cobb's proposed cities lack the heft municipalities should have.
"Many of these cities aren’t offering many more services than my HOA offers right now," said Allen, who would live in an area left unincorporated by the cityhood efforts.
If the legislature approves the Cobb cityhood bills early next year, voters within each city boundary would have to ratify it. And Ehrhart thinks that could happen as early as next spring.