Marietta after eminent domain for center

Over the last month, the city has been collecting small lots near the corner of North Marietta Parkway and Fairground Street to be used in the planned expansion of the Elizabeth Porter Recreation Center.

The center, at 370 Montgomery St., sits on 2.7 acres of land. The city already owns nearly 1.7 acres of adjacent properties, according to Rich Buss, the city’s parks director.

On Sept. 11, the council agreed to pay $54,000 to First Citizens Bank and Trust Co. for the property at 357 Allgood Road. The land includes a 756-square-foot home built in 1950.

On Sept. 30, a liquor store called Hunter’s Package, on .399 acres at 321 Allgood Road, was bought for $270,000.

The city is attempting to acquire five additional properties that would total 1.198 acres, Buss said. Two of those properties, 343 Allgood Road and 349 Allgood Road, were targeted for condemnation by the council Wednesday night.

Both properties are appraised for more than $30,000 each, according to the Cobb County Assessor’s Office, and contain two small homes built in 1950.

Mayor Steve Tumlin said the two properties are rental units that often sit empty with “absentee landlords.”

Tumlin said the only reason he supported pursuing eminent domain on the two properties is because they are the final pieces missing from the assembled land.

“The last thing you want to do is condemnation,” Tumlin said. “But, everything else has fallen into place. It was time to make that call.”