“Smyrna Youth Athletics”

If you are looking for information about youth athletics in the City of Smyrna, you have come to the right place. Call the phone number or click on the links below to be directed to the web site for the organizer of the corresponding sport:

Football
Smyrna Youth Football – Located at Campbell Middle School
Upward Flag Football - First Baptist Smyrna – 770-435-3231

Baseball
Smyrna T Ball – Located at Jonquil Park Kevin Smith at (404)562-9525 or (770) 333-6329
Smyrna Youth Baseball – Dan Bartlett at (678) 409-6661

Soccer
Smyrna Soccer Club – Paul Hofman at (404) 513-5095

Basketball
Smyrna Youth Basketball - (770) 319-0855
Upward Basketball – First Baptist Smyrna – 770-435-3231

Cheerleading
Smyrna Youth Cheerleading – Located at Campbell Middle School
Upward Cheerleading - First Baptist Smyrna – 770-435-3231

Gymnastics– Located at the Community Center 770-319-5397

Swim Team and Diving - Lynn Strickland at (770) 319-5635

Tennis After School Program – Located at Tolleson Park – Chris Peck, Tennis Pro (678) 907-1967

“What is a Contingent Contract?”

Contingent contracts have become very commonplace in today’s residential real estate market but I realized not everyone is familiar with what they are. Contingent contracts are contracts that are subject to some other specified event or action happening or not happening.

Let’s look at a few common examples where a contingency would be used:

• A buyer purchasing a home and making the purchase contingent upon them selling their existing home
• A buyer purchasing a home and making the purchase contingent upon successful loan approval
• A buyer purchasing a home and making the purchase contingent upon a satisfactory home inspection
• A property sale being contingent upon the property appraising for at least the purchase price amount in the contract
• A builder purchasing some land and making the transaction contingent upon a satisfactory percolation test (to be able to install a septic tank)

While commonplace, contingencies can potentially tie up the sale of a property for a long period of time and often give the buyer an “out” where they wouldn’t have to purchase the property. When considering accepting a contingency in a contract, it is EXREMELY important to evaluate all aspects of the contingency:

• Is the contingency unusual given the current market conditions?
• Is the contingency for an unnecessarily long period of time?
• What are the potential outcomes of agreeing to this contingency?

If a buyer want to make the purchase of your home contingent upon the sale of their home, it is important to evaluate the market in the buyer’s neighborhood, look at how their home is priced compared to their competition, and you might even want to view their home in person to see if there are any major obstacles for them to sell it. The last thing you want to do is take your home off the market when their home has little chance of selling.

That brings up my final point…accepting a contingent contract means that your home will not receive the same attention from buyers that it normally does. The multiple listing services requires that contingent listings are changed from Active status to Contingent status and you can bet the showing traffic will almost completely stop.

Not interested in taking your home off the market, then you should consider a Contingency with a Kickout. It works similarly to a Contingency but all parties agree to a “Kickout” period and the seller can continue to market the home. If another acceptable offer comes along, the seller notifies the buyer with the contingency and they have a defined period of time (kickout period) to decide whether to remove the contingency and purchase the house or pass on the purchase and get a refund of their earnest money.

“Revive 285″

I just stumbled across a web site that I thought everyone might find interesting. The site is www.revive285.com and is run by the Georgia Department of Transportation. The focus of the site is to inform the public about a DOT initiative to improve the top end of I-285 between I-75 and I-85 as well as the section of I-75 between the Delk Road exit and I-285.

Based on what I read, the DOT is currently working with consultants to conduct corridor planning, identify potential solutions, assess potential benefits and impacts, and then select the appropriate solutions. This phase of the project is not expect to be complete until the middle of 2010. Funding for projects around the merge between I-285 and I-75 should be available for right-of-way acquisition between 2011 and 2020 with construction between 2021 and 2030.

Keep an eye on their web site for more updates.

“Smyrna Gets E85 Pump”

The Texaco gas station located at the corner of South Cobb Drive and Cumberland Parkway is one of the first public E-85 fuel pumps to open for business in the Metro Atlanta Area. General Motors have been producing Ethanol-85 flex-fuel vehicles in some models since as early as 2000 but just recently started marketing the feature and putting Flex Fuel badging on the vehicles. My wife drives a 2003 GMC Tahoe that can run on E85 and filled up at the station the other day for $2.65 a gallon while the regular unleaded was almost a dollar. To determine if your vehicle is E85 compatible, click the following link (http://www.e85fuel.com/e85101/flexfuelvehicles.php).

While there is evidence to support the fact that E85 fuel economy is inferior to fuel economy of regular unleaded and there is debate on whether or not E85 is a better or worse alternative for the environment when factoring in the energy and emissions used to produce it, I would prefer to fuel my car with it if it means that I am in some small way decreasing my dependence on the middle east.

“Smyrna Election Results”

Congratulations to Max Bacon for winning the Smyrna Mayoral election, opposed city council incumbents Ron Newcomb & Mike McNabb as well as newly elected city council woman Teri Anulewicz.

Unofficial vote counts for the above races are below:

MAYOR
Alex Backry 338 votes (11.72%)
A. Max Bacon 2486 votes (88.28%)

CITY COUNCIL – WARD 2
Jean Aaron 57 votes (11.90%)
Ron Newcomb (I) 422 votes (88.10%)

CITY COUNCIL – WARD 3
Teri Anulewicz 306 votes (65.67%)
William Scoggins (I) 160 votes (34.33%)

CITY COUNCIL – WARD 4
Joseph J. Marcoux 133 votes (29.69%)
Mike McNabb 315 votes (70.31%)

Of particular notice is the margin of victory that Teri Anulewicz defeated 18-year incumbent Bill Scoggins by…a testament to the effort she put into her campaign and an effort I am certain will carry over into her 4 years of office!

“Make Sure to Vote Tuesday, November 6th!”

Our local election is tomorrow and I wanted to remind you about the importance of your vote. For the City of Smyrna, the mayoral election and several city council positions are up for grabs. I would like to endorse Max Bacon for Mayor and Teri Anulewicz for the Ward 3 city council position.

Here is information from the 11/4/07 Marietta Daily Journal article “Election 2007 – Cobb cities gearing up for elections” written by Ashley Hungerford:

“All seven members of the Smyrna city council and mayor are up for re-election this year.
Councilmen Jimmy Smith, Melleny Pritchett, Mayor Pro-Tem Wade Lnenicka and Charles “Pete” Wood are unopposed for their council seats in the election.
Alex Backry is once again challenging incumbent Mayor Max Bacon.
Backry said better communication is needed in government, and he said he would like to see the citizen input portion of the City Council meetings moved to the beginning so people can immediately air their concerns.
He said he would also like the city have an animal control officer, create an ethics commission, work harder to preserve green space and work to increase city employees’ salaries.
Bacon has been the mayor in Smyrna for 22 years, and over the next four years he would like to see many unfinished projects completed.
Some of those projects include the redevelopment of Jonquil Plaza and Belmont Hills, construction of railroad quiet zones and improvement and landscaping along Atlanta Road. Another big issue for Bacon is supporting the schools within the city to make them competitive with other Cobb schools.
Ward 2 Councilman Ron Newcomb faces Jean Aaron.
Newcomb said for the city to continue with positive growth, it needs to continue with major revitalizations projects like Jonquil Plaza. He said he would also like to focus on working with the Cobb school board to improve Smyrna schools, more tree preservation and tougher neighborhood code enforcement.
Ms. Aaron is very active in the community, and facilitates an after-school program with the Franklin Road Weed and See Program at Las Colinas Apartments.
The big issues she sees facing Smyrna are development, ensuring the city attracts new people into the city, education and creating an ethics board for the city.
Ward 3 Councilman Bill Scoggins faces Teri Anulewicz.
Scoggins has served on the council for 20 years, and said he feels his experience is an asset to the council.
With many projects in Ward 3 in a variety of stages of completions like the redevelopment of Jonquil Plaza, Scoggins said he wants to see them to completion.
He also said its important for the council to be active in improving Smyrna’s schools, including eliminating the large number of trailers.
For challenger Ms. Anulewicz, she wants to serve as a councilwoman who can effectively represent the residents of Ward 3, and provide the residents with an official voice.
Ms. Anulewicz has three important issues she would like to tackle on city council. Those are continuing the redevelopment of Smyrna, improving Smyrna schools and make her ward and Smyrna an attract place for neighborhoods and businesses.
And Ward 4 Councilman Mike McNabb faces Joseph J. Marcoux.
For McNabb, density, safety and quality of life are the three important issues facing Smyrna in the coming years.
McNabb said they need to pursue redeveloping economically distressed areas like Belmont Hills. And he said he would like to push to remove many of the temporary trailers at Smyrna schools. For quality of life, he said they revolve around the need for an alternative transportation plan and providing a voice in the city for the arts community.
Marcoux said he could bring a more environmentally conscious voice to the Smyrna city council.
He advocates responsible growth, and stresses more control over zoning and enforcing of appropriate zoning regulations already on the books. He said he would also like to see the council work harder to preserve trees in the city, support the schools in the city and provide more continuing education programs.”

“Finding the Perfect Home Site”

By Mason Eldridge

What makes two homes with identical floorplans and finishes worth different prices when they are located in the same neighborhood? Often, a home’s maximum value is determined prior to the builder clearing the lot and constructing a home. In this post, we are going to explore many of the characteristics of a building site that can heavily contribute to a home’s value.

It sounds so cliché but location is so critical in real estate. A home can benefit by being located close to parks, schools, restaurants, shopping, etc. as long as those things are not obtrusive to the enjoyment of the home (traffic, noise, etc.). On the flip side, being located near an airport, power plant, train track, sewage treatment plant or landfill can severely limit a home’s value. Even a home’s location within a subdivision can have an effect on the home’s value. If a home is located at the front of the community and every resident has to pass it to enter or leave the community, it wouldn’t be as desirable as a home located on a quiet cul-de-sac street further back in the neighborhood.

Another important characteristic to consider is the street that a home is located on. The name of a street alone can contribute significantly to the value of a property in a positive or negative way. Ever wonder why street names change so often when traveling throughout the Metro area? Often times the names were changed to rid an area of a negative connotation associated with another section of that street. Looking at a street with a more objective eye, the traffic pattern on the street can heavily influence its desirability as a residential location. If you’ve got a double yellow line down the center of the street, you can potentially eliminate the “family” buyer from your target market.

One other consideration when looking at a piece of property is the topography. Two properties could be equal in size, dimension, located on the same street and be worth dramatically different amounts. Topography refers to the natural features of a property. A building site that sits slightly elevated above the street with a nice flat backyard would be considered an ideal topography while a building site that sits well below the street grade or one with a sheer dropoff behind the home would be considered less than desirable topographies.

Builders who buy an “A” lot can build a “B” or “C” product which will sell much faster than a builder who buys a “C” lot (or worse) and builds an “A” grade home. Regardless of whether you are single, married without children, or have a big family, ask yourself “would this property be attractive to a family?” Families are the biggest segment of the single family home marketplace and choosing a home or lot that won’t appeal to a family will severely handicap you when it comes time to resell the property.

“Smyrna City Council Election – Ward 3″

If you kept up with the Belmont and Jonquil Village TAD issue on this site, chances are that the name Teri Anulewicz will sound familiar. She’s previously contributed to the site, written an editorial to the MDJ about the TAD issue, and is a neighbor of mine in Ward 3.

She is opposing Bill Scoggins for the Ward 3 Smyrna City Council position in the upcoming November 6th election and the MDJ ran candidate profiles for all of the upcoming Cobb elections in today’s paper. While the progress in Smyrna has been encouraging over the past 10 years, I believe Teri is more passionate about bringing change to one aspect that affects the residents of Smyrna that has long been neglected…improving our school system. As a Smyrna homeowner with a 4 month old child, this is the most important issue to me and one that will dictate where I call home 4 years from now.

Please review the candidate profiles for the Ward 3 City Council position and make sure to let your vote count on the November 6th election.

Teri Anulewicz

Bill Scoggins

You can also view Teri’s election web site at www.FriendsofTeri.com.

I could not find a web site for Bill Scoggins but here is a link to his bio on the Smyrna site.

“Forest Hills…a historic district?”

Thanks to Jason for submitting the following question on our “Ask Us” page:

“Why is the Forest Hills community of Smyrna have a ‘lay over’ or considered a ‘historic district?’”

Special thanks to Alan Durham, Economic Development Coordinator for Smyrna Community Development, for providing the following answer to Jason’s question:

“Smyrna does not have any designated historic districts. There was a special overlay district created for Forest Hills to protect the character of the existing neighborhood from incompatible infill but the ordinance was never adopted. While the Council seems concerned with protecting the character of existing neighborhoods, residents have been mixed in their support of regulatory measures.”

“Concord Road Widening Update”

Thanks to Annie for submitting the following question to us using the “Ask Us” page:

“What is the status on the Concord Road widening and linear trail?”

I had seen in the most recent City of Smyrna Newsletter that 1198 Concord Road was listed under Park Land Acquisition for the purpose of “so that a green streetscape can be developed between Hunter Street and Legion Drive.”

I also received the following email response from Keith Williams, City Engineer for Smyrna:

“The city is currently moving forward with the Concord Road project. We are in the process of acquiring the right-of-way needed for the widening and trail. Additionally, our consultants are nearing completion of the preliminary design stage. While there isn’t much visible progress for residents to see, things are actually moving along nicely.”

Below you can see an aerial photo of 1198 Concord Road that Smyrna has purchased. I would guess that they intend to purchase the two properties to the north of it and possibly the convenience store to the south of it.