Vinings/Smyrna, GA Question (Atlanta, Mableton: real estate, how much, tax)

[CAWjr]

Originally Posted by Cherish643

I'm amazed that a bank or any business would actually fly a confederate flag outside of their property. I imagine that they are losing a great deal of business, due to their practices.

Sadly, they are not losing enough business for them to close their doors. They primarily deal with used car loans & dealers that work directly with them. They probably fly the flag because their clients are not walk-ins, they are people who have their loan established with the bank without even knowing who they are dealing with.

Originally Posted by lorilove

The property at the corner of Atlanta Road and East-West Connector I believe is vacant - I know it was advertised for sale.

it has a building that was clearly a bank branch a sign for what appears to be a local bank but I have never seen any activity.

I have not paid attention in quite some time - but I don't think there is currently a flag flying or if there is it was left outside.

The house on Atlanta Road with the flag is an old home - surrounded by new neighborhoods. Again, I can't recall if that flag is still there. Last time I recall seeing it - it was quite worn out.

It isn't vacant. The bank is Danco Financial & it is a family owned & operated business. They have a pretty poor reputation, but they have enough business coming in to remain viable. I am a member at St. Benedict's next door & we have tried to buy that property many times. They refuse to sell because they still operate at a profit & have no desire to move.

The house on Atlanta Rd hasn't flown any CSA flags in probably 6 months. Lately they are flying Irish or Scottish flags alongside the American flag.

[lorilove]

West Village has a Smyrna mailing address but is NOT in the City of Smyrna.

Traveling north on Atlanta Road, Smyrna city limits don't start for about 2 miles at Ridge Road.

The area you are talking about and Vinings are both considered unincorporated Cobb County. Vinings itself is not a city - it is basically a neighborhood that identifies it's boundaries as inside the perimeter (zip code 30339).

The area outside of the perimeter (which includes West Village) and before you get to the actual city limits of Smyrna is often referred to as Smynings!

[Cherish643]

Originally Posted by lorilove

West Village has a Smyrna mailing address but is NOT in the City of Smyrna.

Traveling north on Atlanta Road, Smyrna city limits don't start for about 2 miles at Ridge Road.

The area you are talking about and Vinings are both considered unincorporated Cobb County. Vinings itself is not a city - it is basically a neighborhood that identifies it's boundaries as inside the perimeter (zip code 30339).

The area outside of the perimeter (which includes West Village) and before you get to the actual city limits of Smyrna is often referred to as Smynings!

LoriLove, To my understanding, homeowners at West Village do not pay Smyrna (city) taxes, because the property is unincorporated, whereas those who reside in the city of Smyrna do pay city taxes.

Do those who reside in the unincorporated area use Cobb County services (i.e. police/fire dept., library, etc) or do they also use the same services offered to those within the Smyrna city limits?

[lorilove]

Originally Posted by Cherish643

LoriLove, To my understanding, homeowners at West Village do not pay Smyrna (city) taxes, because the property is unincorporated, whereas those who reside in the city of Smyrna do pay city taxes.

Do those who reside in the unincorporated area use Cobb County services (i.e. police/fire dept., library, etc) or do they also use the same services offered to those within the Smyrna city limits?

West Village pays Cobb County taxes and is serviced by Cobb County. You would have access to Cobb County libraries but would pay a nonresident fee for access to Smyrna services like the Smyrna library or activities center.

As for school systems - that is county specific and Vinings/West Village/Smyrna all attend the same Cobb County schools (that are located in the City of Smyrna).

I don't think you would find services significantly different between the two areas. The only major difference would be in government representation.

[lorilove]

Originally Posted by CAWjr

West Village is in Smyrna. For the longest time, Smyrna had "Vinings envy" and many Smyrna residents referred to the area as Vinings or Smynings. Smyrna has improved so much over the past decade that it stands on its own & the fad of calling Smyrna areas "Vinings" is fading.

I don't think I would call it Vinings envy. Most of us in Smyrna were proud of where we lived. It was during the development boom that started in the late 90's where new subdivisions were all named Vinings this and that but were clearly outside of the 30339 zip code. This was driven by developers for marketing purposes and clearly aimed at new home buyers.

I recall watching a Smyrna City Council meeting where they joked about passing a law which forbid the use of Vinings inside the city limits - it totally got out of control at one point.

[Born 2 Roll]

Originally Posted by Cherish643

I'm amazed that a bank or any business would actually fly a confederate flag outside of their property. I imagine that they are losing a great deal of business, due to their practices.

Even though most of Metro Atlanta is an area that is fast-diversifying, this is still Georgia, the heart of the Old Confederacy where resentment over the outcome of the Civil War (or the "War of Northern Aggression" as some may refer to it, continues on in shrinking, but vocal pockets), so don't be shocked as you are going to see some confederate flags flying every now and then, particularly outside of I-285 as the further outside of the I-285 Perimeter that one gets, the greater of a chance there is that one will see some Confederate battle flags flying.

[David1502]

Originally Posted by CAWjr

West Village is in Smyrna. For the longest time, Smyrna had "Vinings envy" and many Smyrna residents referred to the area as Vinings or Smynings. Smyrna has improved so much over the past decade that it stands on its own & the fad of calling Smyrna areas "Vinings" is fading.

Unfortunately, there are permanent reminders of that envy as many Smyrna neighborhoods & apartment complexes used the name "Vinings" from long ago when they were established.

EDIT: After looking at the ward map again, lori is correct & WV is NOT in Smyrna proper, but it uses Smyrna as its postal city. The rest of the post is correct about Smyrna having "Vinings envy" in the past.

The whole "Vinings envy" actually began back in 1988 when the original Vinings Glen subdivision, the one on the south side of Ridge Road was developed and was the first subdivision located inside the City of Smyrna to use "Vinings" in its name. Also, Vinings Glen was revolutionary as it was the first subdivision in Smyrna to ask more than $200,000 (Remember, this was 1988). Because of its location near the Smyrna Hospital on South Cobb Drive, (now called Emory -Adventist at Smyrna) there were doctors who built houses way above the $200,000 price point and in fact a lot of the lots were sold before the streets were even paved. (Other developers thought the Vinings Glen developer could never get $200K for a house in Smyrna in 1988.)

As a result of the immediate success of Vinings Glen, other developers took notice, particularly John Wieland Homes, and numerous subdivisions began to pop up outside of 285 using Vinings in their names and were located in Smyrna or unincorporated Cobb County. The largest of these is the humongous Vinings Estates (I'm guessing it has about 1,000 lots) which is located off of Cooper Lake Rd. just west of the East West Connector. John Wieland was the developer.

Back in the heady days of Metro Atlanta's growth in the 1990's, (nothing today can compare to it), the issue of Vinings being in subdivision names within the City of Smyrna came to be quite contentious, with a lot of the long time residents of Smyrna opposed and expressing their sentiments at the Smyrna City Council meetings on Monday nights. However, the Smyrna City Council was understandably happy to have all of these new developments even if they had Vinings in their names as the homes were usually at least twice the prices of Smyrna's aging housing stock and they added greatly to the city's tax base.

Today, it is hard for people to imagine what Smyrna looked like prior to the "Vinings effect" which the Vinings Glen was the catalyst for. What you see along Atlanta Road, the Smyrna Market Village area and all of the newer subdivisions all came about as a result of what happened after Vinings Glen was developed. The success of that one subdivision had a huge impact on the City of Smyrna. Putting Vinings in the name was surely worth it.

[westau]

Originally Posted by Cherish643

Thanks for all of the great information. I am thinking about renting a condo at the Highlands of West Village. To my knowledge, it's in Smyrna, but when I visited, the people referred to it as Vinings. I'm a bit confused because Smyrna is listed in the address, not Vinings.

Thanks again.

Generally inside I-285 is Vinings and outside of it is Smyrna. More and more apartments since I first lived in Cobb County in 2007 started trying to act like they were in Vinings because it was the more popular area. West Village has always seemed nice when I have eaten over there, I am sure you would enjoy it.

[Cherish643]

I really like the West Village area. It's such a well developed community; however, it didn't really seem diverse when I visited, but I enjoyed exploring the area and dining at Lime. I especially like the fact that it's pretty walkable and when I have friends over and don't feel like driving into Midtown for dinner, I can entertain them onsite without leaving the complex.

On another note, it seems a bit disingenuous for developers to continue using the "Vinings" label when they know that their development is not really part of the Vinings community.

[gerrythesnake]

You should check out "The Village at Lake Park" apartments in Smyrna. Those are nice