Smyrna vision plan - community assessment (Atlanta, Marietta: apartments, rental, condominium)

[netdragon]

The Smyrna vision plan's community assessment is ready for review. This is phase 1. Phase 2 is the vision plan. Main focuses of challenges were on school-aged children leaving to other communities and lack light rail and MARTA connections. Most survey respondents said we needed fixed rail transit. The biggest pluses were location and sense of community. Smyrna has a large number of millennial and empty nesters in comparison to other communities but a dip in middle/high-school aged children and 30+ parents.

The biggest issue was school perception (the assessment said some perceptions are not accurate - e.g. Smyrna are per capita safer than most Cobb schools). Bifurcation in demographics was listed as another problem affecting schools along with the large number of private schools and financial ability to send children to them. They said it was standard practice to tell Smyrna residents to factor private school into the price of their homes.

There was clear indication that Smyrna residents don't identify with Cobb County but instead the metro as a whole.

City of Smyrna : News : Vision Initiative Community Update

Some quotes:

Residents felt most attached to the City of Smyrna and Metro Atlanta, but felt less connected to Cobb County.

TRANSPORTATION: Residents are interested in better connections to Atlanta as options such as MARTA, mass transit, and increased bus connectivity were all cited as needed mobility improvements. When asked to identify mobility challenges, respondents wrote, “Relatively speaking...mobility is good in Smyrna, as long as you own a car. Several areas are just very congested,” “Traffic. Would use public transportation if it was faster, but only CCT buses are in Cobb, and they travel the same overcrowded roads I do. Light rail centrally located with ample parking would greatly improve transportation & traffic flow,“ “We're hoping and praying that the area around the proposed Braves stadium by 285 doesn't become a nightmare on game days / nights,“ ... “If Smyrna were tied in, by rail, to the MARTA system it would greatly impact EVERYONE'S mobility. It would make Smyrna a significantly more viable option for many who work in MARTA accessible areas as well as more attractive for business,” “For entertainment, I wish Smyrna were connected to the Atlanta rail network by some fixed transit (preferably light rail transit, but bus rapid transit would probably do). Buses are not adequate for the main connections,” ... “Would love to see a shuttle from Village Green to the new Braves stadium. We could have dinner and drinks first, then see a game,”

Smyrna’s location is clearly one of its greatest strengths. Located near many top universities, technical colleges, employment centers, transportation hubs, and health assets, Smyrna occupies a strategic position in Metro Atlanta. This placement is not lost on residents as many public input respondents cited that they moved to Smyrna because of its location. However, location alone is not why people enjoy Smyrna. The overwhelming sense of community and small town feel attracts and keeps many people in Smyrna.

“Convert major intersections into nodes by enhancing grids or creating them where they don't exist (e.g. South Cobb Drive at Concord Road, Windy Hill at South Cobb Drive, and East-West at South Cobb Drive). Create shuttle circulators to connect the nodes and Cumberland and Vinings so people can get from walkable area to walkable area with ease, and to pull in shoppers and business people.”

(I believe the above was from my survey responses or someone else with very similar responses )

Between 2002 and 2012, the population in Smyrna grew at a faster rate than it had during the previous decade. At 14.4 percent, Smyrna’s latest decade of population growth outpaced Cobb County’s growth rate by 2.3 percentage points and grew at a faster rate than that of the nation. Marietta’s population, which provides an in-county comparison, meanwhile, was near stagnant.

Development patterns in Smyrna, while a mix of both “out” and “up,” have encouraged comparatively denser living environments. Between 2000 and 2010, the City of Smyrna increased in land size by 10.5 percent.1 Between 2000 and 2012, housing units increased by 28.2 percent. As a result, the population density increased 13 percent from 2,950 people per square mile to 3,340 people per square mile. This density is higher than Cobb County (2,026 per square mile) and the City of Atlanta (3,158 per square mile). Of the comparison communities, Marietta has the second-highest density (2,451 per square mile). Cedar Park had the lowest density with 1,589 people per square mile. Growth that has occurred in Smyrna favors a more compact development to accommodate the increase in new residents.
The elevated population density has resulted from an increased stock of multifamily homes, indicative of the “up” approach. Smyrna accounts for 9.2 percent of the total housing units in Cobb County, but the City also accounts for 17.7 percent of Cobb County’s multifamily housing units.

In other words, multifamily housing in Smyrna skews away from apartments and more towards townhome/condominium structures.

Regarding the apartment moratorium from 1990:

The moratorium, while a means to slower population growth, has had a different and more concerning effect: the degradation of the current stock of apartments. The lack of new apartment buildings, especially high quality units, has eroded any competitive or market pressures that would be placed on current apartment building owners. In fact, approximately 74 percent of renter-occupied housing units were built prior to 1989. Without new competition, consistent code enforcement, and supportive zoning, rental options in Smyrna will continue to age and lose value, thereby decreasing the rent and increasing the bifurcation of the community through its aging multifamily infrastructure.

Through interviews, focus groups, and feedback from the public survey, Smyrna residents are ready to plan their future. As one respondent wrote, “There is an opportunity to build something very special in Smyrna that doesn't exist anywhere else in Metro Atlanta.” Focus group participants said that not only is “Smyrna growing up culturally,” but there is an overwhelming “feeling that Smyrna is upgrading.” This sense of ascendancy can be attributed to many things, but one survey-taker wrote that the direction that the City and City officials have taken “by embracing family, community and the inclusion of different cultures” has allowed Smyrna to shake off negative perceptions from previous decades.

Despite the community feel and passion from residents, there is a fragility to Smyrna’s community that is exposed through many different channels. One of the reoccurring themes heard throughout input was that an overwhelming majority of residents have a desire to stay in Smyrna, but there is a breakpoint when it comes to education, amenities, and the long-term viability of calling Smyrna home. Families with school-age children particularly expressed these feelings and said that pressures to move to East Cobb or another city within Metro Atlanta, where education quality is seen as better, are strong. These pressures are borne out as many families move when their children reach the middle school age and the dynamic has become a part of Smyrna’s identity.

One of the effects of the Great Recession was that the bursting of the housing bubble left many people across the country immobilized – either because they were dealing with an underwater mortgage or they had lost their job and were financially challenged, and therefore, could not afford to relocate to another city. In Smyrna, this was viewed by many as a “silver lining” as fewer people were able to leave Smyrna to live in another school district and fewer families were able to afford the relatively high cost of private school tuition. Between 2007 and 2012, the number of Smyrna children enrolled in public kindergarten through high school increased by 42.7 percent. The magnitude of this increase is not reflected in the comparison communities. Matthews was the only other community with double digit increases (27.2 percent). Such a dynamic change indicates that families in Smyrna are coming back to the school system.

In addition to increased volume of students, many parents and local stakeholders are rallying around their schools. The opening of the new Smyrna Elementary is not only a hallmark of the increased demand, but is also viewed by many as a chance to build parental cohesion that can sustain students staying in public schools. Individual school foundations, such as the ones at Nickajack Elementary, Griffin Middle School, and Campbell High School, complement the work of the Smyrna Education Foundation and highlight catalytic parental involvement. Further, the grassroots and online effort by local parents, dubbed the Wave of Excellence, is beginning to have impactful conversations about the importance of the local schools and what can be done to improve overall quality.

There is concern that families may be “prepped” for an eventual exit from the public schools. One respondent said that new homebuyers are reminded that they should incorporate the cost of private school into their budgets, as they will need to pay for tuition once their children are middle-school age. Looking at enrollments, Smyrna, at 16.5 percent, had the second highest percentage of children between the ages 5 and 17 enrolled in private schools. Approximately 13 percent of Marietta school-age children and 10.3 percent of school aged children in the nation were enrolled in private schools. Smyrna’s higher than expected private school enrollment reinforces the challenges apparent in the public schools that serve Smyrna.

What is notable is that Smyrna has the highest share of residents under the age of two, but has the lowest share of population between ages seven and 20.

Of the subjects tested – English/Language Arts, Mathematics, Reading, and Science – all the Smyrna middle schools had lower percentages of students ‘meeting’ or ‘exceeding’ standards than the overall district averages. The only exception was eighth graders at the International Academy of Smyrna, which was tied with the district average for English/Language Arts. While the numbers may not be among the lowest performing school, comparatively, there are achievement challenges evident in the middle schools. It should be noted that many communities struggle with maintaining strong middle schools, but the pressures in Smyrna may be more acute as there are many quality public and private school options nearby.

Additionally, during the 2009-2010 school year, there were 855 freshmen at Campbell High School, four years later, only 493 students were enrolled, a decrease of 42 percent. These figures show that an unusually high number of students are not progressing all the way through the feeder patterns of the public school system in Smyrna, resulting in a lower graduation rate and high dropout rate.

[DawgPark]

We'll see where it goes and what becomes of it. I responded similarly to some of those questions, too.

[cqholt]

Sounds like Smyrna and Cumberland want MARTA. But unfortunately the rest of Cobb County is holding them back.

[AtlJan]

Forget about MARTA, all Smyrna needs is a few more Tesla charging stations.

[DawgPark]

Originally Posted by cqholt

Sounds like Smyrna and Cumberland want MARTA. But unfortunately the rest of Cobb County is holding them back.

Probably an accurate statement.

I was told last week by someone I'd consider a transportation and energy expert that rail would never happen in Cobb. And not because of the usual BS, ie race, crime, taxes, etc. He said it would never happen because of control issues b/t Cobb and Fulton governments.

[JoeP]

The comments about school are accurate. I know people who moved out because of it and that is a decision we will have to make down the road too.

[netdragon]

5 years is a long time for our oldest, so I'm going to wait and see, especially what the new principal at Campbell Middle has done by then.

I'm going to have a very frank discussion with the principal of Nickajack. Not just on math, but also another observation: What I've seen is that many parents "test out" the school are not patient enough to wait a few weeks for their kids to get placed into groups based on ability, with the kids bored in the meantime. Let's be honest - three weeks is not going to discourage a kid or have significant impact on the kids' long-term education, but the reality is that the parents aren't going to sit around and wait while spaces close up at private schools. This repeats year after year and for those that don't react, often results in those parents having to prod the teacher a bit to hurry along and separate the kids on ability. The impatient parents, especially if you throw in common perception about the schools, give the school a week or two before they run off to private schools. Our daughter is bored right now, and we'll solve that with the teacher like we did for kindergarten, and the teacher has already started talking with us about it but my wife was already flying off the hook talking about private school or Imagine Academy, and what her friends have said, and I told her just be patient and we'll talk with the teacher. I had to reassure her that a week here or there wasn't going to make or break things. Nickajack needs to have the kids placed before they start their first day. Of the three years, so far, only one teacher was fast enough at placing the kids - she was brand new (which tells me something about the culture there, which the principal needs to change)

[DawgPark]

Originally Posted by netdragon

I'm going to have a very frank discussion with the principal of Nickajack. Not just on math, but also another observation: What I've seen is that many parents "test out" the school are not patient enough to wait a few weeks for their kids to get placed into groups based on ability, with the kids bored in the meantime. Let's be honest - three weeks is not going to discourage a kid or have significant impact on the kids' long-term education, but the reality is that the parents aren't going to sit around and wait while spaces close up at private schools. This repeats year after year and for those that don't react, often results in those parents having to prod the teacher a bit to hurry along and separate the kids on ability. The impatient parents, especially if you throw in common perception about the schools, give the school a week or two before they run off to private schools. Our daughter is bored right now, and we'll solve that with the teacher like we did for kindergarten, and the teacher has already started talking with us about it but my wife was already flying off the hook talking about private school or Imagine Academy, and what her friends have said, and I told her just be patient and we'll talk with the teacher. I had to reassure her that a week here or there wasn't going to make or break things. Nickajack needs to have the kids placed before they start their first day. Of the three years, so far, only one teacher was fast enough at placing the kids - she was brand new (which tells me something about the culture there, which the principal needs to change)

Good luck w/ that. Our family is typical Smyrna though. Love it here, don't want to move, send our kids to private schools.

It's been that way the entire 20 years I've been a Smyrnite and don't see it changing anytime soon. It's just a private school area . . . or at least my entire subdivision is.

[netdragon]

Ultimately, I think Nickajack should be converted to an IB Charter school. It's the only way Nickajack will be able to compete with the private schools. What do you think about that idea?

Next year, I'm putting her in Imagine International Academy, so this is probably our last year at Nickajack. I think Nickajack is fine for the average student, but she's too far ahead of grade level (she's reading and comprehending 4th-grade books in 2nd grade, about a year ahead in math) and she gets bored during the observation period where they are figuring out where to place them. They are doing review right now, which is super ancient review for her, since this stuff was review for her last year. Obviously, Nickajack has managed to keep her ahead of grade level from preschool, so it's not horrible. However, I'm just tired of dealing with the observation period every year, and having to push for her to be challenged for 2 of the 3 teachers she's had so far. Ms. Tucker did a great job last year at getting her challenged quickly. This isn't Smyrna, but Cobb school systems in general, and Nickajack - and especially older teachers - seem to strictly follow the processes for Cobb. A Charter school doesn't have to do that.

Imagine is full this year, and Whitfield has room. So our last resort is Whitfield. However, I don't think it'll come to that. We have a meeting set up Friday with the teacher, and we'll probably be able to get this worked out. The other thing is the teacher is strict and I think that's something our daughter will just need to deal with. She seems pretty nice, just strict.

Let's say we just can't get the challenge part resolved fast enough and we put her in Whitfield this year. We'll still put her in Imagine next year. They are IB, so I think the program will be more rigorous and she'll be challenged earlier in the year without any intervention. I'd also like to have her track towards the IB program at Campbell Middle. Private schools are impressive, sure, but they have a lot of amenities our daughter isn't really going to take advantage of and are just there to wow parents looking at them.

[DawgPark]

Originally Posted by netdragon

Ultimately, I think Nickajack should be converted to an IB Charter school. It's the only way Nickajack will be able to compete with the private schools. What do you think about that idea?

Next year, I'm putting her in Imagine International Academy, so this is probably our last year at Nickajack. I think Nickajack is fine for the average student, but she's too far ahead of grade level (she's reading and comprehending 4th-grade books in 2nd grade, about a year ahead in math) and she gets bored during the observation period where they are figuring out where to place them. They are doing review right now, which is super ancient review for her, since this stuff was review for her last year. Obviously, Nickajack has managed to keep her ahead of grade level from preschool, so it's not horrible. However, I'm just tired of dealing with the observation period every year, and having to push for her to be challenged for 2 of the 3 teachers she's had so far. Ms. Tucker did a great job last year at getting her challenged quickly. This isn't Smyrna, but Cobb school systems in general, and Nickajack - and especially older teachers - seem to strictly follow the processes for Cobb. A Charter school doesn't have to do that.

Imagine is full this year, and Whitfield has room. So our last resort is Whitfield. However, I don't think it'll come to that. We have a meeting set up Friday with the teacher, and we'll probably be able to get this worked out. The other thing is the teacher is strict and I think that's something our daughter will just need to deal with. She seems pretty nice, just strict.

Let's say we just can't get the challenge part resolved fast enough and we put her in Whitfield this year. We'll still put her in Imagine next year. They are IB, so I think the program will be more rigorous and she'll be challenged earlier in the year without any intervention. I'd also like to have her track towards the IB program at Campbell Middle. Private schools are impressive, sure, but they have a lot of amenities our daughter isn't really going to take advantage of and are just there to wow parents looking at them.

We have lots of friends and neighbor kids at both Whitefield and the Charter school. All are happy and adequately challenged academically. I think both are great ways to educate your kids, but they are complete polar opposites in terms of culture and beliefs. Night and day.