Something had to be done about Magnolia Crossing, or so the public was told of the troubled apartment complex on Six Flags Drive in South Cobb.
Police were being regularly called in. Some of its residents complained of poor maintenance and rodent infestations.
But now, less than a year after purchasing the property for redevelopment and displacing dozens of low-income residents, the South Cobb Redevelopment Authority is being criticized for a plan to hire a senior manager using savings that some say could have been spent assisting those people.
South Cobb Commissioner Lisa Cupid said she was “disappointed” by the proposal.
“Particularly in light of the fact that it was made as if we didn’t have resources to help residents from Magnolia Crossing transitioning from the property … it would have seemed that with all the money that would have gone to this position, we could have used a fraction of that” to help residents, she said.
The South Cobb Redevelopment Authority, created in 2011 to help revitalize depressed areas, bought the complex in October using $3.7 million of a $10 million redevelopment bond issuance. When it took over, the authority halted eviction proceedings, forgave rent debts and offered cash incentives up to $1,000 for residents to move out within three months.
But for many of the tenants that had settled in Magnolia Crossing, where rents were low and background checks ignored, these incentives were not enough. The authority declined to offer additional assistance, and local nonprofits, including Sweetwater Mission, stepped in to make up the difference.
“I don’t think people in the authority realized that most of those folks, it was very difficult for them to relocate,” said Sweetwater Executive Director Darlene Duke.
Duke estimated that her organization spent $20,000 on direct financial assistance and case management for residents of Magnolia Crossing, adding that the authority rescinded an initial offer to reimburse it.
On June 15, the authority’s board chair, Doug Stoner, met with South Cobb County Commissioner Lisa Cupid and County Manager David Hankerson. Stoner, a Smyrna city councilman and former state legislator, told them he planned to reorganize the authority, allowing himself to step down and be hired as program manager for a six-figure salary. The salary would come out of savings from the Magnolia Crossing project, Stoner reportedly told Hankerson and Cupid, who were alarmed by the suggestion.
The next day, County Manager David Hankerson made his disapproval clear.
“You have proposed selecting Doug Stoner and/or his firm with a no bid contract, which is not consistent with county policy and provides an appearance of a conflict of interest,” Hankerson wrote in a letter to the authority. “In the conversation, you alluded to project savings in the Magnolia Crossing budget that have freed up funds to pay the program manager.”
Hankerson also pointed out that the proposed three-year program manager contract amounting to more than $300,000 seemed “excessive.”
Cupid wrote a scathing open letter expressing her opposition to the proposal as well.
Duke was similarly unimpressed.
“That money could have been used to make transition for those folks that really were struggling a little easier,” She said. “If they’re really saying it’s because they saved money from Magnolia Crossing, shame on them. Shame on them. There were families that needed additional help.”
Facing backlash from the county and the community, the authority appears to be backing off its original proposal.
Stoner wrote in an email that in response to Hankerson’s concerns, the board voted at its June 20 meeting to issue an open tender for the position. Stoner said he would not apply “due to the appearance of a possible conflict of interest.”
But the episode has reignited frustration over the handling of the Magnolia Crossing acquisition. Cupid said she has heard from many angry constituents.
A former Magnolia Crossing resident who has struggled to find housing for himself and his young son due to a drug conviction more than 10 years ago said his new South Cobb neighborhood is more dangerous.
“I ain’t never seen anybody get shot until I moved into this neighborhood,” said the former resident, who asked that his name not appear in the story because his record affects employment and housing opportunities.
He estimates that less than 20 percent of his old neighbors stayed in Cobb County.
“Don’t seem like it redeveloped much if everybody had to move to a whole other city, but that’s just my opinion,” he said.
Of the 89 tenants living at Magnolia Crossing, 42 recieved some sort of cash incentive from the authority. Eviction proceedings were initiated against 34. Having emptied Magnolia Crossing, the SCRA and the Marietta Housing Authority are preparing the property for demolition.
Stoner said the redevelopment plans for Magnolia Crossing aim to create a mixed-use development “that will address the needs of the Riverside Community for new housing and retail choices.”
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