Who Is G Owen Brown & Why Does He Want To Incorporate East Cobb? – Part 2
by PV
Rumors have it that the prime mover of the effort to incorporate a new “City of East Cobb” (“CEC”), a man named G Owen Brown, appears to be claiming Homestead Exemption Privilege in at least two states, rather than one, as allowed by law.
By “prime mover,” we mean the person who appears to have engaged in several activities to start the process for a CEC:
1) He registered the Corporate entity called Committee for Cityhood in East Cobb, (INC.) with the Georgia Secretary of State Corporations Division on September 4, 2018 under his name.
2) From a published story on EastCobbNews.com, the story cites sources that say Owen Brown paid for the majority of the $36,000 Feasibility Study (“FS”).
PV Sez: Now, for those of you who might raise voices and whine about why the Vine is going after just a guy who’s involved in an effort to incorporate a geographical area of a county into a city, it just happens to be a potential city located in Unincorporated East Cobb County…which is where we are based.
And, we have ZERO interest in adding another layer of government.
AND…a “city” actually constitutes the definition of what a “political subdivision“ is.
And, the incorporated entity advocating for an incorporation of a new city has taken the following steps:
a) Paid for a Feasibility Study, financed at least 85% by a single real estate developer
b) Hired a lobbyist specialized in campaigns to incorporate cities
c) Hired a political consultant to advise them on their activities
d) Gotten State Rep Matt Dollar to file a bill to incorporate East Cobb…a bill that has contained in it…
e) On Page 36, Lines 1096 to 1112, instructions to the Cobb County Elections Supervisor to set a date for election of cityhood to be whatever the date the Georgia SOS sets for the May 2020 General Primary.
SO, since the Cityhood entity, started by Owen Brown, is engaged in a political campaign to incorporate land area into new political subdivision, this is 100% a political matter.
And, FYI, every single person, or corporation, or association, involved, whether they have contributed money to the Cityhood legal entity or not, are involved in a political campaign. And, subject to the rules of engagement of political campaigns in Georgia.
But, back to the issue of Mr. Brown, and the vexing issues of why it weirdly appears 1) He is not a resident of Georgia, and 2) His and his wife’s names appear to be claiming Homestead Exemption on properties in both Ponte Vedra, Florida, and in Cobb County, Georgia.
Ponte Vedra is located in St. Johns County, Florida. In checking with that county’s property appraiser site, you can plug-in Mr. Brown’s name into the search bar, and come up with this current home owned by him and, presumably, his wife, Cheryl:
There are two ways we know this is G Owen Brown’s home: 1) His name on the record, and 2) if you read down the page to the record of Sale Information, the house was “sold” to them by an entity titled “PONTE VEDRA RESIDENTIAL PARTNERS LLLP.”
THAT LLLP is registered with the Georgia SOS to have existed at the 35 Johnson Ferry Road address…which is the identical address as RETAIL PLANNING CORPORATION (the company in East Cobb that Mr. Brown has been the CEO of for many years). This is the link to the LLLP record on the Ga SOS Website:
This is a link to the Active Status Record of Retail Planning Corp, which shows G Owen Brown to be the CEO….and that “35 Johnson Ferry Road” address:
So, that house in Ponte Vedra, Florida, is owned by G Owen Brown & Cheryl Casey Brown. And, if you look down the record, you will see a section that displays the following:
“Exemption Information
Exemption Type Amount
Partial Homestead $25,000
Partial Homestead Band $25,000″
In checking with the St. Johns County Property Appraiser’s office on what the meaning of “Partial Homestead” is, it is how the State of Florida grants multiple owners of a home the exemptions. Each owner living in a house gets, apparently, $25,000 in HE on their permanent home.
Anyway…let’s turn our attention to Georgia. In Georgia, through a search on the Ethics.Ga.Gov website section for campaign contributions made by “Owen Brown”, we took a snapshot that showed the address he currently lives at in East Cobb: 695 River Knoll Drive SE, Marietta 30067.
Taking this address, and going to the Cobb County Tax Assessor’s site online here, we discovered that there is a “Cheryl C Brown” whose name is on the River Knoll property as the owner.
Downloading the 2019 Assessment PDF from the Assessor’s site, we read that “Cheryl C Brown” has a Homestead Exemption declared for this address.
Now, to Mr. Brown, himself, in using that same Cobb County Tax Assessor’s site, but look up his name, we find an address located in another part of Cobb County that has the name “G OWEN BROWN” on the record as being a co-owner. This address is located at 511 HICKORY DR SW, MARIETTA GA 30064, as per this 2019 Assessment.
This 511 Hickory Drive SW address also has a Homestead Exemption claimed on it. Fancy that.
Well, that’s about all the info we have for the moment. Perhaps some enterprising folks with better research skills can develop more information based on what has been provided here…
