City Commission Considers DeVry Annexation Tonight
Decatur Metro | August 3, 2009
Just a reminder: The city commission will finally vote on the DeVry annexation this evening. There are so many materials for the meeting that they had to break it into two documents.
If you’re looking for a recap of the issues surrounding the annexation, click back to this post from a couple weeks ago. The only change since then has been the school board’s approval of the project last Thursday and an updated projection of 30-60 students added to the school system as a result.
Completely built out, this property could provide up to $55 million in yearly revenue to the city.
Decatur would be remiss to yield the land-use control of this big property to Dekalb County’s machinations.
I’m confused. Why is this property being considered for development while annexation of existing Forrest Hills neighborhoods keeps getting shot down? Is the number of students it would add (30-60) that different?
As Fred mentions below, there’s no issues with whether or not affected property owners want in, as it’s essentially just one owner.
Also worth mentioning is that, even if the numbers of projected students were similar to FH, the potential tax returns on a per-acre basis are much higher on the DeVry property due to the zoning. That’s how it remains a net positive despite anticipated enrollments.
Makes sense, but I thought that no one wanted more students added, no matter what the tax benefits might be?
It is being considered because the vast majority of the property is owned by one owner -DeVry. Comcast owns a small portion where their cell tower, etc. is located. Since DeVry controls most of the area, they can ask to be considered.
with $55 mm expected to roll in to the city, maybe we can finally get 24/7 pony rides on the square.
24/7 pony rides or a reduction in millage.
We may have to flip a coin on that one.