Annexation Linkage: City Manager Speaks To WABE, Forrest Hills and Medlock Consider Options
Decatur Metro | September 23, 2014 | 9:31 am
Our report last week that Decatur had posted new annexation maps on its website, seems to have kicked off renewed reporting/discussion on one of our favorite topics of all-time: annexation! Here’s some morning linkage for you:
- Last week, WABE spoke to City Manager Peggy Merriss about the Decatur’s Annexation Master Plan and got reaction from head of the Briarcliff Initiative.
- Decaturish reported in-depth on the foggy world of city annexation negotiations, with a focus on the Forrest Hills neighborhood
And in related news: pieces of a Q&A with Atlanta Councilman Alex Wan on the Medlock Area Neighborhood Association site could portend an annexation conflict that could arise between Atlanta and Decatur.
Q: What are more remote scenarios? City of Decatur annexation map that seeks commercial properties could interfere with Atlanta’s ability to annex.
A: In a clash between a new city vs annexation , the state legislature would step in. Residents need to coalesce around a choice or to fight decisions being pushed. It is very important to establish what the community wants. Proposal leaders will want to exclude areas that are likely to oppose their proposals.Q: (from a CHCA resident) Clairmont Heights could be in the way for MANA to be annexed into Atlanta
A: Yes, you need to be contiguous to be annexed.
Why is Peggy Merriss still pushing annexation and using our tax dollars to research it rather than researching to see how exactly most residents feel about it?
Because the City Commission asked her to and it’s her job to do as they request.
Then that is the problem.
It’s a problem that the city commission hires a city manager? That is why we elect a commission. I’d rather not have to worry about that since I have my own job.
Well… there seems to be some confusion as to what the actual instructions are regarding annexation. So far, the Commissioners have voted to explore it and to pay for Sizemore for consulting work. The linked Decaturish article says Patti Garrett, Scott Drake, and Fred Boykin are receptive to hearing from neighborhoods that would like to be annexed, but that Jim Baskett and Peggy Merriss have already told Forest Hills “No” because they’re not part of the current master plan. This isn’t coming across as the full Commission being in on the decision making.
* Also the master plan seems pretty flexible– the Medline area just appeared on the map this month.
Seems like Peggy Merriss and the CoD are being smart and proactive considering all that is going on around DeKalb county.
The economic basis for Decatur’s annexation is false. The City has one of the highest tax bases on a per capita basis of any jurisdiction in DeKalb County. Why should a “rich” community with a very high property tax digest be permitted to annex more commercial property at the expense of residents outside its borders?
You are only looking at one-half of the balance sheet.
The other half is spending. Apparently seizing commercial tax base is much easier than changing the expense side of the ledger.
revenues and expenses are both part of the income statement. balance sheets are assets and liabilities.
My primary point is that Decatur has not justified its economic need to annex. The property tax digest is the primary municipal asset, and Decatur has one of the best in DeKalb on a per capita basis. Municipal property is not particularly liquid. It’s politically difficult to sell a park or school, so fixed assets are not very significant in describing a city’s financial position unless things get very desperate. Current liabilities in municipal finance are primarily debt service and pensions, which are part of the annual budget. Its hard to imagine that a city is going to control infrastructure costs and pensions by expanding its borders – more police, fire, sanitation, school, street and drainage expenses
I have been living over a year and cannot fathom why Decatur city wants to annex so many areas. The schools will double in size and so will our taxes. And down the road the city will be left with people moving out and empty schools. The whole annexation thing is very scary .
your typing skills are quite impressive for a one year old 😉
I don’t buy this FUD – any residential annexation will result in that properties school tax contribution being reevaluated and adjusted for CoD vs DeKalb.
Where it would become an issue is if DCS is already at or overcapacity, or a large residential annexation.
Any large residential annexation needs to include the annexation of the county school servicing that neighborhood – which also includes reevaluating the teachers, administrators, and ansillary staff at the school since they will become DCS employees. Does this include adjustments in payroll, benefits, and retirement benefits?
The city commission needs to find out whether people in this community really want it to be larger?
First the city states we’re slanted toward residential, then it annexes more residential property, only
making the percentage even more lopsided. Surely, they will now justify annexation because we’re slanted toward residential (which they created). I’d suggest they concentrate more on building the community we have and spend less time on turning into Dunwoody.
I love all this confusion because it increases the chances of me staying in unincorporated DeKalb. Top that off with the fighting between Lakeside and Briarcliff, the confusion as to what happens with Druid Hills Charter Cluster if/if not Druid Hills decides to join City of Atlanta and Medlock Park talking to Atlanta to no avail if Druid Hills stays put and you have a fun Fall/Winter. Ga legislators gave Lakeside and Briarcliff until 11/15 to decide or they’ll decide the boundaries for them. With that outcome Decatur (I’m speaking Peggy, not the citizens who obviously don’t get a say) has less of a leg to stand on about they need to land grab now or never.
Oops forgot to add the Mayor of Avondale trying to annex Forrest Hills without telling Forrest Hills AND buying up half of downtown Avondale Estates without any disclosures.
I think the chances of anyone living in unincorporated DeKalb over the next 5 years gets slimmer every day.
Buying up half of Avondale Estates without any disclosures? Just not true. But most people prefer their biases to facts.
Here is the outreach from the Avondale Mayor (June 2013) to everyone on the City email list regarding his purchase of the four buildings behind the Tudor Village. These were just four out of a large number of parcels that were being publicly marketed after the Century bankruptcy proceedings finally came to a close. Anyone with the capital and a business plan could have purchased any of these parcels.
Neighbors,
Last week I shared at our regular Board of Mayor and Commissioners Work Session that I had just acquired some additional commercial properties in the Central Business District. These four buildings were acquired from Cleveland Construction which received the four properties as part of the 2012 bankruptcy proceedings and final settlement of the failed Century/AG development.
The buildings are 10 N. Clarendon Avenue (old City Hall/Thumbs Up), 12 N. Clarendon Avenue (Tomahawk Printing/Academy Theater), 121 Center Street (Global Exports) and 127 Center Street. (Global Exports). All of the buildings are currently unoccupied and will need additional investments to occupy. Several of the buildings are in really rough shape and have not had any maintenance or infrastructure improvements since before 2007. Despite the condition of the buildings, I am a big believer in the potential of our City and I have been investing and building businesses in Avondale Estates for many years now. I am really excited about bringing these buildings back into usable condition and creating a new asset for the community.
I will be reaching out to community and business leaders within the next few weeks to visit the buildings and collaborate on how we can best use these assets. My goal is to create uses in these buildings that will increase the frequency and density of visitors to the downtown area, while at the same time maintaining the quality, culture and uniqueness that makes Avondale Estates special.
Thanks again for your continued support of our City. If you have any questions please feel free to call me (number deleted so that this post will survive moderation) or send me an email at (email deleted so that this post will survive moderation).
All the best,
Ed
Ed Rieker
An elected official with skin in the game? What an outrage!
Exactly. Riecker puts his money where his mouth is and works tirelessly to promote the City. To top it off, the Avondale Board of Mayor and Commissioners are elected volunteers – they work for FREE! No compensation. Nada. Zilch. If any member of any city board has the willingness to invest their time and money in the City, I cannot figure out how to thank them enough.
This strikes me as sort of odd. Would you say the same thing about the (sadly) common practice of Congressional committee members trading in shares of companies with business before the committee? In some cases they could use the same “skin in the game” excuse.
If Rieker disclosed his purchases, that’s good. But being the Mayor and owning that land does open up a lot of possibilities for self-dealing. IMO these potential conflicts of interest are best avoided — and it’s not as though metro Atlanta offers no other opportunities for investments if Rieker needs to put some cash to work.
Maybe all this is on the up-and-up, I haven’t looked into it terribly closely. But the potential for self-dealing, combined with Rieker’s less-than-open attitude towards the one local press outlet that actually covers Avondale government, leaves me somewhat uneasy about it.
This.^
Scale definitely plays a role in these types of issues. At the level of a small town, where the dynamics of visibility and accountability play out in totally different ways, putting your own money into something you’re concurrently responsible for reviving (that is, downtown AE has revitalization plans that are, as I understand it, adopted policy) can demonstrate an even greater level of accountability. That’s not to suggest that influence peddling or back room dealing should get some kind of pass — everything obviously needs to be above board and totally by the book — but, in places small enough where individual actions can create significant ripples, investment and commitment should never be discouraged.
Keep the spotlight on ’em, sure. Even hold them to elevated standards. I just disagree that, in a modest, small-town context where municipal, economic and social affairs are deeply intermingled, having elected officials operate comfortably (and legally) in more than one of these spheres is a bad thing. It shows, at least in this case IMO, a belief in what you’re peddling.
I don’t, however, live in AE so y’all do what works for you.
Also, the law that created Downtown Development Authorities actually has a bit of built-in “conflict of interest” or whatever you want to call it. That law provides for property owners in the DDA district to serve on the DDA Board. So you could say that the DDA could enact policies that could benefit them as property owners. And that’s okay! As long as ownership interest is disclosed before any vote (or, any abstention if they want to appear extremely ethical), then I see nothing wrong with deciding something that could personally benefit you as a public official.
Also, the City of Avondale Estates has been in discussions with Forrest Hills Neighborhood Association since early in 2014 regarding the pros and cons of a potential annexation, including Q&A on everything from backyard chickens, to police, to the domestic partnership registry, to taxes and the abandoned apartments on Craigie. All of that information, including the City’s master planning information has been available since February on the FHNA webpage.
I expected more from Midway Woods neighbors. Feel free, however, to cling to your biases and the “facts” you get from the Decaturish bird cage liner – that takes a lot less energy and critical thought.
Bird cage liner? Really? OK, Mayor Ed. I don’t live in AE so I’ve got no real stake in this but all the people piling on Dan just make me think he’s really hit a nerve…
This^, too.
Would you say that you support AE officals stance in not responding to inquiries from Decaturish?
Maybe the AE attorney gets paid no matter what, but it seems to me there are a lot of normal requests by Decaturish that get passed on for legal review. If there is nothing to hide, why hide behind a lawyer or the ‘we no longer respond to Decaturish’ response?
Whether you agree with Decaturish’s reporting or not, it would appear to be an opportunity for the mayor to set the record straight as you did in your post above.
Well said – the neighborhood has been talking about annexation with AE for months. An article was even published in Decaturish about it. Nothing was hidden. I am not impressed with the speculative nature of the latest article on the subject in Decaturish.
Has anyone heard if people should re-submit petitions FOR or AGAINST annexation? The website for City of Decatur does not say whether they are taking into considerations for people who already submitted back in 2008, 2010, and 2012.
I just read that Peggy Merris (City of Decatur Manager) wants all new petitions for For or Against annexation 2014 push whether your house is in Sections A-D or not. The petitions have to be in by October 13, 2014. I was wonder is City of Decatur residence allowed to rally at City Hall For or Against annexation. I know big cities allow rallies. I know there is a meeting coming up on October 6, 2014 about annexation at City Hall. How do I go about getting a non-residence rally to show up at City Hall against annexation?
Do folks currently residing in Decatur get a vote in the referendum, or only the portions that are targeted for annexation?
Seems to me that, when it comes to annexation, the opinions of current residents are valued least of all by the City.
Exactly ^
All I can say is they better drop an “r” from Forrest Hills if it wants to be part of Decatur.
FM Frats. Urrr I mean Fats. I live in Forrest Hills. The neighborhood was named after Forrest Hills, a man who grew up here before the subdivision was built. He operated a golf course at the corner of Columbia Dr and Clarendon. His daughter is now living in COD.
It’s not Decatur’s fault that some old guy spelled his name wrong.
I was thinking the joke was taking out the letter in reference to a political party that (used to be) in short supply in COD.