David sends in these pics from along Church Street just outside the Decatur city-limits and notes…

This location has 4 HPWC (High Power Wall Chargers) which puts 25 to 50 miles per hour back into the car battery.  These are located underneath the grey Tesla logo.  And there are 4 Superchargers which puts 150 miles back onto the battery in 20 to 30 minutes.  These are located to the left of the building and are the white & red stands.  All charging is free for life.

Steve sends in this pic of a new sign in the window of the recently shuttered Marbar along East Howard Avenue.

Seems like the rumor that it may reopen – reported by the AJC – may be true.

Here are some notes from the City Commission’s Annexation Master Plan Work Session last night.  Watch it yourself HERE. Many other points that have been reviewed here previously were also covered. You can view all DM annexation-related posts here – there are 24 pages of ‘em!

Update: You can now also view the work session documents here on the city’s website.

Of particular note, Mayor Baskett and City Manager Peggy Merriss clarified during the discussion that none of the petitions from areas outside of the stated Master Plan areas are being considered for annexation as part of the Master Plan, which is scheduled to be submitted for Legislative consideration in January.

Here are some other points from the meeting/presentation that may be of interest.

• Population estimates:
  • Current population 20,000
  • 2020 estimate w/o annexation: 21,100
  • 2020 estimate w/ annexation 28,870 (Area A: 980, Area B: 6,400, Area C: 260, Area D: 180)
• Annexation Area Size
  • Annexation area: 1.6 square miles
  • Total City size with annexation: 6 square miles (currently the city is roughly 5 square miles
  • Additional Paved Roads: 18 miles
• Commercial/Institutional Properties in Annexation Area:
  • Emory Commons (Publix)
  • Suburban Plaza (Walmart)
  • Patel Plaza
  • North Decatur Square (Big Kroger)
  • Automobile Dealerships
  • DeKalb Medical
• Residential/Commercial breakdown:
  • 19% single family homestead exempt residential
  • 81% commercial or non-homestead exempt residential (City still working to break out multifamily residential piece and creating revenue projections)
• Student Increase:
  • Decatur schools are projecting a 3,000 student increase from 2015 –  2020 without annexation.
  • City Manager Peggy Merriss suggested that the city may not be able to accommodate additional students without annexation, assumedly to acquire more land to build schools.
  • There are currently 580 students in the annexed area.

Here we go.  Should be an interesting Election Day.  No Decatur City Commission seats up for reelection this time, but we’ve got glose races for the Governor’s seat and U.S. Senate. Decatur resident Valarie Wison up for State Superintendent. Clayton County’s voting on MARTA. Etc, etc.

Use this thread to report lines at polling stations, ballot questions, etc etc.

Don’t know your precinct?  Click here!