As you’ve probably already read here in the comments or elsewhere here or here, last night’s Decatur City Commission meeting, the commission unanimously approved the annexation master plan with only small tweaks to the map.

The tweaks included removing a small area of the east side of Jordan Lane northeast of the city in Area B – due to “service delivery issues” –  and properties along East Lake Drive in Area A with an Atlanta address.

Moving forward is contingent on receiving formal support from the school board, which has scheduled a 7:30a meeting tomorrow morning to vote on whether to support the master plan.

If the school board approves, then at the beginning of next year, the city would work to find a sponsor in the state legislature.  If the legislature decides to take up Decatur’s annexation plan – not to mention all the other potential DeKalb city creations and annexations – and voted in its favor, it would then sent back to residents in the annex areas for a vote.  If a majority of property owners approve, then formal annexation would occur on Jan. 1, 2016.

So, it goes without saying that many stars will need to align for this annexation to actually occur.

If the annexation happens in its approved form, Decatur would go from having an 85%/15% residential/commercial split to a 76%/24% split, according to City Manager Peggy Merriss.  As someone who’s been writing about this issue since 2007, this has long been the rationale given by the city for annexation  – to help keep residential taxes down.  The November school board study reiterated this stating that without annexation, the school board would be forced to raise the tax millage rate due to these increased enrollment levels. Decatur’s current 85/15 residential/commercial split puts a heavier tax burden on residents than a large majority of other Georgia cities.

During the meeting, the commission responded to restated concerns from the community about the impact of adding additional students to an already crowded school system, citing the school board’s recently commissioned study that showed the majority of student growth will occur within the current city limits.

UPDATE: OK, so apparently this issue is a couple months old.  Still sorta interesting though!

Kimball House, Brick Store Pub, Paper Plane and Leon’s all placed among the Top 10 bars in Atlanta, according to Atlanta Magazine.

Here’s their full Top 10 list, with the Decatur spots bolded.

1. Wrecking Bar
2. Kimball House
3. Brick Store Pub
4. Paper Plane
5. Porter Beer Bar
6. Manuel’s
7. The Sound Table
8. Blind Willie’s
9. Mary’s
10. Leon’s Full Service

Decatur’s Mac Magee (#18) and Pinewood (#27) also delivered a strong showing.

As to how they determined the rank, here’s the lowdown…

Each bar could score a maximum of 100 points—up to ten each for setting, food, activities, the mix of people, and service. Up to thirty points for quality and depth of drinks (this is a bars package after all). And finally, up to twenty points for the “X factor”—that ineffable quality that may defy easy description but nevertheless makes the place special. (Clermont, we’re looking at you.)

What do we think?  Seem about right or do you feel an inebriated rant coming on?

• MARTA making progress of items big (more frequent trains) and small (more toilets) [Decaturish]
• Mason’s Tavern reportedly coming to old “Scoreboards” space on Clairmont [TNT]
• Mercedes considering Atlanta for new U.S. HQ [ABC]
• Atlanta ranks #2 in housing affordability [ATL Real Estate Forum]
• Atlanta ranks #8 in most attractive people [Travel & Leisure]
• What people buy where [NYT]

Graphic courtesy of NYT

Now that folks around Decatur have had some time to set up their holiday decorations, it’s time to set your route to tour the neighborhoods and take in the sights.

Where are your favorite displays this year?

To get you started, this year’s Decorate Decatur winners were announced at the commission meeting last night.

The Commissioner’s Cup winner was 467 E Pharr Road.

Other winners included…

Residential Winners

• 909 S. Candler Street
• 1034 S. Candler Street
• 239 West Hill Street
• 133 West Hill Street
• 207 S McDonough Street
• 123 Fled Ave
• 217 Glenn Circle
• 860 Sycamore Dr
• 228 Harold Byrd Dr

Commercial Winners

• Art Institute of Atlanta
• Downtown Decatur

It looks like the Elf entered a bit too late to be considered this year.