The AJC reports this morning that the cityhood initiatives of Tucker, LaVista Hills and South Fulton are the furthest along in the process after the first House Governmental Affairs Committee on Thursday.  The AJC dubs them the “front runners”, while Stonecrest, Sharon Springs and Greenhaven have yet to have their legislation introduced.

Whether any of them will actually pass is still very much an unknown, but it’s good to keep up to date on where these initiatives are in the legislative murk.

Map courtesy of the AJC

Clairmont Heights Civic Association Secretary Julia Byrne reports that the neighborhood association board met yesterday and approved the following letter to the DeKalb delegation of the Georgia Legislature, officially stating their opposition to Decatur’s Annexation Master Plan.

The letter also included the map shown above.

January 11, 2015

To our elected representatives in the Georgia Legislature,

The Board of the Clairmont Heights Civic Association writes to protest the City of Decatur’s proposed Annexation Master Plan. We respectfully request that you object to legislation related to this plan during the 2015 session of the Georgia General Assembly.

Our Board feels that Decatur’s planned annexation harms and negatively impacts options for our neighborhood as annexation and city creation efforts in DeKalb County proceed. CHCA conducted a neighborhood survey in September to determine the course of action our residents preferred, and we have done our best to ensure that our opinions would be known and our voices heard as the legislature considers the current annexation and city creation efforts. CHCA officers and individual homeowners consulted with our local legislators and the Decatur City Manager to seek their advice over the past several months. In particular, following the advice we received from our local legislators, neighborhood members carefully pursued the petition process set forth by Decatur. Decatur declined to consider the petitions they had solicited.

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Decaturish reported yesterday that the one interesting tidbit out of the recent DeKalb Government Operations Task Force Meeting was…

The groups behind the proposed cities of Lakeside and Briarcliff announced that they will pursue city status together.

“We’re dating right now,” Lakeside City Alliance Chairwoman Mary Kay Woodworth said, standing next to City of Briarcliff Initiative member Allen Venet. “We’re not married yet. We’re not engaged.”

A joint effort would obviously have more chances of passing the state legislature come January, since – as the map from June 2013 shows – the two city initiatives have been interested in incorporating parts of the same area into their respective cities.  A fiscal feasibility study on a city of Lakeside back in 2013 estimated the population to be around 63,000 residents, the largest city solely in DeKalb County.

A combined Briarcliff/Lakeside city (Briarside?  Lakecliff?) would assumedly host an even larger population.  For reference, Brookhaven’s population is currently around 49,000 residents, while Dunwoody stands at around 46,000.

As reported a few days back, Decatur is planning an Annexation Master Plan, which is in direct response to escalating desire of the unincorporated areas on the northern border of the city to create their own cities within DeKalb County.

Map courtesy of MANA website

As Steve says in an email pointing to this article,”an old idea resurfaces”.

Neighbor Newspapers reports that Stone Mountain State Senator Gloria Butler has been appointed by the lieutenant governor to chair a Senate study committee to look into the idea of creating a “City of DeKalb”.  According to the paper…

Butler will be joined by a group of seven committee members, consisting of fellow legislators and local officials from DeKalb County.

…After listening to testimony from public officials and members of the local community, the committee will present its findings to the General Assembly.

OK, maybe I was wrong.  Maybe I was interested in the Doraville annexation and just didn’t know it.

18% turnout?

Wow.  That’s pretty lazy.  (Hmm…that’s kind of judgmental.  Might be better to call them a “passive electorate”.)

Oh, by the way, the iniative didn’t pass.