UPDATE:  It looks like the former “City of Briarcliff” has decided on “LaVista Hills” as the name for their proposed city, which would be the biggest in DeKalb.

From the AJC…

Three communities seeking to become cities — Tucker, Lakeside and Briarcliff — couldn’t agree this weekend on how they would share borders, meaning state lawmakers will likely step in.

The DeKalb County neighborhoods were still hoping to strike a last-minute deal Sunday, said Mary Kay Woodworth of Lakeside Yes, which has been working closely with Briarcliff on a combined cityhood proposal.

Georgia representatives had set a Saturday deadline for cityhood movements to reach a compromise on boundaries.

The Lakeside-Briarcliff group planned to unveil the name of its potential city and a map on Monday, Woodworth said.

Possible names for the Lakeside-Briarcliff city include Briarlake, Lavista, Lavista Hills, Briarton and Briar Vista.

The City of Briarcliff Initiative sent out this press release/reminder today…

Briarcliff to Present at Wednesday January 22nd Joint Meeting of the DeKalb Delegation

Atlanta, GA, January 22, 2014 — The City of Briarcliff Initiative will present at a joint meeting of the DeKalb House and Senate delegation. The meeting is scheduled to be held at the Manual Maloof Auditorium on Wednesday, January 22, 2014. The event starts at 6:30 p.m.

Briarcliff presented at the Capitol in a joint meeting of the DeKalb Delegation of the Georgia House and Senate earlier in the month on Thursday, January 9, 2014. A follow up public meeting that allowed public questions and answers was requested. The Wednesday, January 22, 2014 meeting at the Maloof Auditorium follows the below agenda.

• 6:30 p.m. – 6:40 p.m. Welcome and Introductions
• 6:40 p.m. – 7:25 p.m. DeKalb County Board of Education
• 7:25 p.m. – 7:40 p.m. City of Briarcliff Initiative
• 7:40 p.m. – 7:55 p.m. Lakeside City Alliance
• 7:55 p.m. – 8:10 p.m. City of Tucker Initiative
• 8:10 p.m. – 8:50 p.m. Interim CEO Lee May
• 8:50 p.m. – 9:30 p.m. Citizen Question and Answers

To Maloof Auditorium is located at 1300 Commerce Drive, Decatur, GA.

Whenever HOST money is brought up, no one says much.  I think it’s mostly because it’s such a messy ball of red tape and “complicated” calculations that for most it’s just not worth the time trying to understand.  But for those who have enjoyed following the HOST litigation with the county over the last decade or so, here’s an interesting little epilogue.

Reporter Newspapers had a report last week (h/t Decaturish) stating that another effect of adding new cities in DeKalb County would mean smaller HOST allocations for existing cities.  Why?  Chalk it up to that “complicated formula that includes the value of the area’s tax base and the services it receives from DeKalb County.”  So there you have it.

According to the article, last year Decatur received $3,729,679, the third largest amount of HOST money behind Dunwoody and Brookhaven.  Previous year’s allocations had been used to partially fund the renovation of the Rec Center and there was talk of using it to repair sidewalks, etc.

So there you have it.  DeKalb cities lost the long lawsuit vs. the county about unpaid HOST money a couple years back and now it seems the current allocation may soon become smaller.

Building on the news and discussion yesterday surrounding the city of Decatur’s short-term plans to pursue annexation in the coming year – mostly to areas northeast of the city – residents looking to create a City of Briarcliff sent in this announcement this morning.

The City of Briarcliff Initiative announces Briarcliff has been confirmed to be the most feasible cityhood plan currently proposed for central DeKalb County by the Carl Vinson Institute of Government at the University of Georgia.

Atlanta, GA, December 16, 2013 — The City of Briarcliff Initiative has scheduled a Tuesday, December 17, 2013 press conference to officially announce the results of an independent cityhood feasibility study. The study, conducted by the Carl Vinson Institute of Government at the University of Georgia has confirmed that Briarcliff is the most financially feasible cityhood plan currently proposed for Central DeKalb County.

The press conference is scheduled for Tuesday, December 17, 2013, 2:00pm at the Toco Hills Shopping Center near 2105 Lavista Rd. A follow up public meeting to review the results of the Carl Vinson Institute of Government study will be held on Thursday, December 19, 2013, 7:00pm at Briarcliff United Methodist Church (4105 Briarcliff Rd. NE, Atlanta GA).

“An independent study has confirmed what so many in central DeKalb already knew that Briarcliff is positioned to be the most sensible city for central DeKalb,” explains Allen Venet, President of City of Briarcliff Initiative. He adds, “Our proposed city has a strong blend of residential, commercial and industrial areas. Our map is smart and does not abandon neighborhoods. We believe the members of this community deserve the chance to publically vote on Briarcliff cityhood.”

The AJC has a very good round-up about the bumper crop of talk and legislation spouting up in North and Central DeKalb that could create as many as five new potential cities in the county.  I certainly recommend the entire article to any DeKalb resident or interested party, but here are a few snippets that might be of particular interest to Decatur area folks (since this is inescapably a Decatur-focused site).

Another proposed city, alternately called Lavista Hills and Briarcliff, would wend from I-285 south to the existing city lines for Atlanta and Decatur.

Doing so would eliminate most of [the proposed city of] Lakeside while taking in massive employers such as Emory University and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

More importantly, that city would encompass all of Druid Hills, where there’s a strong interest in gaining more local control over zoning and planning. A civic group there has been locked in a legal fight for a decade, trying to stop an attorney from carving a seven-lot subdivision out of three existing lots in the historic area.

…And that’s before considering what residents in central DeKalb could do. Although people there who might naturally seek annexation into Atlanta or Decatur, talk is swirling about a city of Prosperity. Though no bill carries the name, it could be added to one of the existing proposals — allowing it to be created by 2015.

Though the boundaries are fluid, Prosperity also could potentially spark a new battle for commercial areas in central and east DeKalb. Only the Stone Mountain industrial area and Stonecrest Mall businesses would be large enough to offset the mostly bedroom communities that dot the rest of DeKalb.

This just in from the City of Decatur’s Linda Harris…

*Media Advisory*

Who: Mayor Bill Floyd and the Mayors of 9 cities in DeKalb including Avondale Estates, Chamblee, Clarkston, Doraville, Dunwoody, Lithonia, Pine Lake, and Stone Mountain.

What: Press Conference on the steps of the State Capitol Building Washington Street side

When: Tuesday, November 9, 2010 at 11 a.m.

Why: A joint announcement related to support of the Transportation Investment Act of 2010 or HB 277 – the bill that calls for 12 regional roundtables to craft a transportation project list and then ask voters to support a 1-cent sales tax to fund the projects.

Expect this to similar to the Fulton County mayor’s announcement back in September.

The Dunwoody Crier is reporting that DeKalb County has again won a round of the Homestead Option Sales Tax legal dispute with its cities at the Superior Court level.

The multi-million dollar tiff has been dragging on for over a decade, sustained during the present day on DeKalb’s revised claim that the original agreement between DeKalb County and its cities was “unconstitutional” because it “didn’t require the cities to perform any specific services for the county”.

In the world of legal oddities and the influence of cold-hard cash, DeKalb County is attempting to find themselves in the wrong for entering into an unconstitutional agreement with Decatur and its other cities.   Apparently any potential public image problems with repeatedly claiming you didn’t know what the heck you were doing go out the window when millions of dollars of delicious capital improvement money is at stake.

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