On Tuesday afternoon, a group called “Together in Atlanta” announced on Facebook that they had gotten the support of Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed to annex the Briar Vista and Fernbank school zones – which include both Druid Hills and Emory University – into the city of Atlanta.  (Yes, you’ve seen this map before)  Here’s that announcement…

Together In Atlanta is extremely pleased to have the support of Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed, and looks forward to working with the Mayor’s office and legislators to make our state’s flagship city bigger and better in 2015.

WABE has an extensive report on this recent news, with reasoning from a Mayor Reed Senior Advisor…

A big factor moving forward is Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed has thrown his support behind Together In Atlanta’s annexation plan. Reed Senior Advisor Melissa Mullinax explains why.

“The map includes Emory and the CDC, which we think are prestigious institutions that we think ought to be in the city,” said Mullinax. “The other piece about it is this is a neighborhood that really always has been thought of as in the city so this is just formalizing that.”

Mullinax says annexation makes a lot of sense on both ends. For the city, the fact that the area is affluent and would add to the tax base isn’t lost on Reed.

According to the WABE article, DeKalb Commissioners are not thrilled with the Mayor’s support of the annexation, since any potential annexation would cut into DeKalb County’s tax base.

From the AJC’s county by county wrap up on Sunday...

Druid Hills residents began receiving letters Friday informing them about options for joining a city like Atlanta or remaining in the unincorporated part of DeKalb County.

The letters, from Druid Hills Civic Association President Justin Critz, said annexation into Atlanta would be an opportunity to be part of the city’s growing development and its neighborhood planning unit system.

But Critz also said uniting with Atlanta presents challenges in the form of potentially higher taxes and the cost of some services.

The letter asks residents to pay attention in the coming months as the Druid Hills community considers its options.

On a somewhat related front, City Planning Director Amanda Thompson tells DM that the city has never been formally approached by Druid Hills to be annexed.  Additionally, there would be some expected complications that would come with such a move.

There has never been a formal request from Druid Hills to be annexed into the city. I believe that Emory wishes to be identified with Atlanta.  Annexing Emory would require some special emergency management services for the hospital, research and if the CDC was included that we do not provide now.

A recent AJC article  on Druid Hills annexation options wrote off neighboring Decatur as an option “the city school system is already at its capacity and its government doesn’t want to add more residential properties”,