Decatur City Manager Peggy Merriss has confirmed that Rep. Karla Drenner has included Decatur Terrace, a neighborhood of 147 residential parcels south of East College Avenue on Decatur’s eastern border, in her Decatur annexation bill that she introduced to the legislature on Monday.

Decatur Terrace petitioned the City of Decatur back in October 2014 for inclusion in its annexation plan, but wasn’t ultimately included in the city’s Annexation Master Plan.

The partial Decatur annexation bill only includes the annexation of parcels within Rep. Drenner’s district.

That said, all of this may be for naught.  Rep. Drenner told Decaturish the other day that she has doubts whether any of the annexation bills will pass the Legislature this year.

UPDATE: Decatur City Manager Peggy Merriss has confirmed that Rep. Drenner added Decatur Terrace to the partial Decatur annexation bill that she sponsored and read on Monday.

The AJC reports…

State Representative Karla Drenner, D-Avondale Estates, read three local annexation bills Monday, including a portion of Decatur and all of Avondale Estates. Each passed through the policy committee, and now need 9 of 16 signatures from DeKalb delegates to reach the House.

In a surprise move, however, Drenner introduced the Avondale master plan minus the Decatur Terrace neighborhood, south of College Avenue between Avondale and Decatur.

The AJC also reported that Avondale’s acting Mayor and City Manager said that Decatur Terrace would be added to Decatur annexation map.  However, City Manager Peggy Merriss has stood by the existing Decatur Annexation Master Plan and repeatedly stated that the city doesn’t want to include any more residential areas in its annexation efforts, due to concerns with school enrollment levels.

I’ve followed up with Ms. Merriss for comment.

Photo courtesy of Rep. Karla Drenner’s Facebook Page

We followed up with Decatur City Manager Peggy Merriss about this morning’s report that Rep. Karla Drenner would support the Decatur’s annexation plan for the areas in her district.  Ms. Merriss said “Currently only Rep. Drenner has been willing to sponsor a bill and we believe that it will be introduced today or tomorrow.”

As for the other annexation areas not included in Rep. Drenner’s district, Ms. Merriss believes that “given the session deadline for the 2015 General Assembly, we have concluded that we will have to take a look at other options after the General Assembly has concluded.”  She clarified that this includes trying again in the 2016 General Assembly.

The AJC is reporting that Representative Karla Drenner D-Avondale Estates will sponsor an annexation bill for the City of Decatur that includes areas that are part of Decatur’s Master Annexation Plan AND the area that Drenner represents.  (You can view her district map HERE).

It’s basically all properties highlighted in annexation area B east of Church Street (which would include DeKalb Medical Center, Patel Plaza, Kroger, the new apartments at Church Street and Milscott Drive), north of DeKalb Industrial, and north of East Ponce up until the DeKalb Farmer’s Market (Progressive, Wagalot Kudzu, etc). It would also include Decatur Annexation Area C, which includes the United Methodist Children’s Home and some neighboring residential.

It won’t include Suburban Plaza or 4 commercial centers to the west (i.e. Publix, Emory Commons, North Decatur Plaza, etc).

City Manager Peggy Merriss indicated that the city will work with Rep. Drenner on the partial annexation.  She also noted that the annexation of Suburban Plaza/North Decatur Road/Clairemont Road “doesn’t look promising for this year.”  Rep. Rahn Mayo represents House District 84, which includes this area.

In related news, the AJC also reports that Rep. Drenner will also support Avondale’s annexation plan after the pro-annexation candidate, Jonathan Elmore, won last week’s Mayoral election.

Drenner tells the AJC she will submit the bills next week, provided she gets the nine necessary signatures from DeKalb County delegates.

Former Avondale Mayor Pro-Tem David Millron just sent this alert out moments ago…

On Monday, March 5, state Representatives Karla Drenner and Stephanie Stuckey Benfield successfully secured the 10 required signatures to submit local legislation that, if approved, will allow the cities of Avondale Estates and Decatur to join borders at Sams Crossing.

This latest development suddenly gives Avondale Estates its best opportunity in over a decade to take direct action in protecting our property values and cleaning up this eyesore.

Success now depends on you. The small number of targeted property owners is organized, active and vocal in their opposition to annexation. Please speak out for the best interests of our City, take action and encourage your neighbors to do the same.

If you’re new to the area or were doing some quality under-rock living last year, you can catch up on past failed efforts of this annexation HERE.