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LOCAL
THURSDAY, AUGUST 24 - 30, 2017 • Page 5
The big picture of Emory annexation
Commissioners Rader, Gannon sign letter
BY HORACE HOLLOMAN
horace@dekalbchamp.com
In a letter addressing
Emory University’s potential
annexation into Atlanta,
Commissioners Jeff Rader
and Kathie Gannon said
the city of Atlanta is not
looking at the big picture.
Emory, currently located
in unincorporated DeKalb
County, filed an annexation
petition along with U.S.
Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention (CDC) and
Children’s Healthcare of
Atlanta (CHOA) June 27.
On Aug. 1, DeKalb
County commissioners
held a special meeting and
voted to officially object
to Emory’s request to
annex into Atlanta, citing
traffic concerns, burden
on existing infrastructure
and land development
regulations.
In the letter, the
commissioners said the
Atlanta City Council and
Atlanta voters need to
consider the impact Emory’s
annexation would have on
DeKalb County.
“They urge stakeholders
to look at the big picture
when judging their unilateral
action and ask Atlanta
to reflexively approve
their incorporation into
the city. The Atlanta City
Council and Atlanta voters
should carefully assess the
implications and mitigate
impacts before they grant
the request. DeKalb has
petitioned the state to
arbitrate these issues,”
Rader and Gannon said in
the letter.
The Atlanta City Council
plans to vote on Emory’s
annexation proposal this fall.
According to the county’s
resolution, more intense
land use, as allowed by
Atlanta, will negatively
impact the county’s
stormwater utility and traffic.
Commissioners stated
Emory would gain density
based on Atlanta’s “more
permissive zoning” and
could potentially build
whatever the school wants
while putting additional
stress on DeKalb roads.
“[Emory] would be free to
build whatever else Atlanta
allows, unaccountable for
the burden on local roads
that will remain DeKalb’s
responsibility—ironically
roads they carved out of
the annexation,” the letter
states. “In fact, the tax-
exempt institutions will
pay even less towards
maintaining public
infrastructure, because
Atlanta lacks the storm
water utility fee currently
collected by DeKalb.
Avoiding the fee will reduce
the institutions’ cost, but
not the impact of urban
runoff from the intensively
developed area.”
According to county
officials, the county collects
$131,000 annually from the
owners of the Emory parcels
in storm water fees. If that
area was to be annexed into
Atlanta, county officials said
they are unsure if the fee
will continue to be collected.
In their letter, Gannon
and Rader also stated
an annexation from
Emory does not take
into consideration the
impact of surrounding
neighborhoods. Atlanta
seeks an “Intergovernmental
Agreement” to continue
DeKalb’s provision of
fire and emergency
management protection for
their new Clifton Corridor
annex, but has deemed
DeKalb’s request for similar
agreements to protect
unincorporated neighbors
from follow-on annexation
or irresponsible growth
on campus “unworkable,”
according to the
commissioners.
Some have speculated
that Emory’s move into
Atlanta is meant to jumpstart
the Clifton Road light
rail system in the Clifton
Corridor area.
DeKalb County CEO
Michael Thurmond said
the rail system could benefit
DeKalb and Fulton County if
done properly.
“The big picture shows
that urban regions like metro
Atlanta should collaborate,
plan for growth and include
all stakeholders in the
process. That part of the
big picture will be eclipsed if
Atlanta approves annexation
without protections for the
people who live nearby,”
the letter states. “The city
council should amend the
Clifton annexation ordinance
to include a strategy for
preserving the stability of
the surrounding community.”
MONUMENT
Continued From Page 1A
events in Charlottesville, Va.,
many at the discussion said
the monument was offensive
and should be removed and
taken to another location
or build an additional
monument should be
erected to better represent
the city of Decatur.
One woman died and
several others were injured
in Charlottesville Aug.
12 after groups of White
nationalists and protesters
wearing Nazi memorabilia
gathered for a rally to
oppose remove all of a
Confederate statue were
met by counter-protesters.
“We’re trying to come
together. We had to get
this discussion off of social
media where people are just
yelling at each other,” Hill
said. “We needed to be in
a place where people can
see one another and people
know the person they’re
talking to is real with real
emotions and feelings.”
The Agnes Lee chapter
of the United Daughters
of the Confederacy raised
$2,000 from different local
donors to build the Decatur
Confederate monument
in 1907. A year later, the
monument was unveiled.
In part, the script in the
monument reads, “How well
they kept the faith is faintly
written in the records of the
armies and the history of the
times. We who knew them
testify that as their courage
was without a precedent,
their fortitude has been
without parallel. May their
prosperity be worthy.”
Hill said she and others
who oppose the statue will
try to get city and county
government involved.
Longtime DeKalb County
resident Stan Cowan
said he protested the
Confederate monument’s
removal in 1992. Cowan
said the time to talk is over
and the time to take action
is now.
“People keep throwing
this line around that we
need to go to the city or
commission meetings and
look into state law. Well,
state law is the key. That’s
the only path moving
forward,” Cowan said. “It
doesn’t help to go to county
commission or city meetings
because, even if they
wanted to remove it, their
hands are tied by state law.”
The Stone Mountain
Memorial Association
recently released a
statement regarding
petitions to remove the
Stone Mountain Confederate
Memorial citing state law.
According to Georgia
state code 50-3-1, “It
shall be unlawful for any
person, firm, corporation,
or other entity acting
without authority to
mutilate, deface, defile,
abuse contemptuously,
relocate, remove, conceal,
or obscure any privately-
owned monument, plaque,
marker, or memorial which
is dedicated to, honors, or
recounts the military service
of any past or present
military personnel of this
state...”
“As far as trying to tear it
down or remove it, they’re
restricted by state law. The
answer to this has to run
through the state capital.
That’s the only way,” Cowan
said.
A petition to remove the
monument from the city of
Decatur had received more
than 2,000 signatures as of
Aug. 21.