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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.