COMMUNITY
New cities under review in north DeKalb
BY MELISSA WEINMAN
melissaweinman@reporternewspapers.net
The so-called cityhood movement is
spreading south.
Following the incorporation of
Dunwoody and Brookhaven, other res
idents of north DeKalb County are
hoping to create cities of their own.
The final days of the General Assem
bly were like a geographical game of
musical chairs, with DeKalb legislators
filing placeholder bills to allow their
constituents to research forming cities
in the swath of unincorporated DeKalb
between Brookhaven and Decatur.
The problem is that some of these
proposed cities would have overlapping
boundaries.
The most organized incorporation
effort has been led by a group called
the Lakeside Alliance. According to a
bill filed on behalf of the group by Sen.
Fran Millar, R-Dunwoody, the pro
posed city would have about 63,000
residents and would be bounded by
North Druid Hills Road to the south,
I- 85 to the north and Tucker to the
east.
Rep. Mary Margaret Oliver, D-De-
catur, introduced a different placehold
er bill for her constituents interested in
creating a city in the Druid Hills/Bri-
arcliff area near Emory University and
the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention.
Oliver said she believes the talk
about forming cities stems from an un
easiness in the area.
“I think the energy around Lakeside
following the creation of Brookhav
en has been destabilizing for north
DeKalb,” Oliver said. “Many citizens,
particularly on the west side... are con
cerned about being gobbled up.”
Mary Kay Woodworth, chairwoman
of the Lakeside City Alliance, said there
is a tremendous amount of interest in
the possibility of creating a city.
About 600 people attended the or
ganization’s first meeting in February. A
recent meeting on incorporation hosted
by DeKalb Commissioner Elaine Boy
er drew so large a crowd that organizers
had to turn people away from the Tuck
er Middle School auditorium. And the
group’s April 1 meeting was postponed
to find a larger venue.
Woodworth said the group formed
to explore options for local control out
of frustration with their county govern
ment.
“We’re long-time DeKalb Coun
NORTHSIDE
Hearing Center
“Do I think some of these bills are
going to be going anywhere? Abso
lutely not. I think the only one that
will go anywhere -- if they can raise
the money -- is the city of Lakeside.”
- SEN. FRAN MILLAR, R-DUNWOODY
ty residents and for the past few years,
10 years at least ... we’ve heard peo
ple talking about dissatisfaction with
DeKalb County government,” Wood-
worth said. “It’s just a churning issue
that keeps coming up: collecting a lot
of money from the county and it not
being spent in our local areas.”
Woodworth said she thinks the re
cent incorporations of Brookhaven
and Dunwoody inspired interest in the
Lakeside effort, as well as an annexation
referendum around Chamblee last year.
DeKalb County School System’s accred
itation probation has also made people
want to take action, even though the
Board of Education is a separate elect
ed body.
“It appears there is somewhat of a
movement toward municipalization,”
Woodworth said. “They’re completely
different topics, but I think people are
paying more attention to what’s happen
ing in DeKalb County government be
cause of the school issues.”
But not everyone is on the same
page. A group of Tucker residents, an
gered by the original Lakeside map that
only included a portion of their com
munity, demanded that it be removed.
The Tucker community now has a place
holder bill of its own that would allow it
to explore the option of incorporating.
To make matters more confusing,
some residents outside of Chamblee will
have the option again this year to vote
on being annexed into the city.
“Last year [former Rep.] Elena Par
ent had a bill for Chamblee for local an
nexation and it lost by 13 votes. There
were issues that were not disputed about
ballots that did not include the ques
tion about annexation. There were some
flaws in that election process,” Oliver
said. “We wanted to give Chamblee an
other chance based on the flaws of the
election last year.”
And though it didn’t pan out, the city
of Decatur was considering annexing
some of the unincorporated area out
side its borders too, Oliver said. “They’re
interested in annexing but they decid
ed not to move forward with a bill this
year,” Oliver said. “They’ll be back.”
She hopes that with so many options
available, the residents of unincorporat
ed DeKalb will begin talking about what
is best for their communities.
“There’s a lot of activity. There’s a lot
of opportunity for citizens to engage
and make decisions on what they want,”
Oliver said. “The more people at the ta
ble, the better opportunity we have for a
good discussion. And that’s my goal for
the rest of 2013 and 2014.”
In order to create a new city, a bill
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