Just weeks after Decatur put the brakes on talk of annexation, nearby Avondale Estates has revved up the idea with ambitions of its own.

The "possibility of getting some commercial property annexed" will be part of today's work session of the Avondale commission, according to an e-mail Mayor Ed Rieker sent to officials.

"I don't have any expectations, but if there is an opportunity, it would be great to do," Rieker said Tuesday.

He said Avondale and Decatur officials are exploring the idea of extending their borders along College Avenue to meet at Sams Crossing.

On Monday, Rieker and Avondale City Manager Clai Brown discussed annexation with Decatur Mayor Bill Floyd and City Manager Peggy Merrisson.

Under one plan, Avondale would annex commercial property along College Avenue west from its city line, while Decatur would add the businesses along College Avenue east from its current borders.

"It's been a gentleman's agreement between the two cities," said Allan Kirwan, chairman of Avondale's annexation committee. "It is a natural gateway for both cities."

Officials in both cities described Monday's meeting as preliminary and said there are no concrete agreements.

"I don't know we're ready to say where it would be yet," Floyd said. "There is no question, if we're going to do this, the point of the whole thing would be to have that area be incorporated into either the city of Avondale or the city of Decatur."

Annexation would require legislative approval for a referendum, allowing voters in the proposed annexation area to decide.

State Rep. Stephanie Stuckey Benfield (D-Atlanta), who represents the area, has been conducting annexation forums for officials and residents.

The Decatur City Commission agreed last month to back away from an annexation. A key issue that forced the slowdown: figuring how to handle the estimated 466 new students annexation would bring to city schools.

Annexing only commercial property would avoid that issue. And Avondale may be able to annex other land before the fate of that square mile of unincorporated DeKalb County is decided.

Avondale's Rieker and Kirwan expect the developer who is buying the Fenner Dunlop mill on Laredo Avenue to ask the commission to annex it into the city limits. The firm proposes moving the conveyor-belt production at the plant to Hart County in North Georgia and restoring the mill into an office-residential project.