The petitioner behind a controversial annexation in Chamblee has withdrawn the request after city officials discovered “technical deficiencies” in the application.
Chamblee announced the withdrawal Monday night following a City Council meeting where board members discussed the annexation in a private executive session.
The proposal would have brought Mercer University’s Atlanta campus and the Embry Hills neighborhood into Chamblee city limits, adding about 2,400 residents to the existing 30,000. The final steps of the annexation process, a public hearing and a vote by City Council, were to take place this week and next.
City officials did not identify the deficiencies but the annexation proposal has been contentious, with residents questioning whether enough signatures were submitted. The petition sought annexation under the state’s 60% method, where at least 60% of an area’s active voters and its landowners must first approve.
Neighboring Tucker and Doraville also opposed the annexation, as did DeKalb County.
County officials said the application did not include the support of 60% of electors. There are 1,227 electors in the area but the application included the signatures of just 565 voters, or 46%. Commissioners were expected to discuss the issue during their Tuesday meeting.
DeKalb County CEO Michael Thurmond has said previously that county attorneys were going over the application with “a fine-tooth comb” and were prepared to challenge the annexation.
“If there’s not 60% of electors who’ve signed yes, we’re going to fight it,” Thurmond said at a community meeting about the potential annexation last month. “If there’s not 60% of property owners who’ve signed it, we’re going to fight it.”
The petition was submitted by Bill Blumberg, an Embry Hills resident, but a consulting firm hired by Chamblee assisted with the signature-collecting process. That firm, Rosetta Stone Communications, is the same one Brookhaven hired to oversee its now-failed attempt to annex the Toco Hill shopping center and surrounding neighborhoods. That petition was withdrawn after residents said their signatures had been forged.
At the community meeting, Blumberg said he believed Chamblee would provide better services than the county has, describing parts of the area that are now in unincorporated DeKalb as “blighted.” He said it was no different than replacing a vendor who hadn’t done their job.
“None of you would keep a yard service who doesn’t give you the same level of service that they do the neighbor next door,” Blumberg said. “You’d fire that yard service and get a new one.”
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