Senate approves cityhood for LaVista Hills and Tucker
The state Senate passed bills today calling for a referendum on the creation of the cities of LaVista Hills and Tucker.
These measures already passed the state House earlier this month, but a Senate committee changed their shared borders, shifting about 2,000 residents from Tucker to LaVista Hills.
That move could jeopardize both potential cities’ chances of becoming a reality because the House could disagree to new boundaries, forcing the dispute to be worked out in a conference committee with an uncertain outcome.
If LaVista Hills and Tucker are ultimately approved by the Georgia General Assembly, residents would vote on incorporation in a November referendum.
The LaVista Hills measure, House Bill 520, passed on a 38-5 vote, and Tucker's legislation, House Bill 515, was approved 41-1.
A city of LaVista Hills would stretch from an area outside Emory University to the eastern perimeter of I-285 and include roughly 67,000 residents.
A city of Tucker would be home to about 33,000 residents, mostly located to the east of the interstate.
About the Author
Mark Niesse is an enterprise reporter and covers elections and Georgia government for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and is considered an expert on elections and voting. Before joining the AJC, he worked for The Associated Press in Atlanta, Honolulu and Montgomery, Alabama. He also reported for The Daily Report and The Santiago Times in Chile.
