Decatur’s commission accepted a petition Monday night to annex 14 parcels owned by 11 landowners located within the wedge created by North Arcadia Drive and East Ponce de Leon Avenue,
The move—property owners are seeking the 100 percent annexation method—is a likely precursor to a mixed use development anchored by a grocery, long rumored to be Publix. The parcels still have to go before the Planning Commission then back to the City Commission, so it would take at least three months before they are officially part of the city.
The tract comes to just under 10 acres with only 1.4 acres currently within Decatur, but annexation would assimilate the entire package.
Alliance Realty Services has preliminary plans for a development featuring 265 apartments, two 6,000 square foot buildings of retail/restaurant and a 52,000 square foot grocery. Alliance still won’t confirm that the grocery is a Publix.
The apartment breakdown is roughly 70 percent one-bedroom and 30 percent two-bed. Initially Alliance anticipated breaking ground in mid to late 2018, although that’s probably now ambitious given the annexation timetable.
City Manager Peggy Merriss said that there has yet been no formal discussion with Decatur’s school board.
“We will do an analysis regarding the impact on city schools,” she said. “But our data shows that apartments built in the city the last three or four years haven’t attracted many school kids. We are going to make sure any annexation is advantageous to both the city and our schools.”
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