Given last week’s election results Avondale Estates Mayor Jonathan Elmore believes that “annexation is back on the table.” Fifty-nine percent of the voters approved incorporation of Stonecrest, a city of roughly 50,000 residents in south DeKalb County.
Last summer Avondale drew up a tentative annexation map that includes the neighborhoods of Forrest Hills and Decatur Terrace, those residential areas south of Rockbridge Road, the American Legion property east of the city and the Rio Circle commercial district.
The Carl Vinson Institute is also updating Avondale’s feasibility plan from last year. Vinson concluded last year that annexation would produce an excess tax revenue of $263,456, but that needs revision since this year’s map is slightly different. Elmore said he hopes the study is done in time for the commission’s December work session.
“We need more commercial property,” Elmore said this week. “Down the road we will need a way to pay for road paving, storm water issues and buying property for parks and development.”
Avondale Estates currently has a tax base that is 89 percent residential and 11 percent commercial.
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