Decatur residents speak out against annexation

Over 100 people attended Decatur’s public session regarding annexation Monday. Thirty-one people spoke, with 20 against annexation, many of those city residents who don’t want Decatur getting larger, or who expressed concern about the added burden on the school system.

Decatur’s “Draft Annexation Master Plan,” includes commercial parcels North Decatur Square, Patel Plaza, Suburban Plaza, DeKalb Medical Center and Emory Commons along with the United Methodist Children’s Home.

Eighty-one per cent of the proposed annexed area is commercial, 19 percent residential—this in a city who current real property tax digest is 86 percent residential, 14 percent commercial. Annexation is projected to add 580 school-aged children by 2020.