The DeKalb Municipal Association is asking its cities to submit annexation plans, no matter how tentative, during a late-July meeting, date still undetermined.
The DMA wants to assimilate all proposed annexations onto a single map for presentation to the Georgia General Assembly during the 2017 legislative session.
The DMA wants cities to show what services they can provide in annexed areas, along with a “reasonable” balance in commercial and residential property, according to Managing Director and former Decatur Mayor Bill Floyd.
“We want to make a compelling case with the legislature that what’s best for the cities is also best for the county,” said Floyd.
No annexations were proposed this year as state lawmakers decided whether to allow referendums on forming new cities Stonecrest and Greenhaven in south DeKalb.
Although Greenhaven along with its proposed population 300,000 was rejected, it’s likely to receive renewed support in 2017. All the more reason, Floyd believes, for established cities to solidify their annexation proposals.
“Last year Greenhaven’s border came up to everybody else’s borders,” he said. “That was not feasible. The [established cities] need to decide what they want, then if Greenhaven comes along they can take what’s left over.”
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