Woodstock is asking the Cherokee County legislative delegation to revise state law so that the city’s municipal court can hear traffic cases resulting from Woodstock police writing tickets on Interstate 575.
The current situation dates to April 2011, when the delegation granted an annexation request by Woodstock of the interstate from the Cobb County line to the northern city limits. House Bill 590 allowed the annexation on the condition that the Woodstock Municipal Court have no jurisdiction over the interstate.
Traffic cases would be heard by the state and superior courts of Cherokee County, the legislation says. Today, Woodstock police officers who write citations on I-575 must go to Canton for court hearings. Sending police out of town wastes time and taxpayers’ funds, according to a resolution approved by the Council.
The resolution asks that the delegation “reconsider this restriction so that Woodstock can be treated the same as the other cities in Cherokee County that border I-575 (Ball Ground, Canton and Holly Springs),” which also have annexed portions of the interstate.
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