The creation of Georgia’s newest city in north-central DeKalb County stalled Wednesday, after a powerful lawmaker raised questions about picking a winner from three would-be cities.
The House Governmental Affairs Committee voted 8-7 to table Senate Bill 270, which would create a city of Lakeside. House Rules Chairman John Meadows won the narrow vote after saying he wanted to be certain that an announced last-minute deal with neighboring Tucker could also move forward.
The bill to create Tucker stalled this year, though advocates for that city have lobbied heavily to remove parts of its would-be city from Lakeside’s proposal, or encouraged lawmakers to kill Lakeside outright to avoid dividing their century-old city.
State Sen. Fran Millar, R-Dunwoody, announced in the committee hearing that representatives from both cities agreed on a map earlier Wednesday that restored nearly all of Tucker’s proposed borders.
However, the Lakeside map would still include the Toco Hills area to the south and eats into another proposed city Briarcliff. That bill did not advance from the House.
Meadows and representatives from Tucker were meeting Wednesday to discuss his concerns. Meadows said he would be open to approving both city bills from committee and placing both before the House for a vote in the Legislature’s waning days.
“I think we can still work it out,” Meadows said.
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