The state Senate passed a bill Wednesday that would allow residents of north-central DeKalb County to create Georgia’s newest city later this year.
Senate Bill 270 passed 32-18 to create the city of Lakeside. Its exact boundaries, however, changed with a new map introduced on the floor by the bill’s sponsor, Sen. Fran Millar, R-Dunwoody. Millar wants to include nearby Tucker, where residents had already proposed forming a separate city unto themselves.
Democratic senators who represent the area responded angrily to the change, noted a growing controversy and confusion over Lakeside’s overlapping boundaries with both the would-be Tucker and another proposed city nearby, Briarcliff.
Lakeside’s borders are mostly in dispute with Tucker, another heavily Republican area. Both have laid claim to the lucrative Northlake area to help the tax base of their proposed new cities.
The bill now heads to the House for consideration. The DeKalb delegation has held off on cityhood proposals this year because of the boundary battles.
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