As DeKalb Cityhood Drives Heat Up, Decatur Refocuses on Annexation

Decatur needs to reexamine what areas it should annex and incorporate into its city limits.

In a memo to the Decatur City Commission, City Manager Peggy Merriss wrote the city needs to take a second look at its annexation efforts, which had a lot of movement last year in the form of several resolutions.

But those efforts skidded to a halt when the city couldn't get the move sponsored in the state legislature.

Now, with  number of cityhood initiatives all over unincorporated DeKalb — Briarcliff, Lakeside, Tucker and Stonecrest — Merriss said Decatur needs to revisit annexation.

"The question before the City Commission is not if all of northern DeKalb County will be municipalized, but when will that happen," Merriss wrote in her Dec. 12 memo.

"Based on last year's General Assembly session, the environment can shift quickly and the City of Decatur needs to take action to determine its future plans and move forward with those plans before it is too late."

She proposes putting together a budget to cover a formal review and analysis.

"This is an important starting point that should be incorporated into the community-based committee discussions about City Schools enrollments and facilities. We also need to continue discussions with the City of Avondale Estates to assure that each city's plans are consistent," she wrote.

"To that end, we anticipate putting together for your consideration in January 2014, a project budget proposal to include professional demographic, financial, capital planning and market analysis assistance to review and analyze potential annexation options and the impacts on the community. This group could also provide assistance and expertise with the efforts of the community-based committee's work."