Rep. Michele Henson. Source: Facebook

This story has been updated. 

Decaturish has learned new details about a mysterious proposal for a city of Winship that will soon be introduced in the General Assembly.

The DeKalb Champion has confirmed that state Rep. Michele Henson, D-Stone Mountain, has purchased the ad, indicating the is the likely sponsor of the bill.

“Notice is given that there will be introduced at the regular 2015 session of the general assembly of Georgia a bill to incorporate a new municipality in DeKalb County called Winship to provide for related matters and for other purposes,” the text of the ad reads.

It will run in the Champion on March 5.

Other details about the Winship idea, including a proposed map, are not known. Decaturish reached out to Henson for comment, and this story will be updated when she responds.

There are several proposals for new cities and annexations in DeKalb County.

The new cities currently under consideration are Tucker, LaVista Hills, Greenhaven and Stonecrest. A city of Winship could be a wildcard that adds further confusion to an already muddled process. In addition to those cities, there are also annexation plans under consideration for Decatur, Avondale Estates and the city of Atlanta.

In spite of all of these plans for DeKalb County cities and annexations, there are still areas that aren’t in any map, like Medlock and portions of Scottdale. It’s possible that the new map could attempt to resolve some of those unincorporated islands left out of the current cityhood and annexation process. But what isn’t known is if the Winship map would overlap with any of the current cityhood and annexation plans.

On Tuesday, March 3, the proposed cities of Tucker and LaVista Hills were approved in a House subcommittee hearing. Those bills were approved by the Governmental Affairs Committee on Wednesday, March 4.

A bill for a city of Stonecrest was also introduced on March 4.

Allen Venet, with LaVista Hills Yes, said that during the subcommittee hearing on Tuesday, members approved the LaVista Hills and Tucker bills over the objections of state Rep. Mary Margaret Oliver, D-Decatur. Venet said Oliver was objecting to it because those bills overlapped with annexation proposals: LaVista Hills conflicts with a proposal for Atlanta annexation, and Tucker conflicts with a proposal for Stone Mountain.

Venet said state Rep. Billy Mitchell, D-Stone Mountain, countered that because those annexation proposals had not been introduced, technically there was no conflict. Rep. Oliver today clarified that she is not a member of the subcommittee and is not allowed to vote.

“Not a member of sub committee, wasn’t allowed to vote, but was making objections (to violation) of rules,” Oliver said via email.

Venet said he hadn’t heard about the Winship proposal before yesterday.

“I am going to take it with a grain of salt that it is for real,” he said. “My best guess is it might be somebody’s tactical idea to add even more confusion.”

Correction: An earlier version of this story contained incorrect information regarding Rep. Mary Margaret Oliver’s subcommittee membership. She is not a member of the subcommittee that approved the Tucker and LaVista Hills bill and therefore did not have a vote.