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Vista Grove proposal may become city of North Decatur, would include Scottdale and Medlock Park

Annexation and new cities Decatur Metro ATL Trending

Vista Grove proposal may become city of North Decatur, would include Scottdale and Medlock Park

Sen. Sally Harrell. Photo obtained via https://www.legis.ga.gov/
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This story has been updated.

Greater Decatur, GA — Proposals for new cities in DeKalb County didn’t move forward in this legislative session, but legislators are continuing to explore options.

Decaturish has learned that state Sen. Sally Harrell (D-Atlanta) is preparing a proposal for a city of North Decatur. The proposal would be a rebranding of the proposed city of Vista Grove, with an expanded map that would include Scottdale, Medlock Park and neighborhoods that recently expressed an interest in joining the city of Brookhaven, according to state Sen. Elena Parent and a map of the proposed city. State Rep. Mary Margaret Oliver also is familiar with the proposal, but referred all questions to Harrell.

Parent said the idea isn’t going anywhere this year.

“That’s the substitute proposal she’s been working on for the Vista Grove legislation we sponsored a couple of years ago,” Parent said. “I believe the boundaries of this proposed city extend a little farther south than did the ones in the bill we filed a couple of years ago.”

Parent anticipates discussions about the city of North Decatur idea over the next year.

“The idea would be we would have a couple of delegation meetings over the interim and see what neighborhoods think,” Parent said. “I’m not sure exactly how [Sen. Harrell] wants to plan public input.”

Parent said Vista Grove advocates are “supportive” of the idea. Shortly after this story was published, organizers sent out an email announcing the rebranding effort.

The email says, “The Vista Grove Initiative will no longer exist, making way for the North Decatur City Initiative.”

“As proposed, the city of North Decatur extends from Embry Hills in the north to Atlanta, Decatur, and Avondale Estates in the south,” the Vista Grove email says. “It is bounded by I-85 on the west and I-285 on the east (excluding the portions within the cities of Brookhaven, Tucker and Clarkston) and includes a population of approximately 82,000 people.  Upon its creation, the city of North Decatur would be responsible for planning and zoning, roads and drainage, and parks and recreation. North Decatur would partner with DeKalb County on public safety and other services, collaborating with, and continuing to use, the DeKalb County Police Department.”

The full email from Vista Grove appears at the end of this article.

Harrell initially responded to questions about the idea via email.

“Discussions about the municipalization of both north and south DeKalb have occurred during the last few years as part of DeKalb Senate delegation meetings,” Harrell said. “There is no current bill. In particular, legislators have discussed the findings of the Carl Vinson Institute study: Effects of Municipalization on DeKalb County. There are concerns that if annexation by cities in North DeKalb who have their own police departments continue to expand, this could put public safety in jeopardy for the rest of unincorporated DeKalb County.”

She said there is no official, finalized map for the proposed city of North Decatur.

Previous maps showed Vista Grove would be bordered by I-85 on the northwest side, I-285 on the eastern side and would have a population of around 60,000 people.  A member of the Vista Grove team provided Decaturish with a draft map of the city of North Decatur. You can see that by clicking here. The city would have five council districts.

Here’s a screenshot of the map:

“Discussions have been ongoing for years,” Harrell said. “I believe legislators, including myself, need to provide leadership on this issue. It is simply not going away and should not be ignored. The current discussion indicates to me that legislators are beginning to take the lead on this issue.”

Harrell said there are plans to hold community meetings when the legislative session ends. She followed up with a phone call to emphasize this idea is being driven by the county’s legislative delegation.

“This has really been what I would call a legislative initiative where the legislators are taking control of the discussions,” Harrell said. “It’s the legislators that have put their heads together on this. It’s the way it has to go. Community groups can start these initiatives, but eventually legislators need [to act] on it.”

She said she hasn’t spoken with city of Decatur leaders about the possibility of the city expanding its borders, but the issue there is the city’s independent school district. Any annexation by the city of Decatur would possibly take commercial tax revenue away from the county. She also studied the idea of expanding other existing cities via annexation, but said she couldn’t come up with a proposal that satisfied everyone.

On the Vista Grove Facebook page, supporters on March 28 posted a message from Harrell that made reference to the city of North Decatur idea.

“During the last two years, I have spent a significant amount of time discussing and researching the impact of forming a city in unincorporated DeKalb north of Decatur — which happens to be where I live,” the message from Harrell said. “There are several reasons why this has become urgent.”First, a new city in north DeKalb would protect DeKalb County Schools by permanently defining school district lines relative to cities that have their own school systems (Decatur and Atlanta). This keeps them from annexing commercial areas that have a strong tax base and few students, which would drain revenues from DeKalb schools. Second, surrounding cities with their own police departments are actively annexing unincorporated neighborhoods, which enlarges their city police force. A recent study conducted by the Carl Vinson Institute on Government concluded that expansion of city police departments in north DeKalb is significantly and adversely impacting the DeKalb Department of Public Safety. There is now a consensus that any new city will contract with DeKalb for police services. Finally, residents of this area need a stronger local voice in regional planning. For example, the mayors along the 285 corridor have been working on adding Bus Rapid Transit to the 285 express lanes plan, but the residents in the unincorporated areas are not at the table.”

Here’s the full message published on the Vista Grove page:

Cities Galore!

The idea of smaller county commission districts appeals to me because smaller districts mean elected officials are closer to the people. Perhaps if the number of commissions had gradually increased as the county grew, service delivery would be better than it is today.

When we think of cities, most of us imagine a picture book version with a downtown area, neighborhood fire department, library, schools, sidewalks and a nicely designed City Hall. But in Georgia, how services are delivered at the city and county level is much more complicated than this because of how it is spelled out in our Georgia State Constitution.

For instance, the whole of DeKalb actually began functioning as a city in 1972 with the passage of “Amendment 19” that allowed counties to deliver services such as police/fire, water/sewer, parks/recreation and garbage collection. Prior to that the DeKalb Commission was called “The Commission of Roads and Revenue,” because that’s about all the county did. Outside cities, services were provided by the state.

Further, the Georgia Constitution defines what a city is, and it says a city must deliver a minimum of three services. The Georgia constitution does not allow for a layer of government such as “townships” or “villages” that you sometimes see in other states.

Sometimes it feels like we’re trying to squeeze our new cities into the kind of box our constitution offers, but what we really need is a different sized box. This is why Sen. Elena Parent and I are considering authoring a constitutional amendment that specifically spells out which services need to stay with the county. Currently, every time a city forms the county services contract. This not only makes for difficult management, but there are some services that are just better off being managed county-wide. I’ll keep you posted on how this effort develops.

So when you think about cities in DeKalb county, and perhaps whether or not you want to live in one, I encourage you to think less about cities you might see in picture books, and more about how services are best delivered.

That being said, there are many cityhood proposals being batted around by the legislature this session. They are all far from the same, and must be discussed individually on their own merits and demerits.

The most visible is the secession of Buckhead, and it is not a pretty picture. It’s reminiscent of the 2018 Eagles Landing referendum, which was rejected by voters. Had it passed, Eagles Landing would have siphoned half the tax revenue from the city of Stockbridge while creating a new city one-third the size, made up of the neighborhoods with the highest tax bases. Not only does this Buckhead proposal put Atlanta Public Schools at risk, but the loss of bond ratings would put the entire state at risk.

Cobb county has several cityhood proposals: 1) HB 826 “Vinings”, population 7000; 2) HB 840 “Lost Mountain” in west Cobb, population 75,000 and 3) HB 841 “East Cobb,” population 60,000. These are being rushed through the legislature now.

During the last two years I have spent a significant amount of time discussing and researching the impact of forming a city in unincorporated DeKalb north of Decatur — which happens to be where I live. There are several reasons why this has become urgent.

First, a new city in north DeKalb would protect DeKalb County Schools by permanently defining school district lines relative to cities that have their own school systems (Decatur and Atlanta). This keeps them from annexing commercial areas that have a strong tax base and few students, which would drain revenues from DeKalb schools.

Second, surrounding cities with their own police departments are actively annexing unincorporated neighborhoods, which enlarges their city police force. A recent study conducted by the Carl Vinson Institute on Government concluded that expansion of city police departments in north DeKalb is significantly and adversely impacting the DeKalb Department of Public Safety. There is now a consensus that any new city will contract with DeKalb for police services.

Finally, residents of this area need a stronger local voice in regional planning. For example, the mayors along the 285 corridor have been working on adding Bus Rapid Transit to the 285 express lanes plan, but the residents in the unincorporated areas are not at the table.

In the past, Republicans have used their majority power to ram through cityhood bills without getting the consent of local elected legislators. Instead, DeKalb Senators will utilize the “local bill” process, which requires the support of the majority of legislators in the entire DeKalb delegation for passage. This process ensures that residents of the whole county have a voice in what is decided.

Senator Sally Harrell, March 27, 2022

Here is the full message from Vista Grove organizers announcing their rebranding as the City of North Decatur Initiative:

Whether you were a supporter of the cityhood efforts for Briarcliff, Lakeside City, LaVista Hills, Vista Grove, or all of the above—Thank you!  Thank you for thinking about what cityhood means to you, sharing your thoughts with friends and neighbors, signing petitions, writing your legislators, attending events, raising funds, donating money or performing one of the many other tasks which have moved our cityhood initiatives forward.  Whether you spent a few hours, or hundreds of hours, thank you for helping to create and implement a vision for a city made up of the neighborhoods and surroundings that we know and love.

We have been in discussion with our legislators about a different plan for a city, encompassing much of our previous area, and adding others. We feel that this new map presents a more cohesive alternative to our previous proposal. As such, the Vista Grove Initiative will no longer exist, making way for the North Decatur City Initiative.

As proposed, the city of North Decatur extends from Embry Hills in the north to Atlanta, Decatur, and Avondale Estates in the south.  It is bounded by I-85 on the west and I-285 on the east (excluding the portions within the cities of Brookhaven, Tucker and Clarkston) and includes a population of approximately 82,000 people.  Upon its creation, the city of North Decatur would be responsible for planning and zoning, roads and drainage, and parks and recreation.  North Decatur would partner with Dekalb County on public safety and other services, collaborating with, and continuing to use, the Dekalb County Police Department.

With a footprint expanded beyond the footprint previously proposed for Vista Grove in SB507 (introduced by Senator Sally Harrell and Senator Elena Parent in March 2020 just before Covid19 stopped everything) the North Decatur City Initiative is looking for new ideas and new leaders—leaders and ideas from across the footprint!  We hope you will join us.

Please check out the North Decatur City Initiative website (where a map of the North Decatur footprint is available), follow us on Facebook, and share this news with your friends and neighbors.

Thank you again for being the wonderful supporters of cityhood that you have been.  We look forward to seeing you soon and working with you to create the city of North Decatur!

– Your Vista Grove Volunteer Team

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