Dunwoody bill gains new life
Referendum to create city makes 'miraculous comeback'
by Andy Phelan
andy@dekalbchamp.com
The rumors of Dunwoody’s demise as a city in 2008 have been greatly exaggerated.
That was the word after a Feb. 26 House hearing in which a member of the Government Affairs committee who originally voted against sending the measure to the floor, instead brought the matter back to life.
Rep. Mark Hatfield [R-Waycross], who apparently did not know what he was voting on at a hearing Jan. 31 in which a bill on Dunwoody incorporation was defeated 6-7, has now reversed his vote.
Committee chair Austin Scott [R-Tifton] said parliamentary rules allow Hatfield to bring it back for a second vote. The measure passed 7-5.
DeKalb delegation chairman Stan Watson [D-Decatur] was given the courtesy of addressing the committee, but his objections to the unusual procedures fell on deaf ears.
It gives residents in the north DeKalb enclave who support cityhood hope they may still have their day on the ballot this summer.
The bill, SB82, now goes to the Rules Committee before being put on a calendar and sent to the House floor for a vote.
The move to incorporate Dunwoody, which has fractured local lawmakers, has been in the works for more than two years.
Residents of a potential city of about 40,000 residents say they seek more local control of land use and planning, parks, zoning and police.
Opponents say the push is nothing more than a modern secession.
The two sides differ on how much it will all cost.
The Citizens for Dunwoody Inc., a group that supports cityhood, say city taxes would be $498 per person, per year and would only cost the county about $6 million a year.
Their budget and services model is based on a study by the Carl Vinson Institute at University of Georgia.
The county says the impact will be more like $16 million a year.
"If the people of north and south Fulton got their opportunity to vote for cityhood, why shouldn’t we?" said Rep. Fran Millar [R-Dunwoody]. "All we’re talking about is letting people vote."
Dunwoody resident and member of the county Zoning Board of Appeals Bob Lundsten, agreed with Millar.
"It needs to go to the House floor," said Lundsten, who has at times been critical of the cityhood plan. "Citizens of Dunwoody should have the right to vote to decide their own form of government." |
