The City of Decatur has released a proposed annexation map and is fielding petitions for annexation. Boundaries for the proposed cities of Briarcliff/Lakeside and Tucker will be decided by the end of the year. Meanwhile, the Druid Hills neighborhood is moving quickly toward a vote on annexing into the City of Atlanta. While the fate of Clairmont Heights is very unclear, we don’t have to sit on the sidelines. We have the opportunity right now to make our preferences known to all parties involved. So speak up and help the Clairmont Heights Civic Association determine what position you prefer. Below is background on our neighborhood’s four main options.
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OPTION 1: PETITION CITY OF DECATUR FOR ANNEXATION
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OPTION 2: TRY TO JOIN DRUID HILLS ANNEXATION INTO CITY OF ATLANTA
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OPTION 3: SEEK INCLUSION IN NEW CITY OF BRIARCLIFF/LAKESIDE
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OPTION 4: REMAIN UNINCORPORATED
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BACKGROUND
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The City of Decatur plans to submit an annexation proposal to the General Assembly for approval during the 2015 legislative session. This would likely include the businesses on N. Decatur Rd. at Clairmont Rd. The City of Decatur has announced that it will be holding public hearings and receiving petitions for annexation from mid-Sept through mid-Oct. Their goal: have a final annexation plan by November. If annexing into Decatur is attractive to Clairmont Heights residents, we would likely need to demonstrate that well over half of voters would support the idea and do so within the next month.
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There have been no official proposals for annexation of this or other areas in central DeKalb (other than Druid Hills and Emory University) into City of Atlanta, however the Druid Hills Civic Association (DHCA) and Emory University have held meetings with surrounding neighborhoods, including representatives from Clairmont Heights, to gain input. Since Clairmont Heights is not contiguous with Atlanta and therefore cannot petition the city directly for annexation, we could only propose annexation into Atlanta if our neighborhood were to be included in the annexation of Druid Hills.
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The three groups proposing new cities (Lakeside, Briarcliff and Tucker) have until Nov. 15 to agree on a new map incorporating areas of central DeKalb. If they don’t, a bipartisan legislative committee will draw the map Clairmont Heights has been included in some versions of the Briarcliff map and excluded from all versions of the Lakeside map. Inclusion in the boundaries of a proposed city map is the only way that residents get the opportunity to vote on a map. If the majority of residents in Clairmont Heights want to be included in a new city, we would stand a much better chance of being included in any new map drawn by either organization.
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While it is technically possible for Clairmont Heights to remain unincorporated, that is looking increasingly unlikely. If the cities of Briarcliff/Lakeside and Tucker form and Druid Hills gets annexed into Atlanta, it is unlikely that an area in central DeKalb will remain unincorporated. It is more likely that Clairmont Heights will be included in newly created city or existing city.
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SCHOOLS
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Clairmont Heights children would go to City of Decatur schools. It is unclear at this time which elementary school (K-3) the Clairmont Heights children would attend.
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As stated above, our ability to annex into Atlanta is dependent on what DHCA proposes. However, if CHCA were to be annexed by City of Atlanta, it is likely that our children would continue attending Fernbank and Druid Hills High School (DHHS).
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Our children would still be students in the DeKalb school system, so they could technically remain in our current schools. But if Atlanta annexes Druid Hills and pulls Fernbank and Druid Hills High into the Atlanta Public School system, we would be redistricted into other DeKalb schools.
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There are many unknowns here. But if Druid Hills annexes into Atlanta, and Fernbank and Druid Hills High School are transferred to Atlanta Public Schools, our children would likely be redistricted to other DeKalb schools.
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OPTION 1: PETITION CITY OF DECATUR FOR ANNEXATION
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OPTION 2: TRY TO JOIN DRUID HILLS ANNEXATION INTO CITY OF ATLANTA
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OPTION 3: SEEK INCLUSION IN NEW CITY OF BRIARCLIFF/LAKESIDE
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OPTION 4: REMAIN UNINCORPORATED
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PROPERTY VALUES
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Real estate professionals estimate values for existing structures annexed into Decatur increase $30,000 to $50,000 on average, according to the FAQ document on the city website.
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We anticipate that home values would likely remain similar or increased based on continued zoning for Fernbank and DHHS.
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Since education tends to drive and support the property values of the neighborhood, values would be dependent on these outcomes.
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This would depend heavily on the quality of the schools, our taxes and our services.
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TAXES
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Taxes would likely increase, depending on the applicability of Decatur’s homestead exemptions. Check out the tax calculator on Decatur’s website.
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Taxes would likely increase, depending on home values and the applicability of Atlanta’s homestead exemptions, according to calculations comparing Atlanta taxes to taxes in unincorporated DeKalb on the Druid Hills Community Association’s website.
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The Briarcliff initiative’s website claims there shouldn’t be any change in taxes, initially at least.
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Again, there are many unknowns. But if areas such as Druid Hills and Lakeside (which contribute more in taxes than they use) enter new and existing cities, there is a real risk that we could be left holding the bag and our taxes could shoot upward.
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SERVICES
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Services such as water and sewer would remain with DeKalb. Decatur would provide city services such as the sidewalk program, police and fire protection, and code enforcement. More details are in the annexation section of Decatur’s website.
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Services such as water and sewer would remain with DeKalb. Atlanta would take over planning and zoning, as well as police services, code enforcement, and other city services.
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Services such as water and sewer would remain with DeKalb. A new city would likely provide police, code enforcement, zoning and other city services.
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Again, this is unclear. But if we were left as a more isolated pocket, the fear would be that everything from policing to code enforcement would be more cumbersome to perform in our area and, as a result, drop in quality.
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TIMELINE
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This is the most time-sensitive option: our neighborhood would need to make a significant showing of support for annexation into Decatur by the end of September.
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Druid Hills has said it wants to finalize its map and determine whether its residents favor annexation into Atlanta by Thanksgiving. Assuming that the residents of Druid Hills decide in November to pursue annexation into Atlanta, if our neighborhood wishes to follow suit we likely will need to aggressively pursue annexation at that time.
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In order for cities to meet their Nov. 15 deadline for agreeing on a new map, we would realistically have to show strong support for inclusion in a new city by mid- to late October.
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No timeline.
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