By Joe Earle
joeearle@reporternewspapers.net
and Michaela Kron
An annexation plan that would substantially increase the size of the city of Chamblee is being considered in the state Legislature.
Rep. Fran Millar (R-Dunwoody) said he presented the annexation proposal to the DeKalb County delegation earlier this week. He said the delegation could act on the bill within several weeks. It then would go to the full House of Representatives and state Senate.
If the bill is approved by both legislative bodies, a public vote by residents of the area of the annexation could be taken in the fall.
Millar said the annexation was supported strongly by residents of the area, which includes portions of the Huntley Hills neighborhood. It also has been endorsed by city officials in Chamblee.
“I don’t see why anyone would have a real problem with this,” Millar said.
Adam Stine, former president of the Huntley Hills Neighborhood Association, said the group polled the neighborhood found 83 percent of the residents favored the annexation.
Stine has lived in the area, now in unincorporated DeKalb County, for more than 17 years. He said he supported the annexation because Chamblee should provide him and his neighbors with better police response and with pickups of yard waste — “better police protection and the leaf sucker-upper,” he said. “And better government.”
The area of the annexation would add to Chamblee and area north of the city and generally bounded by Chamblee-Dunwoody Road, North Peachtree Road, North Shallowford Road and I-285. The area could take in as many as 850 homes, Millar said.
Millar’s legislation does not propose annexing into Chamblee a second area west of the city and east of Ashford-Dunwoody Road. The area had been identified as a possible area for annexation in earlier studies.
If the annexation to the north of the city is approved, it could substantially increase Chamblee’s population, which now is about 10,000, Mayor Eric Clarkson said. The Chamblee City Council has endorsed the annexation, he said.
“I think this would be a good thing,” he said. “I believe a city could provide those folks a higher level of services.”
At an Ashford Alliance Community Association meeting on Jan. 14, Rep. Mike Jacobs (R-Atlanta) called the annexation “a worthwhile proposal at this time.”
“It’s clear to me that the citizens in the area around Huntley Hills want it, and so in that way, it is an important way to help fulfill their wishes,” Jacobs said.
Jacobs also said he will continue to argue for more localized control over the Peachtree Industrial Corridor.
“We protect that area, and we allow the citizens of Doraville a say in what is going to happen on that property, and frankly, I think the redevelopment on that property should be controlled more locally,” Jacobs said.