Some north DeKalb County residents have begun organizing themselves to campaign for the creation of a new city of Brookhaven.
About 200 residents attended a meeting Jan. 17 during which members of BrookhavenYES, a newly formed advocacy group, solicited volunteers to help lobby state lawmakers and promote incorporation of the proposed new city.
“It’s just time for us to have a smaller government, one that’s more responsive to our needs,” said Stan Segal, one of eight BrookhavenYES leaders who led the meeting at Oglethorpe University.
After the general discussion, members of the crowd signed up for committees to handle communications, grassroots organizing, community outreach, business outreach and lobbying the state Legislature.
“Tonight’s meeting is for people who want to get to vote July 31,” BrookhavenYES member Linley Jones told the crowd at Oglethorpe. “If we want that vote, we have to organize now.”
Reps. Mike Jacobs, R-DeKalb County, and Tom Taylor, R-Dunwoody, have introduced legislation to create a city to be called Brookhaven in an area roughly bounded by Chamblee, Dunwoody, Sandy Springs, Atlanta, I-85, Clairmont Road, and the DeKalb-Peachtree Airport.
A city in the area would cover about 12 square miles and would include more than 49,000 residents, making it the most populous city in DeKalb County, according to a study by the Carl Vinson Institute of the University of Georgia that found the city could be financed without raising homeowners’ property taxes above the level charged by DeKalb.
Jacobs has predicted the legislation will pass this year. Residents in the area may vote this summer on whether to create the new city, Jacobs has said.
The proposal has produced opposition. Laurenthia Mesh of the opposition group Ashford Neighbors said Jan. 18 that she had sent state lawmakers copies of about 500 signatures on a petition asking to slow down the incorporation process. “Our community has been here since 1822,” when the county was set up, she said. “Residents] have a strong sense of community. They want to be left alone.”
At the Oglethorpe meeting, members of BrookhavenYES argued the new city would improve police protection and park maintenance in the area, increase the local government’s responsiveness and increase enforcement of zoning and building codes on apartments along Buford Highway.
“DeKalb County has 700,000 people in it. We’re larger than many states of the union,” BookhavenYES provisional president J. Max Davis said. “The whole purpose of this movement is to localize things.”
Questions from some members of the audience made it clear that not everyone in the crowd was convinced they needed a new city. “Why in the world does Atlanta and Ashford Park need any more government?” one audience member asked. “Who’s going to pay for it?
But others welcomed the proposal. “I’m encouraged by what’s happened in Sandy Springs and what happened in Dunwoody,” said John Withers. “It needs to happen here. Local people handling local problems – I’m for that.”
Sue Binkert of the Brookhaven Fields community said she was “absolutely for” the proposed new city. “I think it’s an opportunity that should not be missed for local control and for the quality of life of people in this area,” she said.
