Brookhaven City Council decided to defer voting on whether to rezone and annex the Century Center office complex into the city at a special called meeting July 22.
City Council was scheduled to take a final vote on the annexation July 23. But after council members raised concerns about rezoning the approximately 100-acre commercial center just south of Brookhaven, Councilman Joe Gebbia made a motion to defer the vote to the Council’s Aug. 13 meeting.
Though it wasn’t cited directly by Council, the deferral was also due to a temporary restraining order filed by the city of Chamblee. The restraining order blocks Brookhaven officials from taking any action to rezone or annex Century Center until a court hearing is held.
Relations between the neighboring cities have been strained since the owners of Century Center applied for annexation into Brookhaven July 1. The commercial property is also part of an annexation referendum that, if passed by voters in November, would place Century Center and residents of the Dresden East neighborhoods into the city of Chamblee.
Mayor J. Max Davis said the temporary restraining order was another reason that it made sense for City Council to postpone the Century Center vote.
“We reached out to the city of Chamblee and they told us they didn’t want to meet,” Davis said.
But Chamblee Councilman Thomas Hogan, who attended the Brookhaven City Council meeting, said there’s nothing to talk to about. He said the referendum was passed by the Georgia General Assembly and states that if approved by voters, the property will become part of Chamblee.
“In the event this haphazard city were to vote in favor of a reckless annexation, you could bet it would be for two months because the referendum would take precedence over a self-serving city council,” Hogan said.