Brookhaven Annexation and Incorporation to be Studied by Local Universities

The president of a local homeowners and business association announced Tuesday night that the organization paid The Georgia Institute of Technology and Clark Atlanta University a total of $25,000 for a  six-month study to determine the financial and social benefits of annexation and/or incorporation of Brookhaven.

Kevin Hughley, who heads the Brookhaven Chamblee Homeowners and Neighborhood Business Alliance (BCHNBA), said the study will prove what the alliance already knows - that the idea of incorporation is too costly, he said.

"We're trying to create another city? When you create a city, you've got to pay for it," Hughley said.

The announcement follows an attempt early this month by State Rep. Mike Jacobs (R-80) and colleague Tom Taylor (R-79) to introduce a bill that would allow North Brookhaven neighborhoods, particularly areas of Murphey Candler, West Nancy Creek and Silver Lake, the ability to annex with Dunwoody. Jacobs since amended HB 428 to include Chamblee. The bill was favorably reported in House Committee on March 10 and Jacobs said he would table the bill until 2012 to allow for additional time to discuss the proposal. He also noted in communications to constituents that a bill to allow for Brookhaven's incorporation,wouldn't be introduced until 2014.

Jacobs told Patch Wednesday morning that a group of citizens are organizing to lead fund-raising efforts on a separate feasibility study. This separate study, Jacobs said, would be conducted by the Carl Vincent Institute of Government at the University of Georgia.

"I wouldn’t pass any kind of incorporation of Brookhaven without a feasibility study. In fact, it is required by the rules that govern the House Governmental Affairs Committee," Jacobs said.

Discussion around whether Brookhaven should move toward independence from DeKalb County has been an on-and-off topic for years and a conversation some thought had since died, was resurrected by Jacobs' bill.

The community - home to more than 47,000 residents - receives its essential services, including  trash, police and fire from DeKalb County. Proponents of the idea of incorporation or annexation want more local control over planning, zoning and land use

Jacobs said support to continue to explore the option is "running about 3:1" based on phone calls and emails received this year alone.

Hughley, however, was critical of Jacobs saying he was motivated by the idea of maintaining a Republican stronghold in his district.

Jacobs discounted the opinion, and said his motivation comes solely from, "the desire of citizens, particularly in the unincorporated peninsula in the neighborhoods bounded by I-285 to the north, surrounded by the Fulton County line on the west and the City of Chamblee on the east, to explore these options."

A recent telephone poll in which Jacobs surveyed a sampling of 227 of the 6,000 registered voters in the Montgomery, Ashford Parkside, and Ashford Dunwoody voting precincts, denote that out of the 68 Democrats polled, 61 percent favored annexation or incorporation.

"It is clear from this poll of registered voters that an overwhelming majority of them favor some form of municipal government, whether it be incorporation of a new City of Brookhaven or joining one of the existing cities of Dunwoody or Chamblee," Jacobs said.

"I don't believe that a small self-appointed group dedicated to preserving DeKalb County's power base should be able to block the will of the citizens of our area."

Read the results of Jacobs' telphone poll here.