Possible New Metro Atlanta Cities? (Sandy Springs, Roswell: credit, homes, construction)

[BringBackCobain]

Now that North Fulton is fully incorporated, and now Dunwoody, operhaps a wave of incorporations are in the future for DeKalb, Gwinnett and Cobb?

What are your thoughts on:
DEKALB
(Obviously the main reason for Dekalb cities would be to escape what Dunwoody supporters called "the inefficient and 'corrupt' Dekalb govt that diverts tax money collected from n. dekalb to s. dekalb")
City of Tucker - Proposal is on the table; Has been proposed as traditional Tucker: 85 on the North, 285 on the west (dipping inside to include Northlake area), 78/Stone Mountian City on the south, Gwinnett on the east.

City of Brookhaven - Would include the North Atlanta CDP, in addition to small area in between Ashford-Dunwoody, 285, and Sandy Springs border, border with 85 on the south, chamblee on the east, and Atlanta on the west.
Reason: Control development that is seeping northward from Buckhead along Peachtree.
Obstacle: Maybe too small for a city? Could just be absorbed by Chamblee and Dunwoody.

City of Briarcliff/North Druid Hills - Would include North Druid Hills CDP and North Decatur CDP; going from 85 on the north, Atlanta on the West, Decatur on the south?, 285 and the new Tucker on the East.
Reason: control development
Obstacle: What would Druid Hills have to say about this, would they want to be included? and would the Druid Hills CDP be included. Also, Decatur may fight it because it would be future annexable areas now unannexable.

GWINNETT
Town/City of Peachtree Corners - Border with Dunwoody/Sandy Springs on the West, Chattahoochee on the North, Berkeley Lake and Duluth to the East, and Peachtree Industial Blvd/Norcross city limts to the South.
Reason: distinguishing itself from the negative connotations associated with a Norcross address (mailing adress for Ptree Corners is Norcross); diassociation from Norcross in order to raise property values; also, inner suburb status means development could be coming rather sooner than later.
Obstacle: Maybe too small an area for a city; survey sent to most homes in Peachtree Corners found residents opposed to incorporation as a city, but if the Georgia Township bill passes, maybe a possiblle "township". Maybe only a CDP or Post Office to get a Peachtree Corners address.

COBB
Vinings: East of Smyrna, North/West of Atlanta; (see Vinings CDP)
Reason: Vings is hot, so obviously to control development
Obstacle: Town meeting was already held on the issue and people were opposed because thier taxes could go up; but like Ptree Corners, possible township.

East Cobb: Obviously east of Marietta, but perhaps a northern boundary of the V created by shallowford and sandy plains roads (so south of shallowford to the west, south of sandy splains to the east)
Reason: Not much of one. Maybe for an east cobb adress, instead of Marietta? or perhaps control development.
Obstacle: Cobb doesnt have the negative connotations Gwinnett has, so no motivation. Also, development has not yet infringed on East Cobb. I really dont see it even incorporating as a town in the near future, but perhaps becoming a CDP or getting its own post office so it can use East Cobb as an address. However, if Cobb continues to change we may see a city down the road.

Others, feel free to add your own hypothesis. Some of these seem likely in the near future though! Sandy Springs was only the beginning...

If your unfamiliar with the CDP's I mentioned, check it out here:
[url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Census-designated_places_in_Georgia_(U.S._state) [/url])

[gt6974a]

If they were to go, I'd say pretty much in the order you have, although I don't really see much of Cobb or Gwinnett going.

[LovinDecatur]

The DeKalb cities are the most likely to happen IMO.
And what about Atlanta itself? The possible secession of Buckhead?
You won't see me crying for the counties of Fulton and DeKalb, or the city of Atlanta. They have been asking for this for a very long time.

[DeaconJ]

Buckhead secession from Atlanta has been dead for a few months now. It will not be happening.

[aries4118]

Originally Posted by BringBackCobain

Now that North Fulton is fully incorporated, and now Dunwoody, operhaps a wave of incorporations are in the future for DeKalb, Gwinnett and Cobb?

What are your thoughts on:
DEKALB
(Obviously the main reason for Dekalb cities would be to escape what Dunwoody supporters called "the inefficient and 'corrupt' Dekalb govt that diverts tax money collected from n. dekalb to s. dekalb")
City of Tucker - Proposal is on the table; Has been proposed as traditional Tucker: 85 on the North, 285 on the west (dipping inside to include Northlake area), 78/Stone Mountian City on the south, Gwinnett on the east.

City of Brookhaven - Would include the North Atlanta CDP, in addition to small area in between Ashford-Dunwoody, 285, and Sandy Springs border, border with 85 on the south, chamblee on the east, and Atlanta on the west.
Reason: Control development that is seeping northward from Buckhead along Peachtree.
Obstacle: Maybe too small for a city? Could just be absorbed by Chamblee and Dunwoody.

City of Briarcliff/North Druid Hills - Would include North Druid Hills CDP and North Decatur CDP; going from 85 on the north, Atlanta on the West, Decatur on the south?, 285 and the new Tucker on the East.
Reason: control development
Obstacle: What would Druid Hills have to say about this, would they want to be included? and would the Druid Hills CDP be included. Also, Decatur may fight it because it would be future annexable areas now unannexable.

GWINNETT
Town/City of Peachtree Corners - Border with Dunwoody/Sandy Springs on the West, Chattahoochee on the North, Berkeley Lake and Duluth to the East, and Peachtree Industial Blvd/Norcross city limts to the South.
Reason: distinguishing itself from the negative connotations associated with a Norcross address (mailing adress for Ptree Corners is Norcross); diassociation from Norcross in order to raise property values; also, inner suburb status means development could be coming rather sooner than later.
Obstacle: Maybe too small an area for a city; survey sent to most homes in Peachtree Corners found residents opposed to incorporation as a city, but if the Georgia Township bill passes, maybe a possiblle "township". Maybe only a CDP or Post Office to get a Peachtree Corners address.

COBB
Vinings: East of Smyrna, North/West of Atlanta; (see Vinings CDP)
Reason: Vings is hot, so obviously to control development
Obstacle: Town meeting was already held on the issue and people were opposed because thier taxes could go up; but like Ptree Corners, possible township.

East Cobb: Obviously east of Marietta, but perhaps a northern boundary of the V created by shallowford and sandy plains roads (so south of shallowford to the west, south of sandy splains to the east)
Reason: Not much of one. Maybe for an east cobb adress, instead of Marietta? or perhaps control development.
Obstacle: Cobb doesnt have the negative connotations Gwinnett has, so no motivation. Also, development has not yet infringed on East Cobb. I really dont see it even incorporating as a town in the near future, but perhaps becoming a CDP or getting its own post office so it can use East Cobb as an address. However, if Cobb continues to change we may see a city down the road.

Others, feel free to add your own hypothesis. Some of these seem likely in the near future though! Sandy Springs was only the beginning...

If your unfamiliar with the CDP's I mentioned, check it out here:
[url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Census-designated_places_in_Georgia_(U.S._state) [/url])

1. The City of Tucker should definitely happen...and I think it will happen eventually. Great option.

2. Brookhaven should be annexed by the City of Atlanta.

3. Briarcliff/Druid Hills should be annexed by the City of Atlanta.

4. I could see Peachtree Corners as separate/incorporated city.

5. Vinings should be annexed by the City of Atlanta.

6. If incorporation ever happens, East Cobb should be 3-8 separate cities/towns.
Possible East Cobb cities/towns:
-East Marietta
-Mount Bethel
-Chattahoochee Plantation
-Shallowford Falls
-Sweat Mountain
-Shallowford Heights
-Noonday
-Blackwell
-Sandy Plains
-Noonday Creek


*I personally think the whole Metro area should be within incorporated territory. And the City of Atlanta should be expanded to include more territory.

[GF72]

East Cobb should not be all those seperate towns... they can be designated as districs with street sign toppers, but an incorporated city needs to be able to support itself financially and provide police and fire services. You can't do that with 10 different 10,000 population areas. Plus East Cobb is the popularly accepted term for the whole area, it's all over the signage and people's speech. East Cobb would be a 100,000 to 120,000 area depending on how close to Cherokee County and Marietta the city limits are drawn, which would put it on the same league as Roswell and Sandy Springs.

East Cobb doesn't need to incorporate though. But they should be given East Cobb, GA addresses instead of Marietta and be considered a CDP for Census statistical purposes. That's completely up to the US Census Bureau though, so someone needs to convince them. Dunwoody has been a CDP all this time with their own address.

BTW, East Cobb already has a post office. Three in fact, and one is actually called the East Cobb Post Office and is located on East Cobb Drive, right across from the East Cobb Shopping Center and the Avenue East Cobb. And I'm pretty sure there are like 10 businesses nearby with the words East Cobb in them. And across from the Mount Bethel Post Office is the East Cobb Government Center. But looking at how unwilling the US Post Office was with Johns Creek (USPS controls all addressing) they are definitely not going to waste time changing anything in an unincorporated area.

Personally, I think the whole metro should be within Atlanta city limits, which would be spread across a couple of counties. Central Fulton and Dekalb would be the central county, the northern suburbs would be another, the western suburbs another, the eastern suburbs another, and the southern suburbs another, and beyond that they can keep it the way it is. And the city itself could just be split into districts that correspond with the current locations (Downtown, Midtown, Buckhead, Perimeter, Alpharetta, Marietta, Cumberland, etc.).

Obviously, that's not going to happen, but that's what a normal metro is like...

[LovinDecatur]

Originally Posted by DeaconJ

Buckhead secession from Atlanta has been dead for a few months now. It will not be happening.

I sense it's more of a 'wait and see' situation than 'dead in the water'...I think that the organizers are waiting to see which way the political winds will be blowing after the next regime change.
Frankly, I think this threat was just that...firing across the bow, as it were, to get the attention of the TPTB. I would be sorry to see this actually happen.

[GF72]

I think a feasible situation would be Buckhead staying within Atlanta city limits but being part of Milton County if that county does form. After all, there are already parts of Atlanta in Dekalb, if Buckhead was grouped in the same county as Sandy Springs and the rest of North Fulton they'd "be with their own kind" but at the same time it would still be the city of Atlanta.

Buckhead leaving Atlanta I think would be disastrous.

[JPD]

As a Tucker resident, I feel it's only fair to point out that in many ways Dekalb county has been very good to Tucker. Not that we don't have our share of problems, but there are a lot of good things going on in Tucker which the county deserves a lot of credit for.

We currently have a new High School and library under construction.
A few years ago we got a new Middle School where an abandoned and decrepit hospital used to sit.
New greenspace/parkland (John's Homestead and Tucker Nature Preserve, to name two) is in the works.
A new police precinct opened in Tucker a few years ago.
A notoriously difficult intersection has recently been redesigned/improved.
New sidewalks and bikelanes are in place leading to the middle school.
(I had a much longer list of positives, but I haven't given this issue much thought in a year or so, so I'm forgetting several examples).

I'm sure there are a lot of benefits to cityhood (better code enforcement, localized police force to name two), but I've attended a lot of the Tucker Civic Association meetings and discussed the issue on various Tucker forums, and most of the arguments in support of cityhood that I've heard either don't hold up to scrutiny, are diversionary tactics to scare people or are ideas that are 100% in opposition to what I and a lot of other residents feel is positive progress.

[LovinDecatur]

Originally Posted by GF72

I think a feasible situation would be Buckhead staying within Atlanta city limits but being part of Milton County if that county does form. After all, there are already parts of Atlanta in Dekalb, if Buckhead was grouped in the same county as Sandy Springs and the rest of North Fulton they'd "be with their own kind" but at the same time it would still be the city of Atlanta.

Buckhead leaving Atlanta I think would be disastrous.

No doubt