A group of more than 60 Cedar Grove residents put the national football championship game on hold Wednesday night to learn more about the challenges that lie ahead for unincorporated South Fulton County. The informational meeting at Cedar Grove Community Center was the most recent venue to hear about the proposal to form two cities where unincorporated county now sits.

The Wednesday meeting, like those in other locations during the past few weeks, was designed to let residents know about the upcoming legislative proposal to create the cities of Milton and Johns Creek in North Fulton and the need to address South Fulton’s future by possibly taking the same course. The most recent conversation arising from the idea of incorporating South Fulton is to form two cities instead of one. The dividing line of the two cities would be Ga. Highway 154, with everything west of the road comprising the current Chattahoochee Hill Country area and everything east of the highway comprising the other city, referred to for means of simplicity as Campbell. Meeting organizers said the best outcome to the impending changes in north and south unincorporated Fulton would be a legislatively-initiated referendum so that voters can control their own destiny.

“If we want to control our own destiny, creating new cities is the best thing to do,” said Cedar Grove Community Association President Chuck Miller, reiterating the time-limited nature of the opportunity. “This time next year we probably won’t have the opportunity to do so.”

Miller’s point centered on the announcement last month by East Point to pursue annexing all the way to SR 92 and current legislation that suspends for a year the requirement that a new city cannot be formed within three miles of an existing one. That provision, combined with other current realities following the incorporation of Sandy Springs last year, offers South Fulton residents the capability to consider forming their own cities and sidestepping the likely future incorporation of the area by Atlanta and other South Fulton cities, incorporation proponents say.

“In the wake of what Sandy Springs did, these two other unincorporated areas (Milton and Johns Creek) are getting ready to file their bill with the legislature in January. They hope to go the way of Sandy Springs and incorporate, too,” said Chattahoochee Hill Country resident Lindsey Mosby. “What that means is there will be a lot fewer people to draw on for all the rest of the services and the taxes paid for services to be taken care of.”

Mosby said many of the South Fulton cities have discussed potential annexation of areas of unincorporated South Fulton. Those realities make it necessary for the residents of the unincorporated areas to seriously discuss those matters and to understand that some of the area municipalities have their sights on annexation.

“There are a lot of possibilities that could come to pass. Nothing is set in stone yet that we know of, but the more we educate ourselves and the more we know what we want. We need to be able to say the we’ve met, we’ve talked, we have a plan and we are of a common mind,” Mosby said. “The biggest reality check we’ve had in the past couple of months is how quickly this has all gone down and that something is going to change. We’ve been lucky and blessed for a long time, but we know now that things are not going to remain the same. Different places are going to chip away at the unincorporated land.”

Residents surfaced many questions and offered comments on issues of annexation and its many forms, taxation that would occur if South Fulton were to incorporate, the convoluted legislative issues that are forthcoming and the ways existing county services would be routed if replaced by city services. Clear to some but not clear to others was the geographical boundaries that would divide the unincorporated area of South Fulton into two cities.

Fulton County Commission Blue Ribbon Panel member Rex Renfrow explained the events and circumstances that led to the initiative to incorporate South Fulton. He said the incorporation of Sandy Springs took $23-26 million in tax revenue that had been coming to South Fulton, creating a deficit for the provision of county services. The second thing that happened, he said, is the plan to incorporate the areas of Milton and Johns Creek. That idea will be put to the legislature when the General Assembly goes in session.

“If that happens, and according to what we know from the legislature those bills will be dropped, there is a better than good possibility that those two cities will be created,” Renfrow said. “When that happens that only leaves one unincorporated area in Fulton County and that would be South Fulton. What that means to you is that when you pay your taxes you pay the majority of those taxes to the General Fund for things like the courts, health and welfare, the sheriff. Everybody in the county pays into that fund. And no matter what happens you’ll keep paying those taxes and that’s a lot of money, of which the school board gets half. And then there’s four mills that you pay to the Special Services District. And that’s the taxes you pay for police and fire and the services that are only given to the people who live in unincorporated Fulton.”

Once Milton and Johns Creek become cities, unincorporated Fulton will have only one commissioner they elect, two that they and the remainder of the county vote on and four that they have no say in. Those seven people will decide what happens in unincorporated South Fulton, said Renfrow.

“So we are faced with South Fulton becoming an area over which we have no control in who has a say in what we want to do. So we looked at our options and we have three. One is to do nothing and stay a part of unincorporated Fulton. One is to allow the cities around us to go ahead with their plans to annex us with a 60-40 vote unless the legislature does it (for them). Or we can incorporate and form our own cities.”

Taking the third option would require setting up such as police, fire and planning. But with each of the three options taxes will go up, Renfrow said. The question is how much, he added. The four mills paid into the Special Services Fund would increase if unincorporated South Fulton were annexed into any of the area cities because their tax rate is already higher. The only exception, he said, would be Palmetto.

The one-year time window on creating new cities within three miles of existing cities is the critical factor in determining the future of the north and south areas of Fulton, said Renfrow. State Sen. Kasim Reed is expected to introduce the legislation for the Chattahoochee Hills and Campbell areas soon after the legislature convenes.

“We have one year, one legislative session to get this opportunity,” Renfrow explained. “If the legislature (supports the upcoming bills and) says we have the chance to create a city we would have a referendum and the time to get all the data we need, because we don’t have it right now, and vote on whether we want to become a city or stay unincorporated. The problem is, there’s no time. And the first thing we have to do is get the bill through the legislature to give us the opportunity.”

At the beginning of the meeting, area resident Rodney Peek summed up the reality facing residents of unincorporated South Fulton. Like it or not, they stand on the threshold of a number of coming events that will be handled much more to their liking if they take the time to become informed on the issues and get involved in what will quickly become their future.

“I feel like this is a crucial decision about our community that’s about to be made with or without our input,” said Peek. “The decision is going to be made even if we sit here on our hands. Somebody will make the decision for us. But if we have these meetings and these discussions and come together with one voice we will at least have a voice at the table.”