True to his word, state Sen. Kasim Reed has introduced two bills in the Georgia General Assembly that may well change the future of South Fulton County.

If successful in their trek through the Senate and House, the bills will provide a growing number of residents dissatisfied with the current state of affairs in unincorporated South Fulton the opportunity to consider the creation of two cities where none exists today. Reed is slated to drop the bills next week.

Reed’s legislation calls for the incorporation of the City of Chattahoochee Hill Country and the City of South Fulton. Totaling 183 square miles, the two areas represent the entire land mass of unincorporated South Fulton County.

The areas extend from Atlanta, East Point and College Park on the east side to the Cliftondale and Cedar Grove areas and on to Rico and Chattahoochee Hill Country on the far west side. Ga. Highway 154 is the line where the two proposed cities would meet. Running in a near straight north-south line from the Chattahoochee River at the Douglas County line south to Palmetto, the area to the east of Hwy. 154 would encompass the City of South Fulton, also being referred to as Campbell, while the area west of Hwy. 154 would form Chattahoochee Hills.

The bills establish a framework for residents of the two areas to study the issues in preparation for a referendum in November 2006 or 2007.

A topic familiar to the many recent town hall meetings held by Reed and Commissioner Bill Edwards concerned possible short-term annexation by one or more of the cities bordering the unincorporated areas. If other cities attempt to annex portions of unincorporated land prior to the measure going into law, Reed said that would be something he “would have to deal with personally.” Once enacted into law to make establishment of the cities possible, residents will still be protected prior to the referendums, he said. Any municipality that attempts to annex prior to a vote will trigger a mechanism in the bills that provides for an immediate vote by South Fulton and Chattachoochee Hills residents. Provisions of the bill also call for holding a second vote in the event the first vote fails.

Addressing the need for the inclusion of the Fulton Industrial economic engine within the Campbell corporate limits, Reed said he was introducing legislation that would repeal current state law barring Fulton Industrial from being annexed by any municipality. That restriction must be lifted to have Fulton Industrial included in the city, he said.

“In order to bring it into the city and draw down the tax revenue, the restriction has to be removed,” Reed said Wednesday. “In order to access the revenue the law has to be changed.”

Unincorporated South Fulton County totals approximately 120,000 acres, of which approximately 90 percent is undeveloped. The area is roughly the size of neighboring Fayette County. Though cited as home to 53,000 residents in the 2000 Census, the area is growing rapidly. At the Feb. 13 town hall meeting at the South Annex, Reed told residents that an example of the explosive growth in South Fulton was the 20,000 single-family home permits currently in the pipeline. That growth brings with it a significant number of high-end residential properties. A measure of the growing affluence across South Fulton County can be seen in the Walden Park, Serenbe and Le Jardin developments.

The bills to create the cities of South Fulton and Chattahoochee Hills can be viewed at www.legis.state.ga.us The bills, SB 552 and SB 553, can be accessed by clicking on the “Legislation” area on the right side of the home page and entering the Senate Bill numbers in the search feature.

Reed’s bills and other information pertinent to the incorporation issues can be obtained at www.southfultonconcernedcitizens.org.

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