The future is being written today

The summer of annexation is seeing a flurry of activity in south Fulton County as cities rush to bring targeted areas into their respective cities prior to the Oct. 30 annexation deadline. Large land owner/developers with swaths of land near Union City and Palmetto have recently petitioned to come in to the cities under the 100 percent method, a move that left frustrated, small property owners living near both cities up in arms at planning commission and city council meetings. For the developers involved, the mantra is the same. They and their clients have decided they want to be a part of those cities. And in the background, adjacent property owners in the unincorporated areas wonder out loud how long it will be before high density, low quality development will dot the landscape of the still pristine South Fulton. And with the track records of both cities, it will be interesting to see how the bold pronouncements of “community-minded” developers and elected officials salivating over thoughts of increased tax revenue will play out near the end of 2007, when some of those annexed properties will likely be proposed for rezoning into high density residential neighborhoods.

In what recently came as a surprise to some is the move by a group of Chattahoochee Hills residents to forego a June 2007 vote to adopt the charter of their own city and, instead, make the jump to have the entire 40,000-acre region annexed into Palmetto. The move apparently solidified rapidly after Vanguard recently abandoned the prospect of developing one of the Hill Country’s three villages and opted last month to request annexation into Palmetto. The request to annex a large chunk of land on Palmetto’s northwest side was quickly approved by the council, though Councilman John Miller voted against the measure, citing reservation over whether the current overlay requirements would give way to high density development. (His point was well made.) Then last week, an 83 to 64 straw poll vote at Rico Community Center, reportedly reflective of the will of the area’s 2,700 residents, was cited as a major part of the rationale to have the entire Chatt Hills area request annexation into Palmetto. That rationale was bolstered, for example, by the view that one of the three villages is now history and that a second village, situated inside the 7,900 acres “reassigned” by the General Assembly to the potential City of South Fulton, would be, presumably, lost forever. Under that scenario, organizers say the only sensible thing to do would be to get at least 60 percent of Chatt Hills voters and property owners to request annexation, bringing the entire Hill Country into Palmetto. Everything considered, organizers of the effort may well have a good point. But the voters/property owners would be well served to make themselves thoroughly informed of all options as they consider their future.

Accompanying a mass annexation into Palmetto, of course, would come an expansion of city services, new property owners, new revenue streams, new voters and new candidates to potentially challenge Mayor Boddie and the three council members up for re-election next year. Some residents say that from the Chatt Hills perspective, and as new citizens of Palmetto, they would want to ensure the sustainability of their vision by helping elect candidates that support that vision. So the question is, where would the mayor and council stand in relation to the desires of the new electorate?

Yet no matter which way things go, Palmetto must continue to set its sights on what can become an incredible future. And no matter which way things go, the overall concern for Chatt Hills, to many including me, is that it be preserved and protected.

The summer of annexation all over South Fulton may be winding down, but the maneuvering is far from over. The story of the future is being written today.