The attempt last week by Chattahoochee Hill Country residents to be annexed into the City of Palmetto came to a screeching halt just one day after a mass of area residents presented annexation petitions to city hall. Yet undeterred by the turn of events, the stalwart group of Hill Country residents have set their sights on a goal designed to turn destiny on its head.

Chatt Hills residents hurriedly gathered enough requests to meet the required 60 percent of registered voters and 60 percent of property owners needed to be annexed. That two week effort succeeded, but hit a brick wall Aug. 25 when residents were informed that annexation proceedings would require individual public hearings for the many properties included in the move to join the city.

“After reviewing state law, both sides agreed that individual hearings would be necessary to approve the annexation of each parcel of land in the Hill Country. This differs from Palmetto’s original plan for a mass rezoning, which was deemed inadequate due to the fact that any opposition to the mass approval would render the process a complete failure,” said CHC Communications Consultant Tucker Berta. “State law dictates that the individual hearings could not take place until after the required public notice (three consecutive weeks of ad placement in local newspapers), which would have to be completed before the city’s planning and zoning meeting on September 21. At the meeting on September 21, an estimated 80 hours of procedure would have to be completed before the city council meeting on September 25, at which time another estimated 80 hours of procedure would be required, a logistically impossible task in the given time frame.”

While disappointing to many in the Hill Country, the turn of events that precluded their entry into Palmetto helped galvanize the community's vision for its future. That future involves the original plan to form the City of Chattahoochee Hills.

“Though we are disappointed that the annexation cannot proceed at this time, we are excited by the fact that this community is so united, strong and powerful,” said Hill Country resident Steven Kopelman. “Over the last two weeks we achieved the nearly impossible. It is clear that we are a community determined to protect the overlay of the Chattahoochee Hill Country, and we all feel that we have the manpower, will and drive to make our own city happen.”

The vote to bring the new city to life will be held next summer. And today, Hill Country residents are forming action committees and engaging neighbors to envision the move that will guarantee autonomous control over their own destiny, the birth of the City of Chattahoochee Hills.

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