COBI Calls Lakeside a 'Redundant, Unnecessary City'

The City of Briarcliff Initiative board used a community meeting Thursday night as another call for leaders of the Lakeside and Tucker cityhood efforts to get together with them to work out differences in their proposed maps.

However, the group's message to the audience was more direct: "We see Lakeside as a redundant and unnecessary city," a phrase repeated in a PowerPoint slide and in discussions.

COBI leaders told the audience they have had "ongoing" and "productive" meetings with Tucker representatives and were cautiously optimistic that differences could be resolved.

Regarding overlaps in the three maps, COBI board member Keith Hanks said the issue has been overcomplicated for too long, "Figure out the Northlake Mall area and we're done," he said, meaning the finalization of Briarcliff and Tucker maps.

The Northlake Mall area is included in all three proposed city maps. Lakeside's boundaries go outside I-285 and also overlap roughly a third of Tucker's proposed map. A COBI slide stated its preference -- "Briarcliff = inside I-285 and Tucker = outside I-285."

COBI held the session two days after a feasibility study was released that found a proposed city of Briarcliff would run a surplus roughly 50 percent higher than that projected in a similar study for Lakeside, both conducted by the University of Georgia's Carl Vinson Institute of Government. Tucker 2014 will announce the results of their feasibility study from Georgia State University on Saturday.

COBI President Allen Venet repeatedly said that the best solution to get cityhood through the Legislature is for all groups to work through differences in advance. He made a similar appeal at Tuesday's press conference releasing the CVI study.

Venet said that cityhood should not be a partisan issue but partisan politics is a reality. Pointing out that COBI's leadership is both Republican and Democratic, he urged the audience to approach commissioners and legislators, especially Republicans, to show support for Briarcliff.

Venet and other COBI board members rejected Lakeside's characterization of its bill as "the only viable plan with any realistic chance of making it through the Legislature next session."

Lakeside's cityhood bill was sponsored by State Sen. Fran Millar (R-Dunwoody). State Rep. Mary Margaret Oliver (D-Decatur) filed the placeholder bill on behalf of Briarcliff. Venet told the audience Oliver and other legislators with districts that include cities, like Decatur, face tough political choices, particularly when those cities want to keep options open for annexation of areas included in the COBI plan.

During a question-and-answer session, Venet talked about the challenges COBI has faced with city officials in areas like Decatur and Avondale Estates. When drawing up the boundaries for Briarcliff, leaders initially thought they were required to avoid leaving "islands" -- pockets of unincorporated areas not included in the new city boundaries.

While COBI learned they weren't legally required to avoid "islands" in drawing their maps, Venet said creating such islands was not good government and not fair to the county, which would have to weave through city boundaries to provide police protection and other services to those areas. So they opted for a more "inclusive" map.

Despite a Republican-dominated Legislature and no GOP support, COBI officials said they expect to get a "fair hearing" in the House Governmental Affairs committee, and they credit that to the respect Oliver has from both parties. Committee members have told cityhood groups they intend to move quickly on the issue early in the session, so they can move on to other issues.

Editor's Note: Patch will be following up on the cityhood question with further stories examining the feasibility studies and questions the public has raised during recent Briarcliff and Lakeside information meetings. Tucker Patch also offers regular news from Tucker 2014. We welcome announcements from all sides and especially your comments on this story and all articles related to cityhood.