New city of Stonecrest prepares to launch operations

Council adopts charter, discusses city hall locations.

The long-awaited new city of Stonecrest is up and running.The newly elected Stonecrest City Council held its first meeting Monday at the Stonecrest Library, where it took the first steps toward launching the local government for the municipality in southeast DeKalb County with a population of 50,000 people.

The council adopted a city charter, set a meeting schedule, enacted a temporary moratorium on zoning permits and discussed city hall locations.

“You can expect big things from us,” said Stonecrest Mayor Jason Lary.

“This is a great place. This is a great day.”

Council members said they’re excited about improving local government services and want to promote business growth in the area, along I-20 near Lithonia.

A crowd of residents in the audience cheered at the end of the council’s hourlong meeting.

“I am ready to listen to you, and even more important, I’m ready to implement whatever it will take to get our city off to a fresh start,” said Councilwoman Diane Adoma. Soon, the council will hire a company to manage several government services including administration, planning, zoning, facilities and business permitting. The city will also take control of code enforcement and park operations from the county. Besides Stonecrest, the new city of South Fulton also began doing business this month.