City incorporation advances in county

A bill authorizing a May 22 referendum on incorporating a city of Sharon Springs in south Forsyth County has cleared the Georgia General Assembly, the group leading the effort announced.

In February, “HB 626 passed the House — 159 in favor, 3 opposed,” the Sharon Springs Alliance said in an email sent to members March 10. “Yesterday, the Georgia Senate passed HB 626 – 46 in favor, 2 opposed. This means the bill will now go to Gov. Deal for his signature, and then we vote on May 22.”

Sharon Springs would take in about 30 percent of Forsyth’s population; the county had an estimated population of 221,009 as of July 2016, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. The new city would dwarf Forsyth’s only municipality to date, Cumming, which has a population of roughly 6,200.

Sharon Springs would swallow up almost all of unincorporated Forsyth south of Cumming to the Fulton and Gwinnett county lines. It would lie east of Ga. 400 and west of Buford Highway (Ga. 20).

If incorporated, Sharon Springs would create an unbroken chain of cities along Ga. 400 from Buckhead in Atlanta north to Cumming. Information: http://www.sharonspringsga.org/