‘Not anywhere close’ on annexation decision

Dur i ng a recent Avondale Estates commission work session, City Manager Patrick Bryant pointed out, mostly for the benefit of those unincorporated DeKalb residents who showed up, that, “We are not anywhere close on making any decision (about annexation).”

Before the meeting local reports circulated saying that the commission was prepared to discuss an “annexation proposal.” But the session produced no discussion.

Last October the city allocated $15,000 for University of Georgia’s Carl Vinson Institute Vinson to produce an annexation feasibility study, the third such study for Avondale in the last three years. The present study area is more than two times larger than the area previously studied in 2017.

Although the city posted a first draft on its website, Vinson hasn’t completed its report. Bryant said he hopes the final report is ready in time for commissioners to discuss next month.

“We have so much to do before we decide whether or not to pursue any annexation,” Bryant told the AJC. “(Commissioners) have to discuss it extensively with each other, and then they have to talk to the residents and businesses (in the study area), and that will be exhaustive.

“I can ensure you,” he added, “there’s no rush on this.”

Avondale last seriously pursued an annexation proposal in the spring of 2014, but since then the Georgia General Assembly has shown little appetite for existing cities executing largescale annexations.