Norcross renews effort to annex 3 square miles

Plan would need Legislature’s OK, then voter approval.

The city of Nor cross might ask state legislators to reconsider an annexation of nearly 3 square miles of unincorporated Gwinnett County land into its city limits, a move which previously failed to make it through the Georgia Senate.

At its Monday night meeting, Nor cross City Council debated the feasibility of annexing the stretch of land, mostly running from Jimmy Carter Boulevard to the Dekalb County line.

The move would bring hundreds of businesses and about 6,000 residents — most of whom live in apartments or extended-stay hotels — into the city limits.

The council will hold a special- called meeting today at 6:30 p.m ., discussing the annexation in further detail and likely taking a vote on whether to adopt a resolution for the Georgia General Assembly to consider the annexation.

City offifficials are in a time crunch, hoping that state legislators can still look at the potential resolution before the fifinal day of the session. Consultants told city offifficials there’s a chance for legislators to still consider the annexation if they receive a resolution in the next few days. If it makes it through the General Assembly, residents in the section of land would vote on the annexation later this year.

Mayor Craig Newton and other city offifficials believe the expansion would allow Nor cross to dispatch its police officers to tackle high- crime rates in the area, as well as give the cit y an opportunity to expand its economic development opportunities.

But Councilor Andrew Hixson voiced his concerns at Monday night’ s meeting that objections from county officials may prevent the city from acquiring more land.

The city faced objections from Gwinnett County offi cials when it tried to annex the land two years ago, with former Gwinnett Count y Chair woman Charlotte Nash stressing the need for a closer look at the effects of the annexation.

The area also included the proposed site for a multimodal transit hub, which county offifficials hoped to build if MARTA came to the county.