Post by Oscar Knight on Feb 17, 2014 18:19:43 GMT -6
Sandy Springs, Georgia
Debate over incorporation began in the 1970s when the city of Atlanta attempted to use a state law to force annexation of Sandy Springs. The attempt failed when the Supreme Court of Georgia ruled that the law was unconstitutional. In response, the Committee for Sandy Springs was formed in 1975. In every legislative session, state legislators representing the area introduced a bill in the Georgia General Assembly to authorize a referendum on incorporation. Legislators representing Atlanta and southwestern Fulton County, who feared tax revenue that would be lost from incorporation, blocked the bills using the procedural requirement that all local legislation be approved first by a delegation of representatives from the affected area. In 1989, a push was made for Sandy Springs to join neighboring Chattahoochee Plantation in Cobb County. This move was blocked by Speaker of the House Tom Murphy.
Dunwoody, Georgia
December 1, 2008, after a three-year movement, Dunwoody officially became a city.
Critics claimed that incorporation of Dunwoody, as in the incorporation of Sandy Springs in 2005, would take away a great deal of tax revenue from the rest of the county, leading to shortages of services, tax increases, or both for everyone else in the county
Critics claimed that incorporation of Dunwoody, as in the incorporation of Sandy Springs in 2005, would take away a great deal of tax revenue from the rest of the county, leading to shortages of services, tax increases, or both for everyone else in the county
Johns Creek, Georgia
In 1981, a group of Georgia Institute of Technology graduates bought 1,700 acres (6.9 km2) of farm land and woods near McGinnis Ferry and Medlock Bridge roads for a high-tech office park. The new office park was to mirror one built in 1970 in nearby Peachtree Corners, known as Technology Park/Atlanta. Spotting tiny Johns Creek on an old map, they named their mixed-use, master-planned community Technology Park/Johns Creek. This was to be the first reference to Johns Creek as a place. The area grew over the years to become the home of 200 companies – many of them Fortune 500 firms – with nearly 11,000 people spread over 6,000,000 square feet (560,000 m2) of office, retail and industrial space. With the jobs came houses and shopping centers, and the population increased to about 60,000.
By 2000, a grassroots movement to incorporate the Johns Creek area into a city was slowly developing. Residents wanted more control over issues such as traffic, growth, development and their quality of life. They also sought a level of service that was a challenge for the sprawling Fulton County to provide. Following the nearby city of Sandy Springs’ successful incorporation in 2005, a legislative campaign was started to incorporate the Johns Creek community. House Bill 1321 was passed by the state legislature, signed by Gov. Sonny Perdue in March 2006, and approved by the residents of northeast Fulton County in a July 18, 2006 voter referendum. The city was named for a tributary that runs through the area.[3] In November 2006, the city's first elected officials were voted into office, with the City of Johns Creek becoming official December 1, 2006.
By 2000, a grassroots movement to incorporate the Johns Creek area into a city was slowly developing. Residents wanted more control over issues such as traffic, growth, development and their quality of life. They also sought a level of service that was a challenge for the sprawling Fulton County to provide. Following the nearby city of Sandy Springs’ successful incorporation in 2005, a legislative campaign was started to incorporate the Johns Creek community. House Bill 1321 was passed by the state legislature, signed by Gov. Sonny Perdue in March 2006, and approved by the residents of northeast Fulton County in a July 18, 2006 voter referendum. The city was named for a tributary that runs through the area.[3] In November 2006, the city's first elected officials were voted into office, with the City of Johns Creek becoming official December 1, 2006.
Buckhead (Atlanta)
In 2008, a newsletter by the Fulton County Taxpayers Foundation began circulating that proposed the secession of Buckhead into its own city after more than 50 years as part of Atlanta. This came on the heels of neighboring Sandy Springs, which finally became a city in late 2005 after a 30-year struggle to incorporate, and which triggered other such incorporations in metro Atlanta's northern suburbs. Like those cities, the argument to create a city of Buckhead is based on the desire for more local control and lower taxes.