Atlanta City Council Votes To Annex Emory, CDC

ATLANTA, GA — The Atlanta City Council voted Monday night to annex Emory University and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention from unicorporated DeKalb County, according to media reports. But the move has drawn objections to plans to place the annexed 744 acres inside the boundaries of the Atlanta Public Schools (APS), the Atlanta Business Chronicle reported.

The change in boundaries will only affect 10 students, but the DeKalb County School District stands to lose $2.5 million a year, say DeKalb school officials. DeKalb school superintendent Stephen Green said the APS would use the annexation as a "springboard to slice swaths of resources" from other parts of DeKalb, the Chronicle reported.

The annexation also includes Children's Healthcare of Atlanta Egleston hospital. In a statement, Mayor kasim Reed called the City Council's 13-0 vote "historic and transformative,” noting that it's the largest annexation since the city's addition of Buckhead in 1952.

"The annexation of Emory University, Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, presents the rare opportunity to bring a world-class teaching and research institution, and two of the leading national public health institutions of the United States into the City of Atlanta," Reed said.

DeKalb County has agreed to provide fire protection and water and sewer service for the annexed area, the Chronicle reported.

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