News Nearby: Lakeside Area Cityhood Bill Could be Filed Soon

A so-called "placeholder bill" that would start the process of creating a new city around the Lakeside High School area will be filed "very soon" with the state legislature, the Lakeside City Alliance said this week.

Speaking before several hundred residents at Briarlake Baptist Church on Tuesday, the alliance's chairman, Mary Kay Woodworth, didn't offer a timeline for the filing of the bill, which would wait until next year to be considered by the legislature.

The alliance is investigating the creation of the newest municipality in northern DeKalb County. Under new proposed boundaries released Monday night, the city of Lakeside would reach south to North Druid Hills Road, including the Toco Hills commercial corridor. It would cross I-285 to include west Tucker and Northlake, north to include Mercer University and its western boundary would be I-85.

The alliance would need to find the support of a local legislator to file the bill. Dunwoody state Sen. Fran Millar said he may do it. Once the bill is filed, it could be altered over the next year before the legislature considers it. If passed, the cityhood issue would go before residents for a vote.

The Briarlake Baptist meeting consisted mostly of a question and answer session with local residents. A number of residents expressed concerns about tax increases if a new city was created, and organizers with the alliance said that ideally would not happen. A state-mandated feasibility study from the Carl Vinson Institute of Government at the University of Georgia would offer answers to that question, however. The alliance is currently raising money to pay for that study, which costs about $30,000.

"There shouldn't need to be an increase in taxes," said Robert Wittenstein, a former Dunwoody city councilman who helped organize the creation of that city in 2008.

Wittenstein said he expects the study will suggest cityhood is feasible due to the economic stability of the Lakeside area.

Though the alliance has said repeatedly they are not advocating cityhood and exist only to gauge interest and investigate the issue, several alliance organizers said they believed a city would allow residents in the Lakeside area to better control some services.

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