City of Dunwoody now a reality
 From staff reports
For the first time in more than 70 years, DeKalbCounty has a new city.
By a vote of approximately 4 to 1 residents of the roughly 12-square-mile Dunwoody area voted yes to incorporating the north DeKalb community that is home to Perimeter Mall and almost 40 percent of the Perimeter Community Improvement District.
The move to incorporate Dunwoody had been in the works for more than two years. Residents of a potential city of about 40,000 residents say they seek more local control of land use and planning, parks, zoning and police.
Opponents called the move a modern secession. Both sides differ on how much it will all cost. The Citizens for Dunwoody Inc., a group that supports cityhood, have said city taxes would be $498 per person, per year and would only cost the county about $6 million a year. Their budget and services model is based on a study by the Carl Vinson Institute at University of Georgia. County officials have said the impact will be more like $16 million a year.
In February, it appeared that the possibility of the community of Dunwoody in northeast DeKalb becoming a city was dead for the foreseeable future.
The Georgia House subcommittee on governmental affairs had refused to send it to the floor for a vote, where it would have likely passed. The same government affairs committee allowed the residents of Sandy Springs, Milton and Johns Creek, all in Fulton County, to vote on incorporation the past two years.
But sooner than many had predicted the bill was resurrected and the Georgia House passed it 106-60 this spring. It cruised through the Senate 36-13 on March 20 was quickly signed by Gov. Sonny Perdue, allowing for Tuesday’s referendum vote.
The proposal was the subject of heated disputes from the beginning. Especially at odds have been the authors of the bill, State Rep. Fran Millar [R-Dunwoody] and state Sen. Dan Weber [R-Dunwoody], who represent parts of the area in contention, and Rep. Jill Chambers [R-Atlanta], who also represents parts of what will be in the new city of Dunwoody.
Chambers went to the well of the House in April and urged her fellow legislators to vote against the bill saying, “there are still too many unanswered questions.”
Dunwoody will become the ninth city entirely in DeKalb—a portion of Atlanta is in DeKalb—and Georgia’s 536th city on Dec. 1. The last city to incorporate in DeKalb County was Pine Lake in 1937. Decatur, incorporated in 1832, was DeKalb County’s first city.
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