Photo obtained via the city of Avondale Estates website.

This story has been updated. 

Avondale Estates City Commissioners will hold a special called meeting on Jan. 5, 2015 to discuss annexation.

According to the agenda, it’s likely commissioners will consider approving an annexation master plan.

If approved, commissioners would submit this plan to the legislative delegation. It’s not clear whether state Rep. Karla Drenner, D-Avondale, is inclined to submit the bill on the city’s behalf, given the controversy over annexation that arose a couple of months ago.

Drenner had filed an annexation bill earlier in 2014 under the assumption that city commissioners had supported it. That turned out not to be the case, and the ensuing controversy led Drenner to say that the annexation bill was “dead.” A few weeks later, an article in the Atlanta Journal Constitution indicated her views had softened a bit. Drenner told Decaturish that article left out some important context.

Avondale delayed the vote on the map until January. At the time, Mayor Terry Giager said, “We want to make sure all the stats and the numbers make sense. Unless something happens and we have to have a special called meeting to make it earlier, we’re going to spend more time with our residents and look at the numbers and talk with the different areas.”

The map would add about 2,700 people to the city’s population. It also includes the disputed commercial areas around Rio Circle and the DeKalb Farmers Market. These property owners have asked to be removed from Avondale’s plan, and the Rio Circle owners have petitioned to be in Decatur’s plan. Neither of those things happened, and Avondale Estates leaders have been trying to convince these property owners that they’re a good fit for the city.

Decatur and Avondale are pursuing annexation as part of a larger push to incorporate DeKalb County. A five-member subcommittee recently settled one of the boundary lines for the proposed cities of LaVista Hills and Tucker, dividing up the Northlake Mall area.

Avondale Estates leaders also recently reconsidered their long-held opposition to annexing a Wal-Mart on South Columbia Drive.

This is the draft master plan posted on the city’s website.

annexation-master-plan-2014-map

Commissioners will meet at City Hall, located at 21 North Avondale Plaza, on Jan. 5, 2015 at 5:30 pm. All meetings are open to the public.