Photo obtained via the city of Avondale Estates website.

Avondale Estates city commissioners will receive an update on the city’s annexation plans during their work session on Oct. 21.

The meeting agenda says, “Update on annexation” but the packet attached to that agenda provides no other details about what that update might reveal.

Annexation has been a hot topic in the city.

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Plans to annex more property into the city whipped up a controversy last year when residents found out an annexation bill had been filed without their knowledge. That plan died down, but in the process it drew out residents who believe that change threatens the city’s quality of life. There were also a number of other business owners in the proposed annexation plan who wanted no part of Avondale, citing a culture they believed was hostile to business.

Former mayor Ed Rieker was lauded for his business savvy, but quickly resigned after the town caught wind of the annexation plan and confronted him about it. Rieker, who still owns property in downtown, said he was resigning to take a teaching position at Emory.

But the city’s residents may be warming up to the idea. A recent survey, conducted as part of the city’s comprehensive plan update, found that 50 percent of residents supported the idea of annexing more property into the city. The survey found that 20 percent of residents opposed it and 30 percent of residents were undecided.

During the last legislative session, Avondale’s annexation bill failed when an amendment to the bill removed the DeKalb Farmers Market, a key source of commercial tax revenue that would have supported more residential annexations.

The Oct. 21 work session begins at 5:30 p.m. and will be held at City Hall, located at 21 North Avondale Plaza, Avondale Estates, GA 30002.

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