12 Myths and 3 Facts About the New City of Peachtree Corners

In discussing the pros and cons of Peachtree Corners becoming a city, residents have given many reasons for and against becoming an incorporated city. But how many of these are not valid reasons for becoming a city?

Myth #1. “We will have more police protection.” - Not true. Fire and police protection will remain the responsibility of Gwinnett County, as they always have. Unless residents vote later to take responsibility for police protection, and vote themselves taxes 5 to 6 or more times the projected city rate of 1.0 mills, this will not change.

Myth #2. “We can have Peachtree Corners as a mailing address.”- If you live in 30092, you can do that now. In fact the post office is in Peachtree Corners, Georgia.

Myth 3. “I will vote for it because of the schools and the kids.” - Becoming a city has nothing to do with schools or children. Gwinnett County will continue to provide public education, as they do in every city except Buford which has always had its own school system.

Myth #4. “More sidewalks.” - Not true. Roads and sidewalks will continue to be handled by Gwinnett County.

Myth #5. “It will keep the taxes down.” - Not true. Taxes will be raised not only for property taxes, but ad valorem on cars as well, plus franchise fees and a 2% tax on power bills, which we do not have now.

Myth #6. “It will keep out development and businesses we don’t want.” - This is nebulous and debatable. Zoning in place cannot change and current county zoning is totally adequate.

Myth #7.“It will raise our home values.” - Pure speculation. The economy, the home itself and location determine home prices.

Myth #8. “Voting No is no option. - Of course it is.

Myth #9. “Peachtree Corners will disappear if we are not a city.” - Of course not.

Myth #10. “Vacant buildings will fill up.” - Really. How would this happen?

Myth #11. “We will be annexed into Norcross.” - Not unless a majority of residents vote to do this.

Myth #12. “We will get away from Gwinnett County.” - Not true. Gwinnett County will continue to provide all services except planning and zoning, trash collection and code enforcement. County taxes will not go down.

Now, let’s look at the facts.

Fact #1. “Taxes will go up.” - VoteYes supporters admit this. City taxes are zero now and can be raised. The tax on power bills is zero now - it will go to 2%. Franchise and business license fees can and will be raised. Ad valorem taxes on vehicles will be raised.

Fact #2. “Another layer of government will be added.” - What is another layer of government if not a mayor, city council and dozens of city employees.

Fact # 3. “We don’t need a city.” - We don’t need a city because Gwinnett County performs all the services the new city would perform, with no increase in taxes.

Become an informed voter. Read the facts, and ignore the myths.

Posted By - The Peachtree Corners Ballot Committee

The Five Ways to Annex and How They Work

In the current debate over cityhood for Peachtree Corners, much has been said and written on the matter of annexation. Some have declared, apparently with omnipotent knowledge, that if we don’t incorporate  we WILL be annexed.  Others have hysterically claimed that we will be ‘gobbled up’ by one or more of our neighboring cities and Peachtree Corners would ‘cease to exist’.

Missing from the discussion is the truth about how annexation happens. There are five methods by which land can be annexed into a city, briefly explained below:

1. Local Legislation Method: the General Assembly can amend a city’s charter and annex land into the city. But if the area is more than 50% residential, or the population exceeds 500 people, the annexation must be approved by referendum.
2. 100 Percent Method: must be initiated by the ‘written and signed applications of all the owners of land’ proposed to be annexed.
3. 60 Percent Method: requires written and signed applications from at least 60% of the voters AND the owners of at least 60% of the land.
4. Resolution and Referendum Method: by resolution of the annexing city AND referendum of the voters in the area to be annexed.
5. Annexation of Unincorporated Islands: only applies to areas of unincorporated land surrounded by an existing municipality.

There are additional qualifications to each of these methods regarding the amount of contiguous borders, crossing publicly owned lands, crossing rivers, etc, that are more technical than the needs of this discussion. If you would like to read more legalese on the subject check the resources are of our Blog.

Bottom line- don’t let the proponents of cityhood scare you into believing that you will annexed into Norcross (or Duluth, Berkeley Lake, Johns Creek or Dunwoody) against your will. You will get the chance to vote on any such annexation.

Posted By: Bob

Annexation Fear Factor - Should You Be Scared?

The fear factor that cityhood proponents are banking on is that Norcross (and Duluth and Berkeley Lake) all border areas generally considered Peachtree Corners and all have higher tax rates than the proposed city of PC.  Norcross in particular, has a tax rate north of 6%, and has made overtures to annex Tech Park, but they have made no such overtures to any residential areas. Berkeley Lake has not changed its borders since it incorporated in 1956, but in response to the threat of Peachtree Corners becoming a city and 'annexing' all the remaining land in SW Gwinnett, Berkeley Lake has recently offered to annex an office park and a bank along Peachtree Industrial near South Berkeley Lake Road.  Initially the YES crowd was trying to claim that Berkeley Lake would annex more land to help pay for the pending repairs to the dam.  A few weeks ago it was announced that FEMA and GEMA would pay for the repairs out of disaster relief funds. You may recall the dam was damaged by the heavy rain fall we had in September '09 that caused flooding in the Atlanta area. With that financial help, Berkeley Lake was relieved of the need to find $5 million to fix the dam, eliminating the threat of annexation.  Duluth recently announced plans to annex part of an industrial park called Blue Ridge. The complex straddled the city's border, and the owners wanted to offer all their tenants the same level of police protection so they petitioned Duluth to annex the remainder of the park. Beyond that, Duluth has not made any efforts to annex any Peachtree Corners residential areas. I can find nothing to fear here.

Posted by Bob