After local activists whipped up concerns about forced density to promote cityhood for three wealthy Atlanta suburbs, residents voted to remain in unincorporated Cobb County.
“Voters defeated ballot referendums for three unincorporated areas that were hoping to turn into the newest cities of Cobb County, just west of Atlanta,” reports Brentin Mock in Bloomberg CityLab.
The communities of East Cobb, Los Mountain, and Vinings started agitating for cityhood after Cobb County proposed zoning reforms that, as interpreted by some, would allow for increased density and mass transit in the historically single-family neighborhoods. “Only through creating their own cities, said cityhood proponents, could they control land use to stop these developments.” The secession of three of the county’s wealthiest areas would have a significant impact on local tax revenue. “A preliminary study said that the formation of the three cities would have had a net annual impact of roughly $33 million on the county’s budget, which would have forced the county to lay off dozens of police, firefighters, and other government administrators.”
As Mock writes, “In reality, those concerns were mostly unfounded: As the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported, the Cobb County Board of Commissioners — the governing authority for the county — had introduced no plans to add density to these areas.”
Voters didn’t buy into the hysteria. “Just over half of voters, 55%, in the Vinings ballot referendum voted against the cityhood proposal (only those who live within the proposed city boundaries can vote on cityhood referendums); 57% voted against the Lost Mountain proposal and 72% rejected East Cobb cityhood.”
Buckhead, a neighborhood in the city of Atlanta, also attempted to put secession on the ballot for November 2022, but those efforts were thwarted by state leaders.
FULL STORY: The Cityhood Movement Is Defeated in Metro Atlanta
Oregon Passes Exemption to Urban Growth Boundary
Cities have a one-time chance to acquire new land for development in a bid to increase housing supply and affordability.
Where Urban Design Is Headed in 2024
A forecast of likely trends in urban design and architecture.
Savannah: A City of Planning Contrasts
From a human-scales, plaza-anchored grid to suburban sprawl, the oldest planned city in the United States has seen wildly different development patterns.
Washington Tribes Receive Resilience Funding
The 28 grants support projects including relocation efforts as coastal communities face the growing impacts of climate change.
Adaptive Reuse Bills Introduced in California Assembly
The legislation would expand eligibility for economic incentives and let cities loosen regulations to allow for more building conversions.
LA's Top Parks, Ranked
TimeOut just released its list of the top 26 parks in the L.A. area, which is home to some of the best green spaces around.
City of Rochester
Boston Harbor Now
City of Bellevue
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
Mpact Transit + Community
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
City of Birmingham, Alabama
City of Laramie, Wyoming
Colorado Department of Local Affairs
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.