City of Brookhaven v. City of Chamblee

One municipality does not have the authority pursuant to O.C.G.A. § 36-36-21 to annex land that the General Assembly designated for annexation to another municipality, subject to a referendum, before the referendum takes place.

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This appeal presents an issue of first impression: whether a municipality has the authority pursuant to OCGA § 36-36-21 to annex land that the General Assembly has designated for annexation to another municipality, subject to a referendum, before the referendum takes place. We find that municipalities do not have such authority.

The facts underlying this appeal are undisputed, and thus the application of law to these facts is subject to de novo review. Fayette County v. Steele, 268 Ga. App. 13 601 SE2d 403 2004. In 2013, the General Assembly passed Local Act 205 the “Act”, which established boundaries for an area of land the “Annexation Area” for annexation by the City of Chamblee, Georgia “Chamblee”.1 Ga. L. 2013, Vol. 2, p. 4320-4322. The Annexation Area included “Century Center,” a commercial development owned by Highwoods Properties, Inc.2 “Highwoods”. Section 1 of the Act provided a legal description of the Annexation Area and stated that it was creating a new charter for Chamblee “by annexing the area to the existing corporate limits” of Chamblee. Ga. L. 2013, Vol. 2, at 4320. Section 2 of the Act provided that “the election superintendent of DeKalb County shall call and conduct an election as provided in this section for the purpose of submitting this Act to the electors of the Annexation Area for approval or rejection.” Id. at 4321. The legislation further provided that the superintendent was to conduct this referendum “on the Tuesday after the first Monday in November, 2013,” and that “if more than one-half of the votes cast on such question are for approval of the annexation, then this Act shall become effective on December 30, 2013.” Id. But “if more than one-half of the votes cast on such question are for rejection of the annexation, this Act shall not become effective and shall be automatically repealed on the first day of January immediately following such election date.” Id. The Act was signed by the Governor on May 6, 2013. Ga. L. 2013, Vol. 2, at 4322.

City of Brookhaven v. City of Chamblee

One municipality does not have the authority pursuant to O.C.G.A. § 36-36-21 to annex land that the General Assembly designated for annexation to another municipality, subject to a referendum, before the referendum takes place.

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