DeKalb CEO wants 2-year hiatus on new cities

DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. — Some DeKalb County homeowners say they're tired of rundown and unfinished buildings and they want to form a new city of Stonecrest.

At a meeting Monday night, interim DeKalb County CEO Lee May told the homeowners he wants them to wait.

Before the meeting, supporters of the new city walked Channel 2's Tony Thomas through two areas they say highlight their frustration, an abandoned restaurant with a county citation on the front and a partially completed hotel near Stonecrest Mall.

Stonecrest organizer Jason Lary said the hotel has remained unfinished for four years.

"If you had a local city with a mayor and council, they could do something about this and do something about it immediately," Lary said.

The Stonecrest City Alliance has raised the money to conduct a required feasibility study. The plan calls for a 61-square-mile chunk of southeast DeKalb to incorporate, with a population of 77,000 people – the largest city in DeKalb.

May said Monday he wants state lawmakers to halt Stonecrest and at least three other planned cities for at least two years, "Until legislation is really crafted to allow it to occur in a balanced approach."

"If you were in any other community, this just wouldn't be allowed to go on this long," resident Gina Mangham said.

For Stonecrest, or any of the other proposed cities to become a reality, state lawmakers must approve a referendum, and then voters in the affected area would have their say in November 2014.

WSBTV