Buckhead cityhood up for discussion by Georgia lawmakers

ATLANTA - State Senator Brandon Beach sponsored the Buckhead Cityhood bill that if passed, would allow Buckhead residents to vote next year on whether to split from Atlanta and become its own city. The Buckhead City Committee is leading the push for cityhood.

Several Republican senators who support the bill, joined Senator Beach as he announced Wednesday, the Senate will hold committee hearings on the Buckhead cityhood issue when the General Assembly convenes for the upcoming special session in November.

"So that when we come in January we can hit the ground running," said Senator Beach," and get this out of committee, get it to the rules committee and get it to the floor of the Senate."

Buckhead City Committee Chairman and CEO Bill White was encouraged by the day's announcement.

White told FOX 5's Deidra Dukes, "And that leads us to being on the ballot in November of '22. We would be a city on that day if we won the ballot vote."

While a recent study shows Buckhead could be financially viable if it split off, Buckhead Coalition President Jim Durrett and others in opposition said the move would be devastating.

"We did an analysis to understand what the impact would be not only on the city of Atlanta, but the state of Georgia, and Buckhead itself, and the results we got back are sobering.  It would do great harm to the capital city of Georgia, a potential city of Buckhead, and the state of Georgia."

Rather than split off from Atlanta, Durrett said Buckhead residents should make their voices heard at the polls and work to elect politicians who will better represent their interests. 

The Buckhead Coalition announced the launch of a big "get out the vote" initiative Wednesday as part of their effort.

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