Brookhaven, Ga. -- On Tuesday, citizens of Brookhaven will vote on a referendum that may be easy to overlook on the ballot, but it's generating a heated debate among some of its citizens. If approved, the Redevelopment Powers Law would be intended to give city leaders more freedom to assist in redeveloping blighted areas of the city. If voters approve it in Tuesday's elections, some residents fear it will give city leaders broad eminent domain authority to take over private properties.
The opposition says that in Brookhaven, there's just not much blight.
Secondly, they're upset that on the Sunday two days before election day the city of Brookhaven sent out a notice announcing a special informative meeting about the proposal. It's to be held 12 hours before the polls open.
"Early voting has been going on since October 13, so we don't believe this is an adequate effort to educate the residents about the far reaching implications of this law," said Catherine Bernard.
She has been pounding the pavement for days handing out flyers against proposed Brookhaven's Redevelopment Powers Law, which would give city council more power to develop on its own.
"We want that development to happen organically and with the consent of everyone involved," Bernard said.
However Citizens for a Better Brookhaven is encouraging residents to vote yes on Tuesday. It issued this statement to 11Alive on Sunday:
"A yes vote would authorize Brookhaven to create a tax allocation district ("TAD") to improve infrastructure in blighted areas if the City determines that a TAD is needed and if the City adopts a redevelopment plan at a future public meeting. A yes vote would put Brookhaven on par with other metro cities which already have the ability to create TADs – some have done it and some have not. TADs are vital tools because they allow for redevelopment funded by bonds which are paid for by increased tax revenue from the redevelopment – not from general obligation bonds backed by cities and taxpayers. In other words, the TAD project pays for itself and the bond investors alone bear the risk. Citizens of Brookhaven should vote yes on Tuesday to create the option for a TAD to improve areas in need and make our City a better place to live and work."
"It allows the city top take on debt without asking voters," countered Bernard.
She feels voting yes is a permanent change in government that shouldn't be made hastily.
"We haven't even been a city of two years. This is a time to slow down and focus on the promises that have previously been made rather than try to take on new powers that even our elected officials don't full understand yet," she said.
The educational meeting is open to the public, and starts Monday night at 6:30 at Brookhaven City Hall.
