More than 30 Buckhead businesses write letter to lawmakers to stop Buckhead City legislation

ATLANTA, Ga. (CBS46) - Driving through Buckhead, it’s sometimes hard to tell just how much of the area wants to become its own city or not. But one large group is making their opposition clear.

Thirty-two Buckhead businesses have signed on to a letter addressed to the Georgia General Assembly asking lawmakers to “table the proposed legislation to create Buckhead City.”

In the letter, the business groups write, “If the General Assembly is unwilling to do this, we request that the General Assembly exclude the commercial district of Buckhead from the proposed Buckhead City.”

The groups include some notable commercial districts, including The Buckhead Village (formerly known as The Shops Buckhead), Grand Hyatt Buckhead Hotel, Atlanta Tech Village, the JW Marriott Atlanta Buckhead Hotel, and dozens of other residential and commercial property groups that make up the Buckhead skyline.

The group of businesses say they’re important stakeholders in the conversation and make up about $4.7 billion of real estate value in Buckhead, which accounts for around $57 million in annual property taxes.

The businesses wrote, “the risk to our companies, employees, residents, and customers is too great to bet our tax dollars on a start-up city with no experience.”

Buckhead City Committee CEO Bill White told CBS46 in a statement, “We are never surprised when corporate opponents who receive much favor and subsidies from the City of Atlanta throw up a Hail Mary just to make headlines in an attempt to slow our meteoric success. In fact, many of them have already worked for months to undermine and indeed suppress Buckhead’s right to vote.”

Wednesday, the Buckhead City Now group posted flyers asking volunteers to write to lawmakers in support of the cityhood movement.