Country United States County Fulton | State Georgia Time zone Eastern (EST) (UTC-5) | |
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South Fulton is the official name of the most recently chartered city in Fulton County, Georgia, United States. It includes all of the land that had remained unincorporated land in Fulton, southwest of East Point and College Park. The communities of Red Oak, Cooks Crossing, Stonewall, Tell, Fife, Campbellton, Ben Hill, Sandtown, Cliftondale, Cochran Mill, and Peters Woods (a few of which were formerly pre-American Civil War towns) are located in South Fulton. The 2016 Georgia General Assembly passed bill HB514 to incorporate South Fulton, which received the signature of Governor Nathan Deal on April 29, 2016. On November 8, 59% of the citizens of South Fulton voted to become a chartered city, the same percentage as Stonecrest in southeast DeKalb county, which voted the same day. Both will hold elections in early 2017 (Stonecrest on March 1) before incorporation takes effect.
History
In 2007, the region voted in a referendum 80% against forming a municipality. If passed it would have made Fulton County the only county in Georgia to be made up entirely of municipalities. The legislation authorizing the referendum was sponsored by state Senator Kasim Reed, a member of the Georgia State Senate, and now the mayor of Atlanta. Although the area has many low-density suburbs, it would be called a "city", the only type of municipality currently allowed under Georgia law.
The referendum was a direct result of the long-fought incorporation of Sandy Springs, on the opposite side of Atlanta (the county seat). After that success in 2005, Johns Creek and Milton followed in 2006, and Chattahoochee Hill Country (now Chattahoochee Hills), located in extreme southwest Fulton County, voted the same in June 2007.