Four residents of unincorporated DeKalb County are suing the city of Atlanta and the state of Georgia to be able to collect signatures in the effort to get the public safety training center on the ballot as a referendum.
Opponents of Atlanta’s $90 million facility have launched a campaign to collect more than 70,000 signatures within a 60-day period to put the question of the controversial facility in front of voters in November.
In a new lawsuit filed Thursday, four residents of DeKalb County argue that since they live or have lived within four miles of the proposed training center site, they should be allowed to collect signatures for the petition.
City code doesn’t allow individuals who are not currently city of Atlanta residents to do so. Georgia state law prohibits local governments to operate otherwise.
The plaintiffs in the case are Dekalb County residents Lisa Baker, Jacqueline Dougherty, Keyanna Jones and Amelia Weltner.
Critics of the project have long pointed out that DeKalb residents who live around the proposed 85-acre site don’t have a say in its construction because they aren’t Atlanta voters who can cast ballots in local elections.
“Even though their own community bears the immediate impacts of the Training Center, ecologically and otherwise, Plaintiffs only ability to directly impact the City of Atlanta’s decision-making process is through acting as circulators of this petition,” the lawsuit reads.
The mayor’s office declined comment citing pending litigation.
The initial filing of the petition with the Atlanta municipal clerk’s office was denied twice before being approved on June 21.
The official countdown clock of 60 days began once interim Municipal Clerk Vanessa Waldon handed official copies of the petition to organizers.
But plaintiffs in the new lawsuit want that clock to reset. They have asked the Northern District Court of Georgia to have the 60-day period restarted if it rules DeKalb residents are allowed to aid in collecting signatures.
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