Milton, Georgia
Milton (population approximately 20,000) is an area of Fulton County, Georgia which is proposed to be incorporated as a "city" (the only type of municipality in the state) in December 2006. According to special legislation passed by the Georgia General Assembly in March 2006. and signed by the governor of Georgia in April 2006, it will be created out of the entire unincorporated northwestern part of northern Fulton County, bounded by Roswell on the south, Alpharetta on the east, Forsyth County on the northeast, and Cherokee County on the west. A referendum will be held on July 18, with only residents of the area (and not adjacent cities or the remainder of the county) eligible to vote.
The main purpose of this action is as part of the complete municipalization of Fulton County, which includes most of Atlanta and awkwardly stretches across metro Atlanta from north to southwest, having taken its parts from three other counties. In recent years there has been growing animosity by those in the affluent north over tax revenue needed in the less-developed southwest, as well as over excessive land development and zoning, and other issues of local control. The city of Johns Creek is also proposed to be created at the same time further east in northern Fulton County.
At the opposite end of the county, the cities of South Fulton and Chattahoochee Hills Country have also passed the legislature and been signed by the governor, but will not vote until 2007. Unlike Milton and Johns Creek there was in fact little or no local news coverage nor public push to create those cities — their only purpose is complete municipalization of the county and elimination of the county commission by default. This comes in the wake of 2005's incorporation of Sandy Springs, which was already a very developed city of over 80,000 people. All incorporations are using the same temporary suspension of state law which requires any new city's boundaries to be at least three miles (5km) from any existing city.
Milton was not named for any of its historic communities, but rather because northern Fulton County (generally north of the Chattahoochee River) is almost entirely comprised of the former Milton County, which was in turn named for either John Milton or Homer V. Milton. Communities in the area included Birmingham, Field's Cross Roads, and others.