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is a city in Fulton County, Georgia which was incorporated on December 1, 2006. It is named for a body of water that runs through the area. The city was created out of the entire unincorporated eastern part of northern Fulton County, bounded by Roswell to the west and south, Alpharetta to the northwest, Forsyth County to the north, and Gwinnett County to the south and east. The 2008 population estimate for the city is 83,445.
It was proposed that the northeast portion of Fulton County would be incorporated into a new city, as part of municipalization of northern Fulton County. While the name of the Ocee community or even the Warsaw community (they have been in use along with Mazeppa since the early days of Milton County) had been proposed, "Johns Creek" had also been put forth, as the body of water it is named for (originally "John's Creek" with an apostrophe) is a significant tributary of the Chattahoochee River that runs through the heart of the area. Legislation had also been introduced that would have called the area "Riverside", but there is already a Riverside, Georgia in the southern part of the state.
The main purpose of the drive to incorporate the Johns Creek area was as part of the complete creation of municipalities of Fulton County, which includes most of the city of Atlanta and stretches across the metropolitan Atlanta area from northeast to southwest, having taken its area from two additional counties.
It has been said that residents of Johns Creek, like those of Milton and Sandy Springs, did not feel it fair their tax dollars were not being used to fund libraries in the more affluent North Fulton, while South Fulton received most tax dollars. The referendum to incorporate the area was held on July 18, 2006, with only residents of the Johns Creek area (and not adjacent cities or the remainder of the county) eligible to vote. In relation to this referendum, the city of Milton was also created in December 2006 further northwest in northern Fulton County. Prior to the referendum, in the southwest portion of Johns Creek, a few hundred residents in the area of Newtown unsuccessfully petitioned for annexation into nearby Roswell. Such annexation would have reduced the new city's tax base.
At the opposite end of the county, the city of South Fulton has 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 this city —the 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.