The Sandy Springs City Council cheered news from its fire department that the city has one of the best fire insurance ratings in Georgia. The city also approved a zoning application that will allow an expansion of the local Ronald McDonald House to move forward.
Fire Chief Jack McElfish informed the City Council at its Dec.6 meeting that Sandy Springs now has a Class 3 Insurance Services Office rating.
“The bottom line is we came out really well,” McElfish told the council on Dec. 6. “We’re in the top 5 percent with a class 3 rating
ISO, an analytics firm based in New Jersey, rates municipal fire protection and ranks fire protection on a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being the best and 10 being the worst. McElfish reported only 56 departments out of 1038 in the state of Georgia have a Class 2 or 3 ISO rating.
“The last time the City was rated was in October of 1988, (23 years ago), at which time the population of the city was less than half today’s population,” McElfish wrote in his report to the council.
McElfish said every resident purchasing insurance will save money due to the city’s high rating, but said there is no way to accurately determine how much residents would save.
“Many departments in our area have lost their current class ratings when recent evaluations were conducted,” McElfish wrote in his report. “This Class 3 rating will result in enormous savings for our businesses and residents.”
Councilman Tibby DeJulio said the city believes its police and fire services are the best in the state.
“The mayor and I constantly … mention how we probably have one of the best police and fire departments in the state of Georgia, and one of the things that makes them the best is we have the best leadership,” DeJulio said.
DeJulio led the Dec. 6 meeting, because Mayor Eva Galambos is on vacation.
The council also unanimously approved zoning changes to allow Atlanta Ronald McDonald House to move forward with an expansion of its facility at Peachtree Dunwoody Road. Several Sandy Springs residents showed up in support of the application.
“I think this is the first time we’ve had a rezoning application that received a round of applause,” DeJulio said.
The current house at 5420 Peachtree Dunwoody can hold 11 families. Atlanta Ronald McDonald House Charities (ARMH) wants to demolish the current structure and replace it with housing for 31 families.
The project has been talked about since before Sandy Springs became a cit. Fulton County approved the plans in 2005, but neighbors opposed to the project sued. ARMH ultimately won.
Families staying at the Ronald McDonald House pay $20 per night while their children receive treatment at nearby hospitals.
The proposed renovation is expected to cost ARMH more than $10 million; fund raising is expected to start by the end of 2012, and the project could be finished in 2013 or 2014.
ARMH attorney Ellen Smith told the council that the charity would work to ensure the development looks “as residential as possible” to address concerns of residents that the building would not have an “institutional” appearance.
In other business, the council voted to temporarily suspend its enforcement of restrictions on holiday decorations while the city tweaks its policy. The current policy prohibits balloons, streamers or air or gas filled figures; signs consisting in whole or in part of a series, line, or row of lights, whether supported by cables or other physical means, visible from within 150 feet of a street. Business owners can display holiday lights and decorations if displayed 30 days or less before a holiday.
All the major holidays are included in the city’s definitions of “Holiday,” except for Halloween. According to City Spokeswoman Sharon Kraun, Halloween was “inadvertently” left out, but will be added back in.
The council has proposed allowing the display of an unlimited number of blow-up, free-standing seasonal decorations, which can be placed to be on top of buildings, 30 days before a holiday and seven days afterward. The council would state in its ordinance that it would prefer string lights be white or clear but not mandate their color, and business owners could hang lights the same amount of time as the blow-up decorations.
The council decided to revisit the issue after a dustup over an inflatable balloon at the Sandy Springs Design Center. City officials issued the building’s owner a warning after he installed a 12-foot tall inflatable Frankenstein’s monster on top of the Roswell Road business for Halloween. The issue caused city council members to rethink the city’s current restrictions. Now the business owner, Bob Brown, and the city are cooperating on a holiday decorating contest called Sparkle Sandy Springs.
The moratorium will expire Jan. 15, 2012.
