Buckhead and Sandy Springs residents who live near a proposed mixed-use development on Roswell Road say the developer’s latest change in plans show a move in the right direction.
But, they say, the density of the development still is too high.
Developer JLB Partners on April 9 submitted redesigned plans to the city of Sandy Springs for the project at the intersection of Wieuca and Roswell roads near Chastain Park.
Neighbors attended a meeting hosted by the Sandy Springs Council of Neighborhoods and the developers soon after the plans were filed.
The plans still call for 700 apartments, but the new drawings reconfigure the space on the 21.3-acre site to lower the height of the buildings. Instead of a seven-story parking deck, which was a point of contention among neighbors, the site plan splits the parking into two buildings containing apartments.
JLB intends to develop 90,000-square- feet of retail and 30,000-square-feet of office space in addition to the apartments, plans show. The developer is asking the city of Sandy Springs to grant several zoning variances to allow the project to move forward.
According to the newest timetable provided by the city to residents, the project could be up for consideration at the June 18 Sandy Springs City Council meeting.
Trisha Thompson Fox, a member of the council of neighborhoods, said she thinks the neighbors can work with the developer’s new proposals.
“Traffic and density are still going to be a major concern,” Fox said. “The traffic is going to be tremendous, a little over 10,000 vehicle trips a day. They have done a better job, a much better job, on this site plan than the first site plan. This one promises to be a lot more engaging, a lot more pedestrian-friendly, and a lot more walkable for the people who choose to live in those apartments.”
But Gordon Certain, secretary for the Buckhead Council of Neighborhoods, in an email repeated some of the concerns raised by earlier plans, in particular a recommendation by the Georgia Regional Transportation Authority to realign the intersection of Windsor Parkway and Roswell Road.
Certain said property owners would likely lose their land to make way for the expansion. Buckhead Council of Neighborhoods Chairman Jim King said there were five homeowners that would potentially have to move in order to accommodate the realignment.
Certain also questioned costs the city of Atlanta would pay because of the project.
“GRTA wants the city of Atlanta to pay for a new left-turn (third) lane into the project from eastbound West Wieuca Road,” Certain said in an email. “The city of Atlanta will get nothing from this development except more traffic, and yet it has to spend its own very limited infrastructure cash to help increase Sandy Springs’ tax base.”
Calls to the developer seeking comment were not returned by Reporter Newspapers’ press deadline.