Sandy Springs City Council on Aug. 4 held off on finalizing changes to the sidewalk construction policy until September, buying a little more time to get it right.
The existing rules, requiring virtually any real estate development to build a new sidewalk, are widely disliked as piecemeal and pricey to single-family homeowners. Last month, the city exempted most single-family properties from the sidewalk policy as an interim step. Properties within the city’s sidewalk master plan are not exempt.
At the Aug. 4 meeting, Assistant City Manager Jim Tolbert presented a final version of the policy change, which was essentially the same. However, some details were still up for tweaking, including the dollar amount on the option to pay into a sidewalk construction fund rather than directly build the sidewalk.
At the suggestion of Councilman Andy Bauman, the council tabled the discussion and decision to get more input and get all the policy’s pieces in place.