Sandy Springs City Council heard opposition on Aug. 5 on the $50.5 million bond issue for two new fire stations and additions to a third from residents who didn’t like the cost and the proximity of the facilities to homes.
The city council authorized the bond issue to finance a new Fire Station No. 4 within the city limits, a replacement Fire Station No. 1, and an addition to Fire Station No. 3. The city bought property at 5275 Roswell Road and 0 Roswell Road to provide a location for the new Fire Station No. 4.
Bill Griffith said during public comments that the city was committing funds to more glamorous projects at the expense of many other public safety needs, including the goal to eliminate fatal and serious injury crashes on city streets.
The council had voted on April 15 to adopt its Safety Action Plan, setting the deadline to 2040 for the elimination of fatal and serious injury crashes on city streets. The Safety Action Plan reported that 34 percent of all crashes occurred on city-owned streets. Among the crashes during this time, 38 crashes resulted in at least one fatality, and 205 crashes involved at least one serious injury.
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Janet Wells resides in a home on Beachland Drive directly behind the property for the new Fire Station No. 4. She said the fire station is in the middle of the neighborhood, surrounded by Green Hill Road, Green Hill Place, and Beachland Drive.
Wells was concerned about the buffer between the properties and the possibility of clear-cutting the remaining acres of forest on the property. The neighborhood residents worry about the safety of a fuel center on the property and the fires, fumes, and smoke coming from a training tower on the site, she said.
Wells said she wants the city to build only the new Fire Station No. 4 on the Roswell Road property and build the fuel station and training tower elsewhere.
Council member Tibby DeJulio said Sandy Springs firefighters must respond to many calls in Atlanta because the current Fire Station No. 4 is within the City of Atlanta.
“In my particular area, south of 285, we’ve been using the fire station that we purchased from the city of Atlanta, which was pretty much obsolete when we purchased it,” DeJulio said.
Council member John Paulson pointed out that Fire Station No. 1 was built in 1968, making it obsolete.
“I’m pleased that we’re relocating the fire station that’s currently in Atlanta to Sandy Springs. It served its purpose. It’s time to bring it into the house, and obviously, the other station is getting the repairs we need,” Paulson said.
