Sandy Springs staff coined the 12-month process to create the city’s new comprehensive plan and recreation and parks master plan as “The Next Chapter.”
The public had its first say in the city’s update of its land-use and development policies at a June 23 kickoff meeting at City Springs. While a comprehensive plan is not a legally binding document, it is routinely cited in zoning decisions by city boards, staff, and council members.
Sukirti Ghosh, a principal and urban designer with Rhodeside & Harwell, said his firm and the city’s other vendors are kicking off a “significant” one-year process that culminates with state submission next June. The firm also worked on the city’s last comprehensive plan.
“The next six months is the community engagement process,” Ghosh said. “We’re going to be drafting the plan at the beginning of next year, and then we’ll go through the review … hearings and the adoption process.”
Planning overview
More than 50 residents attended the first public meeting of the 2027 Next Chapter Comprehensive Plan process, giving input on everything from density and affordability to youth recreation programs.
Residents in the room, many of whom have lived in Sandy Springs for decades, called the city “vibrant,” despite concerns about traffic and declining tree canopy.
In March, elected officials approved a $1.14 million contract with Rhodeside & Harwell, TSW Design, and KB Advisory to create the policy document and an update to the recreation and park plan.
Sandy Springs last updated its 2017 Next Ten Comprehensive Plan in fall 2022. The process creates the city’s long-range visions, aligning with changing demographic and economic conditions, every five years.
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The planning process creates guidelines for community character, transportation, housing, green space, and sustainability.
Since 2017, the city has protected nearly 75% of its land within residential neighborhoods or city parks and green spaces. According to staff, the city has invested $172 million in infrastructure in the last decade, excluding county, state, and federal funding.
Meanwhile, growth and development are focused along commercial corridors, including Roswell Road and portions around Powers Ferry, as well as surrounding MARTA stations.
Open house participants used words like vibrant, congested, green, growing, and expensive to describe the city.
Growth in Sandy Springs
Sandy Springs Planning & Zoning Manager Michelle McIntosh-Ross said she hears positive things from residents about the City Springs campus, which has been developed in the last decade.
“It was something that happened after the previous comprehensive plan,” McIntosh-Ross said. “The negative thing we always hear when we have a comprehensive plan is about traffic.”
While some local governments, like Atlanta, are reducing travel lanes on city streets, Sandy Springs is expanding them at intersections and along Hammond Drive. Also, the Georgia Department of Transportation and Peach State Partners’ State Route 400 widening project kicked off this spring and is expected to worsen traffic in Sandy Springs.
The major roadway projects will eventually alleviate congestion to some degree, but will take several years to complete. Several residents at the planning kickoff, living in neighborhoods off Abernathy Road, cited increased traffic congestion, speeding, and a lack of park amenities.
Other attendees had different priorities, whether it was affordable homeownership opportunities, increased sustainability and green energy, or more coffee shops and “cool places.”
Participants took part in interactive, hands-on activities designed to gather initial community input. When asked what things are worth keeping or preserving, people said, “neighborhood character,” “free public parking,” “tree canopy,” “green spaces,” “safety,” and “public art.”
Some things people said the city needs to work on, or change, include “homes that are affordable for families,” “traffic,” “walkability,” “public transportation,” and “high-rise development.”
While Sandy Springs doesn’t have control over the housing market, interest rates, federal spending, or MARTA, the city definitely has authority over land use.
Focus on recreation and parks
As a part of the comprehensive plan rewrite, city officials opted to include the first post-pandemic update to the recreation and parks master plan. Residents overwhelmingly support more connectivity to parks via trails, sidewalks, paths, parking, or proximity.
Sandy Springs Conservancy Board Chair Jack Misiura said his attention is on connecting Roswell Road to Island Ford Park within the Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area via Roberts Drive.
Misiura represents a local nonprofit with a mission “to create, conserve, and connect parks and green spaces.” He said Sandy Springs is the priority, but increased regional connectivity is a win-win, suggesting pedestrian bridges across the river.
“We have so many park amenities along our city borders in Atlanta, Cobb [County], Dunwoody, and Roswell that we can connect to,” Misiura said. “We’re making progress.”
At the city council’s retreat earlier this year, elected officials discussed a potential parks bond to fund the purchase of new land and renovation of older facilities.
Council member John Paulson said he wants to hear what residents think about an additional line item on their property tax bills before moving forward either way.
Submit comments to the city and stay up to date on the planning process here.
