City Council - workshop

However, there are a lot of concerns about overdevelopment, especially with regards to pace of multifamily construction. There is general support for revitalizing underutilized and aging commercial properties, especially in the north end. Mixed use development and strong desire and support for improving the appearance of Roswell Road, which is our main street. There is also, we have heard that there is also a need for neighborhood serving retail. From the transportation side of things, we have been hearing concerns about traffic congestions. It's not new, but we have been continuing to hear that. Especially along Roswell Road, there is general desire for more walkability. desire for better regional connection. It's not only about the city, how we connect to the regional area. And there is support for expanding the trail network, which you guys have been doing a lot for the last 10 years. On the economic development, desire for supporting a diverse workforce. However, there is concerns about over-commercialization. There is also desire to enhance the Sandy Springs regional awareness and identity. How can we enhance that? in the regional market. On the housing side of things, housing affordability is coming out as a top concern. and desire to provide more affordable housing for young families, empty nesters, seniors. Their opinions on multifamily are kind of mixed. Some say that they would like to see more apartments, while some others are saying that there is already too many. So we have to see how that progresses as we go down the process in the next few months. There are concerns about residential lot assemblages and teardowns, especially how it impacts affordability, tree canopy, like what is that balance, neighborhood character and stormwater management. And finally on the green space, natural systems and sustainability, we have been hearing desire to preserve, expand and upgrade parks and green spaces, which is connected directly to the recreation of the parks master plan, which Carlos is going to be talking about pretty soon. There is support for protecting and expanding tree canopy. We have been hearing that in the mayor and the council meetings, so there is general support for that. There is desire to address flooding and stormwater while encouraging more sustainable development practices. There is general support for improving access to Chattahoochee River. We understand that a lot of frontage along the Chattahoochee River is privately owned, but how can we find some of those targeted locations for outdoor recreation. And finally, there is a desire for more playgrounds and places to play. So I'm going to turn it over to Carlos Perez, who is going to share with you the Recreation and the Parks Master Plan findings.

Thank you, Sukriti. Good evening, Mayor and Council. As Sukriti mentioned, my name is Carlos Perez. I'm Principal of Perez Planning and Design, working very closely with staff and RHI on the Recreation and Parks Master Plan And we're excited to share the findings to date. And it's important, as Sokurti mentioned, that these are findings to date, because we still have two data sets that are forthcoming from an engagement standpoint that are very important. One of them is the findings from the statistically valid survey. That was a mail survey sent out into the community. And then also the online survey that will be released here in the next few days and will be open for about a month. But based on what we've heard to date from public meetings, conversations with you and our advisory committee, these are some of the highlights some of the themes that we've heard. Building on what Sokurti mentioned, there's a desire for that connectivity and access to parks, trails both paved and unpaved, and also awareness and access not only from a physical standpoint, but also from signage wayfinding awareness standpoint. We also appear to see some support for both enhancing existing parks, as well as expanding the system where we can, acquiring parkland to expand access to parks throughout the city. And part of that is related to number three, right? Not only are parks great places for recreation, athletics, et cetera, but also for bringing the community together and creating those community gathering places and special events. Also, there appears to be a strong demand for that multi-generational parks and recreation experiences, experiences for children as well as older adults, and also including that inclusivity factor as well. And then lastly, something that we appear to be seeing now is a willingness to invest in parks and increasing tax dollars for a potential bond as we're seeing it thus far. So with that, I'll turn it over to Sukirti and see if there's any questions.

So this is the final slide. So talking about the next steps, we are having work sessions with you all. We'll be sharing the same presentation with the planning commission tomorrow night at their work session. With regards to the community engagement, as Carlos mentioned, the statistically valid survey for the recreation of the parks is going to be published this week. Also, the conjoint survey is going to be published publicly this week. So we'll have the public meeting number two on August 17th and 20th. The 17th is the south end at the Church of the Redeemer, and August 20th is at the police headquarters. We're planning a lot of more pop-ups and engagement activities, so keep a lookout. If you go to the engagement hub, you will see all of the notices and the media releases. And finally, right now as we are going through the community engagement process, we are also working on the Sandy Springs today, which is the existing conditions chapter of the comprehensive plan. And we'll be coming up with the draft policies once we start hearing back from the community after the public meeting number two. So with that said, thank you for the opportunity and open up for any other questions.

Let me ask, one of the terms that you presented that there was, what the community wanted was balanced growth. Define that for me.

So balanced growth is about what we have been hearing from them is there is protected neighborhoods that we have discussed as part of the previous plan. And during that discussion, we also talked about how when you preserve and protect the neighborhoods, how you can add the growth along the specific corridors. And also when you are creating a community, what are some of the amenities that you are providing to the community so that they feel like this is a stable, resilient, and a long-term community? So we have been thinking about that and we have been hearing that with regards to balancing the community.

Any others? Dr. Kelly. Hi. Hello.

It's good to see you again. Let me just say I've really enjoyed the activities that I've been a part of in the in-person events. So I just want to give a kudos to your teams because I know it's quite a few of you all. I have a couple of questions for you or for someone. Housing needs assessment. Do we have a update on when we'll be? Seeing that.

Yes. So we've been going back and forth with a consulting team. I got the draft back on Friday. Okay. So once I've had a chance to make sure they've made all the changes, I'll be sharing that out with council and then we'll figure out the process from there in terms of how we're going to present that to the public and that sort of thing. I don't have a specific timeline, but we'll be sharing it with y'all soon.

Okay. Yeah. My, my concern, I guess I'll just say is the, the North end. I mean, not the North end. I'm sorry. The comp plan advisory committee. We have. two meetings in and two more to go. And I kind of want us to be able to chew on that a little bit too. So, yeah.

And we have shared the draft that we had. We did go ahead and share that with the comprehensive planning team, letting them know it was just a draft so that they could digest the kind of content that was there and then figure out how they were going to work that in with the work that they're doing.

Okay, great. So 12 stakeholder meetings so far, so far. Okay. Have you, have you guys engaged any groups of like developer type,

Stakeholders not yet, but we have been talking about that a lot So yes in the coming month in August We are planning a lot of those additional stakeholder meetings which is we have a big list that we actually sat down with the city staff and Thinking about when we are going to be having those discussions. So yes, absolutely nice great

Something that came up yesterday when we spoke was there was a question. I want to say it's on the survey. It asks people how much money in taxes they feel comfortable paying for something. And I know I had the suggestion that we consider adding language to make that math conform to people who rent. So for some people in the community, property taxes doesn't look like an annual payment. It looks more like a monthly. It trickles down in that way. And so that's something that I'd love to be included in. I know you guys are pretty far down the road, but maybe in a survey. I just think it will help a lot of the people do that math if you guys kind of worded it in a way, at least for individuals who do rent. Because that's what the tax increase would look like for them if we did a park bond.

Absolutely.

Yeah.

Thank you.

Yeah, no problem. Acquiring park land. So it seems to me that some of our economic development goals around redevelopment, I know you mentioned the north end on one of your slides. It seems like there is kind of alignment between, or there's opportunity with the redevelopment and repurposing angle to use P3s or whatever to, instead of acquiring parkland, I guess technically it's acquiring parkland, but it's in partnership with a commercial development. So my question to you is, when we say acquiring parkland, are you guys considering the potential to leverage commercial development to put recreational spaces in, possibly?

I think that's a... ANSWER TO THAT QUESTION IS YES, BUT I WOULD LIKE FOR CARLOS TO COME UP AND KIND OF CLARIFY THAT COMMENT.

BECAUSE WHEN I HEAR IT, I THINK OF, LIKE, RAW LAND, WHICH WE DON'T HAVE A LOT OF. SURE.

GREAT QUESTION. THE ANSWER IS YES. AS WE GET INTO THE VISIONING PART OF THIS AND THE RECOMMENDATION, THERE'S AN OPPORTUNITY TO HAVE CONVERSATIONS WITH STAFF STAKEHOLDERS ABOUT WHAT IS THE APPROPRIATE RESPONSE TO A POTENTIAL NEED, RIGHT? or expanded parkland is something that we hear that is an interest, there's different models and tools of how that land can be available. And as you mentioned, some of that is through private development. In fact, in many instances, that green space is a catalytic piece of a redevelopment, right? So yeah, something that we will definitely work with staff to explore.

Okay. And my last piece. So when we talk about expanding the trail network, there's maybe two things I'd like for us to think about as we do that, and it's the potential for the, something I'm experiencing, is this potential for the trail network expansion to begin to compete with other, let's say other priorities. For example, as they abut protected neighborhoods, there's a competition there, there's a tension there. And so I'd love for us to bear that in mind as we start putting policy together related to trails. There's a trade-off. And I'd also like to see us prioritize opportunities to reinforce priorities. So for example, mobility is a priority. So I feel like this is my thinking. Trails that support mobility, because not all trails do. Some trails are purely recreational. Some trails actually help people get to places that are important. I feel like those trails should be prioritized. And I'm not entirely confident that that's what we're currently doing. So that's something I'd love to see us build into our trail conversation since We're talking that way.

Absolutely, yes. Thank you.

Any others? Ms. Mueller.

So can we put the word cloud back up?

Yep.

Please. So I want to say I was really excited when I saw this. The people that have come out and contributed, I think I'm going to be, like you said, watching how this evolves. But I think a lot of the things that at least I hear from my neighborhoods are reflected here. One of the things that I think is interesting is that I think people are tying, they're not looking at things in isolation. So we're not looking at the tree canopy. The tree canopy is not just a percentage, right? It's integrated with how much redevelopment we do, how much new development, the lot assemblages. the stormwater. So I think that that message to me is that this is all interconnected. And I'm going to be very curious to see how this process evolves and what policies we're going to make come out of this. So thumbs up to the word cloud. I think that was good. And I look forward to continued engagement.

Yeah, absolutely. And that's kind of connected to that balanced growth discussion. Mr. Chensky.

So first, kudos on the first meeting. I've gotten a lot of positive feedback on that. The one request I would have is, I know the first meeting, the activity format was not super conducive to streaming, but wherever possible, if we could stream these meetings, I've had a couple requests for that, just so the public can tune in and kind of see what's going on would be a request. I also know that we're doing some engagement in some of our apartment complexes, and we've had a lot of multilingual efforts, so I want to appreciate I'VE SEEN THE MATERIALS IN SPANISH, AND IT'S BEEN GOOD. SO I GOT TO ASK ABOUT THE CONJOINT SURVEY. HOW IS THE RESPONSE RATE GOING, AND DO WE FEEL LIKE WE'RE GETTING A REPRESENTATIVE SAMPLE THAT WE'RE GOING TO BE ABLE TO USE, LIKE A SCIENTIFICALLY VALID SAMPLE CROSS-SECTION OF OUR COMMUNITY?

IT HAS BEEN PHENOMENAL. SO I THINK THE CONJOINT ONE WENT TO 2700-PLUS. members of the community. We have already received 1,000 responses, which is way beyond the 5% or the 10% to get the statistically valid portion of the survey. And we are going to be, I think Recon AMR is in the team who is conducting the conjoint survey. They also mentioned that we are going to be analyzing the conjoint portion. We have been, like I mentioned, astounding response. We're also going to be telling it up against when it is going to be publicly released, how is the response to that? So we're going to be independently analyzing all of those. But to answer your question, great response.

That's great. That may be something we might want to share with GMA at some point, just as a sort of new tool that cities are using. For the public-facing portion, do we have a way to make sure, I guess, people aren't taking the survey over and over again and skewing the sample? How does that work? I'm just curious.

I think as part of the media releases, we have been talking with the city's communications as well as the city manager's office. When the media releases are going out, we are adding a little line in there. If you have already taken the survey, We are saying it in a more diplomatic way, but refrain from submitting it again. But share that with your neighbors and other residents who have not been able to provide a response to the survey. So we are very cognizant of not getting double responses, so yes. Okay, all right, great.

Well, thank you for all your efforts, and I'm excited to see the results. Yeah, thank you.

Hey, Paul, this is Mary Ford. I'd like to ask two brief questions or comments. The first is I heard reference to the stakeholder groups that are yet to be participated with or engaged. It wouldn't be great if we could receive a list of who those stakeholder groups are. I know during our initial input, I had suggested that we engage with the representatives from the public schools in our area and would just like to understand the extent to which that is happening. So if we could get that list of stakeholder groups, that would be great. And then my second comment slash question is that when the process kicked off, I went out to the website and entered my email to sign up for updates, but I don't actually recall yet seeing any updates. So to the extent that it's possible to let us know how many people have signed up to receive updates and the process by which information is being pushed out to them would be great. It's wonderful to hear that lots of updates are being made to the website, but making that information available to people, because I don't even think to go check it every day, right? I don't think our residents do either. So if there is proactive email communication to those who have asked for it, that would also be a great step. Thank you.

Great. Thank you. Any others? All right. Well, thank you. We will end the discussion items and move to regular order. I'd like to call this meeting of the Sandy Springs City Council to order for Tuesday, July 21st, 2026. Will the city clerk please make the announcements and call the roll?

There we go. Good evening, Mayor and Council. First, I would like to remind those in attendance, please silence all cell phones or other electronic devices at this time. Individuals who would like to provide a public comment at a city council meeting are required to complete and submit those public comment cards in advance of the meeting. Public comment cards are available online and at the chamber entrance. Just a reminder to those providing public comment, it may be allotted up to three minutes to speak on your single chosen topic. As I call roll, please confirm your attendance. Mayor Rusty Paul. Present. Council Member John Paulson.

Here.

Council Member Melody Kelly. Present. Council Member Melissa Mueller. Here. Council Member Frank Roberts.

Here.

Council Member Mary Ford. Here. Council Member Andrew Chensky.

Here. Please join me for the Pledge of Allegiance. Madam Clerk, have we received any public comment cards?

Yes, we've received six public comment cards this evening. The first is Allison Crary, who will be followed by Bob Johnson. Okay. Bob Johnson.

Good evening, Mayor Paul and Council. It's great to be here. My public comment tonight centers on the