Sandy Springs approves $5.7 for veterans park near City Hall

By ALEXANDER POPP alex@appenmedia.com

SANDY SPRINGS, Ga. — City officials plan to have a fully completed park honoring local veterans in downtown Sandy Springs by Veterans Day this November,.

The Sandy Springs City Council gave final approval March 8 to a $5.7 million construction contract with Reeves Young to build Veterans Memorial Park on a triangle-shaped property between Roswell Road, Johnson Ferry Road and Mt. Vernon Highway, directly adjacent to City Hall. Plans call for the park to include a series of large fountains that mirror the Sandy Springs Performing Arts Center fountains on Roswell Road, a memorial area commemorating local veterans and wide multi-use sidewalks connecting the park to City Springs and the rest of the city.

The park project, which has been under consideration for more than 10 years, was approved by a split 3-2 vote, with District 6 Councilman Andy Bauman and District 4 Councilwoman Jody Reichel casting dissenting votes.

Bauman and Reichel each said that while they support the idea of having a veterans memorial in the city, they were concerned with the high costs associated with the park’s fountain.

“I'm thrilled we're supporting a salute to our veterans,” Bauman said. “Ultimately, you know, this is a town also founded on fiscal responsibility. To quote one of my colleagues in a different context, but the same project, ‘Have we lost our minds? This has gotten out of hand.’”

Architects initially estimated the park would cost $4.7 million to build, but the price tag has since grown by $1 million due to site logistics and utilities, said Mike Iezzi, a Reeves Young project executive.

Sandy Springs currently has $3.1 million in funding available for the project, Iezzi said, but they have funding sources lined up for the additional $2.6 million that will be needed.

This rendering shows the future Sandy Springs Veteran’s Memorial Park, which will be built at Roswell Road, Johnson Ferry Road and Mt. Vernon Highway, adjacent to City Hall. A $5.7 million construction contract for the park was approved at a City Council meeting March 8.

The park was also designed with an alternate no-fountain option, which would instead feature large planters with trees, shrubs and flowers along Roswell Road, he said. This option would knock nearly $700,000 off the cost.

However, officials said that without the fountains, the park will be much less shielded from road noise.

Reichel said she couldn’t support either option, because the proposed cost was too expensive to justify, especially when other city parks have financial needs for active uses, like baseball and soccer.

Going back to the drawing board and figuring out a different way to memorialize veterans would be the better option, she said.

“I don't think that me not supporting spending millions of dollars on either flowers or a fountain, takes away from my support for the veterans,” she said.

Councilmembers also heard from several local veterans at the meeting, who said they believed the fountain was an integral part of the project.

“A commitment has been made to the citizens of Sandy Springs for a veterans fountain,” resident Drew Early said. “This is about you, the elected representatives, having made commitments to your constituency. You may not have wanted to, you may not have decided to, you may not have thought that’s what you were doing, but it’s what you did.”

Following public comments, District 1 Councilman John Paulson, a Vietnam War veteran, said the city needed to listen to what local residents wanted for the project, stop taking it back to the drawing board and just get the park project finished.

“I hear people talk about how they support the veterans all the time … And I think that's fantastic,” Paulson said. “To me, this is also an indication of support for the veterans … and I'd like to see that true

See PARK, Page 7