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By Bob Pepalis

Sandy Springs approved its first North End mixed-use rezoning for the North River Village Shopping Center on Roswell Road.

The new zoning classification was created to spur redevelopment at three North End shopping centers. This rezoning was approved for the northernmost shopping center at 8765 Roswell Road.

Property owner Stream Realty wasn’t required to submit a development proposal, but it submitted a plan to develop approximately 241 multi-unit residences and 81 townhomes. The plan would keep 35,000 square feet of existing retail and create 17,000 square feet of new retail space.

Jessica Hill, who represented the property owner, said Stream Realty bought the shopping center in 2015 and it has remained as commercial use since then.

“It’s had about 40 to 50 percent occupancy over Stream’s ownership of it. Obviously, it has struggled from a commercial perspective,” she said.

The new zoning classification does not require concrete and steel construction for the buildings. It does require the project to have at least 25 percent of the residential as single-unit homes.

It will include retail-ready space at the sidewalk level in the multi-unit development.

Councilmember Melody Kelley, who made the motion for approval, said this rezoning application is the next step of a lengthy process aimed at stimulating economic development in the North End of the city.

“This creation of a North End mixed-use supplemental zoning district sort of signaled to the development community not only the aspirations of our community but the fact that we were as a city willing to put a little bit of skin in the game by offering stick built or the deregulation in this particular district of our steel and concrete requirement,” she said.

Planning and Zoning Manager Michelle McIntosh-Ross confirmed that the developer must complete the 25 percent singlefamily housing units before a certificate of completion can be issued for the project.

Colonial Pipeline work won’t disrupt recreation

By Bob Pepalis

Colonial Pipeline will spend up to a year performing maintenance on a pipeline that runs under the Chattahoochee River from National Park Service (NPS) land in East Cobb to Sandy Springs.

The pipeline from Houston to New York City transports diesel fuel, jet fuel and some home heating oil on Colonial’s system, according to Chip Little, the company’s government affairs manager.

Little told the Sandy Springs City Council at its April 4 meeting that Colonial will inspect a portion of the pipeline and install a sleeve, which will protect the original pipe from external damage and may extend its life.

To access the pipe, a temporary bridge will be built across the river approximately 1.6 miles downstream of the Georgia Power hydro-dam at Morgan Falls and just upstream from the Johnson Ferry bridge. A coffer dam, a watertight enclosure from which water is pumped to expose the riverbed to permit the work, will be installed to access the pipe, according to Terry Mock, a right-of-way consultant for Colonial.

Two residential properties in Sandy Springs will be impacted by right-of-way clearing, water discharge from the coffer dam and noise, he said. Approximately 20 to 30 homes will be able to see or hear the work.

Only one section of the trail is closed on the Cobb County side of the Chattahoochee, Allyson Read, NPS Natural Resource Specialist, said.

“They’re going to have a lot of safety features in place including buoys, notifying visitors both upstream and downstream,” she said.

Signs will be erected to warn recreational users of the river about the pipeline work.

Some height markings will be made on the bridge piers to let people on the river know much clearance they’ll have from the bridge down to the river, Read said.