Sandy Springs Transportation Master Plan Update

Sandy Springs is launching an update to the Transportation Master Plan. This is a major process that cycles every five years. Please participate, because this is a key opportunity to make Sandy Springs safer. Information is available here, https://www.sandyspringsga.gov/sandy-springs-transportation-master-plan . There will be meetings and community engagement sometime after New Years.

For now, there is a survey. Link on the page above, or if you want a direct link it's  https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/sandyspringstmp

 

Please submit a survey response with your thoughts. For what it's worth, I'll share my responses below for each question,

1. 

First question on the survey asks to rank goals. These are fine but I think misleading because each option has to be condensed so much it lacks context. Of course "Safety" is good, all else being equal. I even ranked it right after my custom goal. But the real question with concrete choices about transportation infrastructure is managing tradeoffs. Here was my list:

1. Other
2. Safety
3. Improving well-being and minimizing environmental impact
4. Mobility and Accessibility for All
5. Land Use Integration
6. Economic Vitality
7. Maintenance, Resilience and Reliability
8. Beautification
9. Efficiency and Optimization

So all of these are good, as above. I specifically ranked "Efficiency and Optimization: Minimizing travel times and travel delay" last because my interpretation of the option, based on prior messaging from the government, is that this means higher motor vehicle speeds. I do want faster travel, but that is the wrong way to improve it and makes actual fundamental improvements harder. As mentioned in this earlier post the city is spending $60 million to widen a short stretch of Hammond. I predict this will end up being a huge waste with little improvement to travel times to justify that outlay, and I want to discourage that sort of misallocation.

2. 

Below the ranking of goals, there is a text box to enter your "Other" goal. My submission was based on my caveat above about this ranking exercise. The only way to achieve those goals overall, given Sandy Springs residents aging in place, hopefully new families coming in, plus the daytime population doubling as employees and shoppers come into Sandy Springs, is to get people out of cars and into other modes of transportation. 

As long as all of those trips are performed by driving, the reality of an ever larger quantity of large metal boxes moving around is that it'll be dangerous, burdensome, not accessible, inefficient, etc. So the overarching goal for now should be:

Mode shifting to safer, more widely accessible, and environmentally responsible modes of transportation like transit, biking, walking, away from driving. 

3. What primarily brings you to Sandy Springs?

Multiple choice to understand how respondents relate to Sandy Springs. Living, working, shopping here etc. Or even just driving through. I think it's good for the city to collect this data, although I wonder what they'll do with it.

Many people who do not live in Sandy Springs do have a valid interest that we should respect. The city has a policy of trying to have more jobs than residents, i.e., many people come into the city for work. Some of them work in corporate offices, and some of them are service workers directly helping Sandy Springs residents. Finding safe and convenient options is important for everyone. Right now a lot of workers along Roswell Rd have very long and unsafe commutes, and the city needs to get better transit service and safer sidewalks.

4. How do you usually get around Sandy Springs?

I do drive and take transit often enough, rarely bike. Probably the most frequent trips are relatively short walks.

5. Are there any other ways you sometimes get around Sandy Springs? (check all that apply)

I think this is a better question than 4. Some options are not convenient for everyone, but people who never do anything except drive probably have a skewed perception of how the city actually operates.

6. What issues do you face with the methods of travel you currently use to get around Sandy Springs? (check all that apply)

Tricky question because for people who use multiple modes of transportation, the downsides are probably different for each one. I selected based on walking,

• confusing, stressful or unpleasant
• feels unsafe
• doesn't well accommodate my limited mobility due to disability, age or other factors

To clarify I do not identify as having a disability. However an "other factor" is that I do care for my children and, e.g., have contacted the city about sidewalks or lack of sidewalks that are difficult to use with strollers. 

7. Are there any methods of travel you wish you could use more often? (check all that apply)

Do I ever wish I personally could ride bikes more often. My kids have asked me. Other kids have volunteered how they wish they could, but their parents rightfully tell them that Sandy Springs is too dangerous for them to ride bikes. 

 I also selected walking and taking transit. 

 8. What barriers do you face in using these methods more often? (check all that apply)

 I selected "unsafe" due to lack of high quality sidewalks and protected bike paths.

 For "Other" I entered:

Insufficient transit service. Sandy Springs should pay MARTA for bus lines running from Medical Center, rather than the 5 bus getting stuck in traffic within the City of Atlanta. 

9. Drag and drop to rank these potential changes to driving in the order you feel would make it better for you. (with 1 being the most important change and 5 being the least important change)

Similar the first question. 

Here is my ranking:

1. Safer roadway and intersection design
2. Other
3. Better roadway signage
4. Increased nighttime visibility
5. I don't drive and don't want to
6. Increased vehicle roadway capacity

For the last option about increased capacity, I interpret it as projects that will backfire on us. Sandy Springs already has I285, 400, and State Route 19 (Roswell). They are very dangerous. Shoving more drivers onto those roads will make them more dangerous and increase the risk of respiratory harm to all of us, particularly our youngest and oldest residents. Shoving more drivers through other roads will make those other roads dangerous. It's the wrong perspective on our problems.

10. If you have a potential change you marked as "other" above, please specify here (if this does not apply, please put N/A in the box)

For other, I wrote

Enforcement. Retain our speed cameras and expand automated enforcement as much as state law allows. Clearly communicate to the SSPD that the city council takes traffic safety seriously, because there is currently a message that council members complain when their misbehaving friends get fines.

This may be outside the scope of the master plan but it's important. Roughly a fifth of drivers I've observed when I bothered to count were actually cell phone users behind a wheel. Speeding is rampant. Drivers do not understand when pedestrians have right of way. Etc.

11. Drag and drop to rank these potential changes to transit in the order you feel would make it better for you? (with 1 being the most important change and 5 being the least important change)

Here is my ranking.  

1. More transit service
2. Other
3. More or better transit stop amenities
4. Better transit information/signage
5. Increase security on transit or at transit stations
6. I don't use transit and don't want to

In my experience the scariest part of riding transit are the drivers between transit and destinations, so I find it frustrating that security is mentioned here but not in question 9 about driving. 

12. If you have a potential change you marked as "other" above, please specify here (if this does not apply, please put N/A in the box)

For other I wrote:

Better connections to transit. Design guidelines should emphasize access for transit users on a safe path from the stop to the entrance. E.g., Hammond Park has fencing to block children from the nearest stop getting to the playground.

I wrote about this example previously here. But in general it's a problem that even for locations relatively close to transit lines, the actual path from one to the other is often hostile. Even if somebody never plans to use transit themselves it is just mean and disrespectful to ignore the service workers they depend on at their destination.

13. Drag and drop to rank these potential changes to walking in the order you feel would make it better for you? (with 1 being the most important change and 5 being the least important change)

My ranking

1. More sidewalks
2. Slowing vehicle traffic down
3. Other
4. More crosswalks or mid-block crossings
5. More shade trees along streets
6. I don't walk and don't want to 

 14. If you have a potential change you marked as "other" above, please specify here (if this does not apply, please put N/A in the box)

Here is my submission:

 Better sidewalks. Right now many of our sidewalks along Roswell lack a curb, so drivers do not even notice a bumb while they veer off the road. Sidewalks need higher curbs, separation from the road, and to be wide and flat enough for strollers, wheelchairs, etc.

 15. Drag and drop to rank these potential changes to cycling or scootering in the order you feel would make it better for you? (with 1 being the most important change and 5 being the least important change)

My list:

1. More bicycle lanes or improved existing bicycling lanes
2. More multi-use paths 
3. Slowing vehicle trafffic down
4. Other
5. More crosswalks or mid-block crossings
6. I don't cycle or scooter and don't want to 

 16. If you have a potential change you marked as "other" above, please specify here (if this does not apply, please put N/A in the box)

My submission: 

Create a bicycling lane network rather than isolated spots. Given the lack of recreational facilities in the southeast of the city, build bike lanes along Windsor and north/south streets so more residents can access Path 400. 

This is a summary of this previous post.

 

17. Do you have any other feedback about getting around Sandy Springs? (if this does not apply, please put N/A in the box) 

A meta comment

The city should be concerned about all people who get around Sandy Springs, not just drivers. This is especially true for getting better feedback. You have still not finished the crosswalk at the North Fulton Government Center so it's frankly unsafe for a non-driver to attend meetings there. Even City Springs subsidizes drivers by validating parking, but with no corresponding support to transit or bike riders.

Long time ago I went to a meeting purportedly about safe transportation at the North Fulton location and shared by thoughts about how inappropriate that was with the staff members who all drove there. People who are physically unable to drive need to go to that location for all sorts of critical government services. I crossed to the bus stop fine, but I wouldn't ask anybody else to especially if they had a disability.

 

Then there are some demographic questions to wrap up. I did "Decline to answer" about having a disability because as stated above, I have found myself pushing a stroller often enough.

New Bike Paths to link to Path 400 on Windsor Parkway

Sandy Springs is building an extension of the Path 400 multiuse path and a connection to Windsor Parkway.

Southeast Sandy Springs, 400 going up the middle and Windsor parkway going across

 

This is a great addition to the southeast corner of Sandy Springs, which is otherwise lacking in city recreational facilities. However, it lacks access. That section of Windsor only has a sidewalk on the north side, and the Path 400 access is on the south. That existing sidewalk is in bad condition for pedestrians and not necessarily safe for all strollers, wheelchairs, etc.

There is a general lack of accessibility in the area except for people who are driving. Children can't safely ride their bikes outside of short neighborhood streets. Sidewalks are generally in poor repair or of poor design.

The city should build protected bike lanes to connect the area to itself, and to Path 400. Starting with these roads, in descending order.

1. Along Windsor Parkway, from Roswell Road to the eastern edge of the city or at least to Peachtree Dunwoody.
2. High Point Rd, from Windsor to Glenridge.
3. Northland Dr, from Windsor to Glenridge. 

All of these roads are connected to many residential streets. Bike lanes would connect those neighborhoods to Path 400, and also to parts of Sandy Springs. Sandy Springs residents could use Path 400 for recreation. Kids would be able to bike to see visit their friends. Kids could even ride to school, at High Point Elementary, Atlanta Jewish School, and Ridgeview middle school. High Point and Northland connect to the existing bike paths on Glenridge, which are not protected yet but would allow even more people to use the network.

Long term, High Point could be connected to Roswell with bike lanes along other east-west streets between Glenridge and Roswell. That would enable more people to visit businesses along Roswell without having to drive or to ride along Roswell Rd.

October 21 City Council Meeting

Video available at https://www.youtube.com/live/wMCe5oerz34

It opens with yet another public comment about lighting and noise for evening high school football practice and football games. So much time and effort has been spent on this, can we devote as many resources to other children's activities? So many kids in Sandy Springs are already or would like to be playing soccer or running track, performing in plays, playing music, going to math competitions or science fairs. Surely we can find children's activities other than contact football that the community wants to watch and celebrate that don't entail so much disturbance to neighbors. Or, what would it say about us if we can't?

At 11:00, there's a discussion and approval of $905,000 for Georgia Power to put power lines underground, as a component of Hammond Drive project. Maybe it's fine. But it does strike me that the city council is very quick to spend our money on road infrastructure for driving, but not for other (safer) modes of transportation. Nearly a million dollars just for electrical work for a short segment of road is a lot. I'm curious if they even have a firm metric in mind of how much congestion will be decreased, or in other words how much faster an average drive along Hammond will be at rush hour, a few years after this multi-million dollar project is completed? I predict it'll still be awful. Maybe total traffic volume on Hammond will be higher, possibly increasing crashes and definitely increasing emissions in the area, contributing to childhood asthma etc.

At 14:00 there's approval for some supplemental agreement with GDOT for Path400. I didn't follow the details but good that this project is proceeding. Key here is that funding is mostly coming from outside of Sandy Springs. There's a 20% city local match.

19:00, discussion of GDOT transportation alternatives and mitigation air quality competitive funding program, and the local funding match. This is only an application to participate in a federal program managed through the state. In past years this program was managed by ARC instead of GDOT, unclear why it changed. There are two different types of grants. First, Transportation Alternatives. Second, Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Improvement. 20% local match required for pedestrian and bike programs. Increasing road capacity is not eligible, but unclear if transit is. Emphasis on decreasing emissions and increasing safety. City staff propose a project near Holcomb bridge. Seems fine by itself, although it does perpetuate a bias of parks and recreational infrastructure that neglects the southern half of the city.

-Vladimir

City Council Meeting Oct 7, 2025 - Speed Cameras and Sidewalks

 In this meeting, , there was an update to the earlier discussion about speed cameras. At 47 minutes, the speaker says that speed cameras have not been installed on Roswell Road because of the state law requirement for signage to be visible at all lanes of traffic. On a multilane road a driver on the center lane could theoretically be blocked by another vehicle from seeing the sign informing them of a camera. This is absurd. We have the technology to hang signs so as to make them visible from all lanes. Every intersection on Roswell Road has them. This is the most dangerous non-highway road in Sandy Springs. Speed cameras should be installed there.

Here is the record of citations so far

At 51:06 this chart of crashes is presented.

When something can be predicted to happen in public over and over, that's not an accident. The effectiveness of these cameras is itself proof that crashes are a policy choice the government can choose to avoid. The speaker, from Sandy Springs Police Department, clarifies that this chart is only for accidents on the road, and "not counting private property cause schools I'm sure they have a lot of them" which is correct for purposes of evaluating the cameras, but should warrant a separate conversation from the city council. They should not tolerate crashes at schools in Sandy Springs any more than violence using other deadly objects.

The SSPD seems very diligent about avoiding false positives. In addition to the 10mph buffer, only issuing tickets for people going 11 over, they also add a time buffer. The example given is for a driver getting gas. If that hypothetical driver gets to a gas station before the school zone light and then pulls out after the school zone light, even if they break the speed limit and go 36 in the 25 mph school zone of the otherwise 35 mph road, they won't get a ticket for the first few minutes of the period on the chance they didn't realize the school zone was in effect.

At 1:00:26, council member DeJulio recounts how when Sandy Springs was incorporated, leadership discussed and decided against installing speed cameras in general, not just at schools. Since then speed cameras have largely gone away. That was a mistake, and it reveals the value of concerted action for safe infrastructure whenever possible. If speed cameras were an option then and had been implemented it would be harder to remove them, than to block new ones.

Multiple council members speak favorably for not enforcing speed limits around schools during the day, with mere $75 fines for drivers going 46 mph or over. Why do they want to protect dangerous criminals in school zones?

At 1:10:00 council member Paulson makes the valid point that the goal should be getting drivers to stop speeding, at least around schools, so none of them would get the fine. He asks the presenter about how to do that and they chat about continuing education etc. But speed limits are extremely easy to understand, even in the limited context of basic traffic laws. For one thing, these fines themselves are education, they tell drivers to learn to drive. Another component is traffic calming and building safer roads. The Sandy Springs city council seems generally opposed to traffic calming for our major roads. E.g., fewer lanes, narrower lanes, barriers on the side of the road between drivers and other road users. Coincidentally, the next topic on the agenda is neighborhood traffic calming. 

Council member Paulson has the right aspiration. I hope he gets some information from a traffic engineer experienced with traffic calming and actually pouring concrete to successfully get a city to, or at least close to, Vision Zero. In particular around schools, it would be great to build protected bike lanes to give kids a fun and healthy alternative transportation option with concrete barriers to remind drivers to take their responsibility seriously.

These fines, even if all of them somehow went to Sandy Springs residents (a majority of people in the city during business hours are not residents), amount to $1 or $2 per resident depending on if outstanding fines ever get paid. This is nothing in the grand scheme of city policy. It's absurd that scaling back these fines is getting so much attention and taking so much time at city hall, instead of focusing on reducing speeding.

Sandy Springs traffic calming policy is focused on neighborhood streets rather than more dangerous high speed roads like Roswell, and does not even take the safety of neighborhood streets seriously.

Ar 1:16:51 this table of completed projects is displayed.

This is great as far as it goes but it demonstrates how little traffic calming Sandy Springs is doing. These are minor roads and even these minor projects are not enough to make most drivers obey the speed limit, put away their phones, etc. We cannot have wide smooth lanes everywhere and then act surprised when drivers use them as traffic engineers know they will.

Council member Bauman is correct that there's a lot of speeding across the city, we need a lot more infrastructure improvement for safety, and we need new financing for that.

At 1:33:00 they talk about setting the 85th percentile limit at 10 mph over instead of the current 8 mph. This continues to be nonsense. Instead of twiddling with this, neighborhood traffic calming needs better metrics.

At 1:52:19 council member DeJulio says "well I just think it's awful easy to request money, other people's money, to solve your problems" to summarize his hostility to the city paying for traffic calming, at the end of a broader conversation. This reflects a focus at city hall on subsidizing driving that is reflected in the deaths and serious injuries across the streets of Sandy Springs. The more rational way to frame fees, if DeJulio merely wants to keep the cost off of the City, is to force drivers to pay for the cost of reducing how much they crash. Council member Bauman has the better side of this conversation, it is basically the central purpose of the city government to make these streets safe.

2:32:00 starts discussion about eminent domain for property at 4684 Roswell, at Mystic Pl intersection. For the Roswell Road Transit Streetscape project. This is an extremely dangerous area where a driver killed a pedestrian earlier this year, hopefully that long delayed project starts moving.

Edit: Notes on a previous city council discussion about neighborhood traffic calming, http://safersandysprings.blogspot.com/2025/06/notes-on-june-3-2025-sandy-springs-city.html

Notes on previous discussion about school zone speed cameras: https://safersandysprings.blogspot.com/2025/09/speed-cameras-near-riverwood-and-north.html

Vote Against Fulton County Ballot Measures to defund Fulton County Schools

Per https://atlantaciviccircle.org/2025/09/24/atlanta-fulton-county-senior-homestead-exemption-election/

 

In Fulton County, the following two questions will be on the ballot:

• Do you approve an act to provide a new homestead exemption from Fulton County school district ad valorem taxes for educational purposes in the amount of 25 percent of the assessed value of the homestead for certain residents of that school district who are 65 years of age or older?

• Do you approve an act to provide a new homestead exemption from Fulton County school district ad valorem taxes for educational purposes in the amount of 50 percent of the assessed value of the homestead for certain residents of that school district who are 70 years of age or older?

 

This is being marketed as an anti-displacement measure for seniors, but it is actually a measure to defund our schools. We do need the government to take action to let seniors continue to live in our community as they age. We need more housing. We need housing that's accessible, with no need to walk on stairs to enter the building or to go between floors. We need housing that's in a safe area for somebody no longer physically able to drive, with short and safe multiuse paths for walking or mobility devices to get to stores, doctors, transit, etc. The same politicians pushing these tax exemption are opposed to housing policies that would work for seniors. Some seniors are displaced purely due to financial need, and they are disproportionately renters rather than home owners. This policy does nothing for them.

The link above quotes a tax expert clarifying how this will operate across homeowners,

“If a 75-year-old living in a $10 million home is getting a $5 million exemption, that doesn’t seem fair,” he said, referring to Fulton’s proposed 50% reduction in assessed home values for homeowners over 70.  

There's simply no reason to structure the exemption this way if the actual concern was displacement. These measures are defunding our schools for the disproportionate benefit of property owners who have benefited the most from land appreciation. Land that could be better used if seniors in a $10 million dollar home downsized to something easier to manage.

Fulton County Schools needs better housing policy in general to enable more families to live in the area and boost enrollment. Otherwise there will be more school closures, like Spalding. These exemptions are not the housing policy we need. Likewise Fulton County Schools have many unmet needs, and these measures to defund our schools will make things worse. Please vote no.

-Vladimir 

Speed Cameras near Riverwood and North Springs High Schools

At an hour and fifteen minutes into the September 16, 2025 Sandy Springs city council meeting, the issue of speeding tickets near Riverwood and North Springs high schools was brought up.

Evidently a lot of criminals are complaining to city hall about receiving fines. Per 1:16:40, quoting loosely and including some later clarifications about the speeding fines,

As of Friday, 2,274 citations have been issued. 1,736 citations occurred when the signs were flashing, when speed limit was 25 mph, 7:20-8:20, 3:30-4:30 pm. Fines only for 10+ mph violation, so 35 mph during those limited hours. An officer reviews footage to validate the fine is applied to the correct vehicle. When lights are not flashing but school is in session, cameras are issuing tickets for vehicles going 45 or higher in the 35 mph zone. 609 warning issued before enforcement began.

It's only an $75 fine for first offense. $125 for subsequent offenses.  

Agreement with speed camera vendor will terminate next year as currently written. Only 27 tickets have been challenged in city court. 

A few background facts. The vast majority of violent deaths and injuries in Sandy Springs are caused by drivers. Speeding and other criminal activity by drivers is rampant in Sandy Springs, as anybody can observe on our streets. A Sandy Springs officer was injured on Saturday September 20, 2025, while working a crash site, revealing how dangerous it is for our first responders to work on the side of the road and providing one reason among many that they should not be tasked with low level interventions that can be automated at lower cost and lower risk.
 
Anecdotally, I have talked to a police officer while standing side by side watching criminals speed and hold their phones while driving in front of us. We were standing on Roswell Road, near where a pedestrian was killed by a driver earlier this year. I asked him why the police didn't pull over more of these criminals outside of the daycare where I send my kids, and where multiple drivers had crashed into the parking lot over the past few years. It was a casual conversation, and the officer told me plainly that drivers complain to city hall when they get tickets. Our democratically elected leaders give enforcement priorities to the police, and intentionally or not elected leaders have sent the message that they don't want to receive complaints from voters who get tickets. 

We do not need more warnings for speeders. We do not need an amnesty or pardon. We do not need more signs telling speeders to ignore the speed limit elsewhere in Sandy Springs and only recognize it near high schools. We do not need elected officials telling criminals that actually they're the victims because they get a fine. We do not need elected officials giving police officers the message that if they put themselves in harms way for the sake of public safety to give a driver a ticket, then city hall will be upset with the police department when that criminal calls and complains.

We need more enforcement of traffic laws. We need speed cameras at all of our schools, and elsewhere on our roads too. We need red light cameras. We need to stop drivers from staring at their phones while driving through Sandy Springs. We need traffic calming to reduce speeds. We need to reduce the death and injury caused when drivers crash in our community.

If people are surprised by getting a speeding ticket during the school day because the light isn't flashing, they should learn to drive! The speed limit exists at all hours. Anyone driving is supposed to be trained and licensed to drive, they should already know how to follow the speed limit. When drivers complain to city hall that they've been fined, we need leaders to stand up to them and tell them to learn their lesson. If learning to drive is too difficult for folks, that is one more reason to use alternative modes of transportation. That's a more productive direction for the city council to pursue. 

Sandy Springs rejects Whataburger drive-through, but omits discussion of safety

The Sandy Springs city council has rightfully rejected an application for a 24/7 drive-thru. See this coverage from Rough Draft, and the earlier coverage of a Sandy Springs planning commission agreeing to extend hours to be 24/7.

Speakers at the meeting reasonably pointed out that neighboring residences would be disturbed by the light and noise coming from a 24/7 drive-thru.

Huntington Place resident Adrianne Murchison said the greatest issue she had was the 24-hour drive-through. Moving the drive-through to the back of the building wouldn’t make much of a difference, she said, as the back of the townhomes face the site.

“That leaves residents exposed to the speaker system, customer voices, cars idling, headlights shining towards our windows,” Murchison said.

Here's a link to the city council meeting, https://www.youtube.com/live/I9yISch6Cz4. At 57:10 they begin discussing the drive thru. I highly recommend listening to the comments of both speakers in opposition, especially this from Ronda Smith, president of the Sandy Springs Council of Neighborhoods:

The comprehensive plan identified that "along its commerical corridors and especially Roswell Rd the city lacks true walking environments and the goal", one of the 10 for the next 10, was to "convert Roswell Rd into a pedestrian friendly boulevard".  Again if we don't start somewhere to move the needle on Roswell Rd we will never get anywhere to improve it.

This touches on the safety risks of drive-throughs without really digging in to what they represent for the local community, especially a 24/7 fast food drive-through along a stroad like Roswell Rd. Sandy Springs does not need to appeal to drivers passing through our communities to get a burger, especially at night when the risk of crashes is especially high. 

The closest they come to addressing safety head on is council member Paulson saying, in the context of asking the developer about sound mitigation,

obviously everybody's nightmare is two in the morning some guy pulls up drunk yelling "I want fries with that burger." How do you mitigate that? What can you do to mitigate that noise level that comes? Not the guy yelling, you can't really keep that from happening, but what can you do 

My worst nightmare related to a drunk in a drive through at two in the morning is not noise. Council member Paulson is responding to the concern of residents, and I get that, but tangentially referring to drunk driving and ignoring the risk of death or serious injury is unacceptable. He has a responsibility to all residents of Sandy Springs and he should prioritize minimizing the risk of crashes caused by drunk driving. 

There is a lot of time spent discussing building articulation. I don't really care, but I do disagree with the revealed prioritization.  

Also unmentioned is what neighbors lose when commercial land is used for a drive-through. In general, if people in their bedrooms can readily hear drive through customers and see their headlights, then they could instead be walking distance to a cafe with outdoor dining that's not surrounded by loud and carcinogen emitting idling cars. They could have easy access to an urgent care or a pharmacy if they're unable to drive, in general or due to a medical issue. A fast food drive through is an amenity for customers driving through the area, not for the people living there already. A drive through can fundamentally make sense on a remote highway off-ramp where almost the only people in the area are driving through. By contrast, they do not make sense in the middle of Sandy Springs along Roswell Rd. The Sandy Springs city council should reject future applications and take action to remediate existing locations, so that the land can be used in ways that do more to benefit residents of Sandy Springs while not contributing as much to the risk of motor vehicle crashes.