Ronnie R. Young Sr. has joined the Sandy Springs Recreation and Parks Department as director.  Ronnie began his career in recreation more than 40 years ago.  He was the director for the City of Carrollton, Ga., Parks, Recreation and Cultural Arts for 35 years. After retiring in 2001 Ronnie directed the City of Bremen, Ga's department for five years. Ronnie has led these two departments to recognition by the Georgia Recreation and Parks Association, Carrollton six times and Bremen once. Both were named agencies of the year in their population class. The Carrollton department received the coveted "Gold Medal" award in 1987 signifying a top agency nationwide. Ronnie was also recognized as "Professional of the Year" by the Georgia Recreation and Park Association in 2001. Ronnie is a native of Carrollton and was educated in the city schools and West Georgia College.

The City of Sandy Springs held its first Stormwater Advisory Team (SAT) meeting on February 19, 2008. The SAT will be assisting staff in studying alternative methods and current issues centered on stormwater management. The team will also be working on the program the City has developed, which is composed of eight elements to address stormwater, including:

• Public education
• Public involvement
• Removal of drainage system pollution sources
• Construction site erosion control
• Development stormwater control
• Drainage system maintenance and repair
• Watershed improvement projects
• Water quality monitoring

Stormwater runoff and rainfall that does not soak into the ground, washes pollution such as oil and grease, chemicals, fertilizer, metals and bacteria from our lawns and streets into our streams. This pollution harms our environment and costs money to remove when the water is treated for drinking water. The program also puts the City into compliance with state and federal guidelines.

For more information, including a list of the SAT's members, visit our Web site and click on "Stormwater and You."

It's that time when mowers and blowers have begun their yearly ritual. While it is much easier to blow grass clippings into the streets, it is detrimental to the environment as well as our stormwater drainage system. The City of Sandy Springs has more than 4,000 drainage structures in the rights of way, and last year alone we performed costly maintenance on 1,000 of them to clean them out. When grass, leaves, pine straw and other yard waste enters these basins, it inhibits the flow of water creating hazards from sudden downbursts, such as flash flooding. It is essential that you bag your yard waste into brown bags sold at most home and hardware stores in order to care for our little piece of the environment called Sandy Springs!

 

If you see someone blowing yard waste into the road, please call the Citizen Response Center at 770-730-5600, and report it. This is against the Land Development and Environmental Protection Ordinance, Chapter 14, 2005-12-12. This ordinance also prohibits illicit discharge of illegal connections into the storm sewer system, such as draining fluids from vehicles. The entire ordinance may be viewed on the City's Web site at www.sandyspringsga.org.

Sandy Springs is pursuing the design of a state-of-the-art, multi-jurisdictional 9-1-1 Emergency Communications Center (ECC) in partnership with the City of Johns Creek. Sandy Springs City Council has selected the iXP Corporation to assist officials with the planning and design of the new ECC, which will provide call answering, dispatching and other services for both Sandy Springs and Johns Creek. A multidisciplinary team representing the public safety and emergency planning departments from both cities was established in January of 2008 and has been meeting regularly since then. The targeted date for project launch is early to mid-2009. In the meantime, Sandy Springs continues to work with Fulton County's Department of Emergency Services, which is the entity currently responsible for performing these functions, until such time that the new regional ECC is operational.

2008 Summer/Fall Parks and Recreation Guide

Registration is underway for the upcoming Hammond Park Summer Camp programs. A variety of fun, instructional activity and sports camps are offered for boys and girls ages 3-17 throughout the summer. Participants have the opportunity to improve sports skills, create an art masterpiece, learn something different and best of all, make new friends!  Available camps include lacrosse, basketball, soccer, tennis, preschool gymnastics, gymnastics, cheerleading, artsy smartsy and after camp care.

For more information on all of the available Recreation Department's programs, visit the City's Recreation and Parks Web page.

The City of Sandy Springs is undergoing a visible addresses campaign designed with safety in mind. All business' and residents' addresses should be clearly marked and visible from the roadway. This is a positive and progressive way to ensure the new 9-1-1 and public safety personnel can identify the structure quickly and accurately. Some tips to consider: large and reflective numbers, using numbers rather than spelling the address and posting the numbers at the end of a long driveway. For more information, visit www.sandyspringsga.org and click on "Emergency Services" then "Fire."

The City of Sandy Springs in conjunction with Atlanta Regional Commission (ARC), commissioned the Roswell Road Corridor LCI Study to study opportunities to revitalize and enhance Roswell Road Corridor as a mixed-use and mixed-income "Main Street" that supports alternative modes of transportation, protects neighborhoods, reflects demographic changes and lays the foundation for a better quality of life for residents, workers and visitors. The draft study document is available for download from the City's Web site for review. The LCI Study will be presented to the Planning Commission for review at their April 17th meeting.

 

Roswell Road Corrider Livable Centers Initiative Study

 

The Comprehensive Transportation Plan (CTP) identifies transportation needs, and develops a program of projects and strategies aimed at improving the City's transportation system and ensuring that it meets projected demands. The CTP builds upon the recently adopted Sandy Springs Comprehensive Plan, incorporating guiding principles and policies established by the Citizen's Advisory Committee as part of the overall comprehensive planning effort. The draft plan document is available for download from the City's Web site for review. The Comprehensive Transportation Plan will be presented to the Planning Commission for review at their April 17th meeting.

Mt. Vernon Parkway Sidewalks and Traffic Calming Project: The project to install approximately 4,600 linear feet of sidewalk plus new curb and gutter on the northbound lane of Mt. Vernon Parkway from Crest Valley Drive to Mt. Vernon Highway is substantially complete with paving overlay on March 26, 2008. Thanks to everyone in the neighborhood for their patience throughout the effort begun on January 2. There will be some contractor activity on the street over the next few weeks to finish this project.

 

River Valley Road Sidewalk Project: Staking of the project area is beginning on this effort to install sidewalks on both sides of River Valley Road from Amberidge Trail to Riverside Drive. Public Works staff greatly appreciates the updated Temporary Driveway Easements mailed in thus far from homeowners and has met with many homeowners to address project-specific questions.       

 

Sidewalk Program, Sandy Springs Middle School: A project is being awarded to construct a sidewalk along North River Parkway connecting to Sandy Springs Middle School. Anticipated construction duration is 90 days.

The TMC will provide a communications link from a central location to localized intersections throughout the City. The TMC will provide communication to all field devices. Once implemented, the TMC will provide Internet images of live traffic to the public and will allow the community to control the cameras through preset camera locations that can be chosen. During the design stages of the TMC, we have discussed items such as traffic camera locations design, fiber optic master plan design and room layout design. The design stage of the TMC buildout will provide GPS coordinates of: fiber splices, camera locations, fiber drops, etc. The contractor has already bought about 50 percent of the equipment that will be in the TMC and is currently being tested in their office.

Notice to proceed has been issued for seven intersection improvement projects throughout Sandy Springs. We have had several meetings with the contractors to go over any questions that they may have. Improvements will include but not be limited to: signal upgrades, striping improvements, sectional sidewalk with new handicap ramps, overhead street name sign installations and pedestrian upgrades. The list of intersections include: Johnson Ferry Road @ Glenridge Connector, Johnson Ferry Road @ Roswell Road, Dunwoody Place @ Hightower Trail, Mount Vernon Highway @ Dupree Road, Dunwoody Place @ Hope Road, Glenridge Drive @ Mabry Road and Spalding Drive @ Dalrymple Road.

The 2008 Capital Paving Program continues with night work on Northridge Road the week on March 25. The next roads scheduled to be repaved are Spalding Drive from the City Limits to Dalrymple Road, Dalrymple Road from Spalding Drive to Brandon Mill Road and Riverside Road from Brandon Mill Road to Johnson Ferry Road. The City of Sandy Springs thanks the residents and motorist for their patience especially during the inconvenience of the night work. The work hours of 9:00 p.m. to 5:00 a.m. cuts construction time by one third and are safer for motorists and work crews because of low traffic volume. For information on the paving program, please visit the Web site or call 770-730-5600.

As we've seen recently, it is the beginning of tornado season. This month we have decided to share a short list of basic guidelines to follow if you happen to find yourself in the path of a tornado.

For more safety tips and information on tornados, visit http://www.fema.gov/hazard/tornado/index.shtm