Sandy Springs Reporter www.ReporterNewspapers.net
Inside On the move
Comedy club to Buckhead? COMMUNITY 5
Heave, ho Pump it up at this gym COMMUNITY 10
SEPT. 4 — SEPT. 17, 2015 • VOL. 9 — NO. 18
A future Falcon?
Sandy Springs Festival
A SPECIAL SECTION, PAGES 15-18
As local rents rise, public housing dwindles BY JOHN RUCH
johnruch@reporternewspapers.net
There are 1,029 people on the waiting list for the last nine public housing units that remain in Fulton County—all on West Belle Isle Road in Sandy Springs. And the county Housing Authority is in the process of selling that building to the neighboring shopping center, which will tear it down for parking spaces. The Housing Authority still funds vouchers to subsidize rents, and Fountain Oaks is renovating a voucherKroger wins based apartment complex in Sandy Springs for approval. Page 2 seniors and people with disabilities. But both the voucher and public housing wait lists have been full and frozen for years, while local rents continue to climb. “There’s just not enough affordable housing,” said Larry Haqq, the interim executive director of the Fulton County Housing Authority. “It’s as simple as that.” When residents are displaced from the Belle Isle Apartments, SEE AS LOCAL, PAGE 4
Developer to preserve 14 acres as public park at Glenridge Hall site BY JOHN RUCH
johnruch@reporternewspapers.net
PHIL MOSIER
Josh Sudduth, 2, has his eyes on the ball as he plays during “Kickoff Cookout Tailgate” at the Prado Shopping Center on Aug. 29. Hosted by the Sandy Springs Restaurant Council, the event gave the public an opportunity to enjoy live music, games, craft beer and food from local restaurants. See more photos on page 27.
A pond where a great blue heron and a kingfisher hunt. A stream with small waterfalls flowing through century-old forest. A “secret garden” with an outdoor stone fireplace. Those are just a few features of the former Glenridge Hall estate that Ashton Woods, as a deal-sweetener for its controversial housing development plan, has agreed to preserve as a new 14-acre public park. One recent afternoon, Linda Bain, executive director of the Sandy Springs Conservancy, and Mike Rabalais, who long lived on and managed the Glenridge estate, hiked the property together to look it over. As deer dashed nearby, Bain explained how the conservancy brokered the park deal, and Rabalais described how former property owner Caroline Glenn Mayson strategized for part of the historic family estate to become parkland. “This is a vast piece of land in an extraordinary location worth a vast amount of money,” said Bain, noting the rarity of scoring prime redevelopment land for what will be one of Sandy Springs’ biggest parks. That value is also why the other 60 acres will become housing despite complaints from some neighbors. Mayson sparked protests by demolishing the family mansion earlier this year and selling to SEE A TOUR, PAGE 7