Gateway development causes concern near Chastain Park

By Dan Whisenhunt
Hudon Hooks, a developer with JLB Partners, asked the Sandy Springs Planning Commission to defer approving his mixed-use development near Chastain Park. The Sandy Springs City Council will likely consider approving the zoning for the plan in July.
Hooks wants to tweak the proposal to satisfy the development’s neighbors in Sandy Springs. The city’s residents already see some improvement in designs Hooks presented in April. The project’s neighbors in Atlanta’s Buckhead community won’t be as easy to convince, however
The development, known alternately as the Chastain Mixed Use Project and the Sandy Springs Gateway, will be inside Sandy Springs, right at the city’s border with Atlanta.
If the Sandy Springs City Council approves zoning for the Gateway, the project will require realigning the intersection of Roswell Road and Windsor Parkway. The total costs are unknown, but the city of Sandy Springs already is considering what funds might be available for it.
It’s a different story in Buckhead, where residents don’t expect the city of Atlanta to have the money to pay for improvements to the intersections of Roswell Road, and Wieuca and West Wieuca roads to the south.
Both are part of a bottleneck on Roswell Road. Roswell Road will likely see an increase in traffic if the project is approved.
Hooks said the intersection of Windsor Parkway and Roswell Road already is a known problem. The Georgia Regional Transportation Agency is requiring the intersection’s realignment for the JLB development, but Hooks said it would be required for any development on the site larger than 400 apartment units. JLB has proposed 700 units, a number residents in both cities say is too dense.
Hooks said he couldn’t address Buckhead residents’ concerns about the project’s impact on Wieuca and West Wieuca.
“That’s a City of Atlanta thing,” he said. “I’m a resident of the city of Atlanta. I live in Buckhead, not far from Chastain Park. I drive that intersection all the time. I can’t speak to what Atlanta will and won’t do.”