Sandy Springs staff recommends raising gap‑fill sidewalk threshold to $100,000 and seeks public outreach

Wesley Waters, a Public Works staff member, told the Sandy Springs City Council on Feb. 4 that staff recommends increasing the Capital Sidewalk Program's gap-fill project limit from $50,000 to $100,000 and is seeking council consensus to begin public outreach asking residents for nonbinding letters of intent to donate right of way.

The recommendation is intended to make more short, low-cost sidewalk gaps eligible for quicker delivery. "We haven't been able to execute a single project under $50,000 in a few years," Waters said, noting staff had considered a $75,000 threshold but favored $100,000 to capture more candidates.

Waters said the city is advancing about 20 sidewalk segments through T-SPLOST 2021 funding, roughly $12 million in work, and that a drafted priority-scored list of candidate segments (about $60–70 million worth of scored candidates) will be posted to the city website for public review. He said the list is intended to feed the Transportation Master Plan update this year; the city's traffic unit will use the ranked segments when planning future funding rounds.

The draft scoring uses a 60-point scale, with 10 points allotted to right-of-way. Waters described the mechanism for residents to increase a segment's right-of-way score: by collecting nonbinding letters of intent to donate right-of-way from property owners along a corridor. "If 6 out of 10 people along the corridor sign the letter, their score would go to a 6," he said. Waters said some sidewalk projects in the past moved up the list and secured funding after citizens raised their right-of-way scores.

Councilmembers asked procedural and technical questions. Councilmember Jody Rochelle asked how letters would be solicited; Waters said staff meets one-on-one with a neighborhood volunteer or champion who gathers signatures and that staff provides maps and instructions but does not door-to-door canvassing. Rochelle also asked whether the draft scores could show district numbers; Waters replied that the ID numbers on the left of the list include the district number.

Councilmember John Paulson pressed staff to examine alternative, lower-cost surface systems and asked whether permeable pavers had been evaluated; Waters said Community Development added a green-infrastructure feasibility checklist about two years ago and that permeable pavers are considered in permitting but often are judged infeasible on linear projects until cost comparisons are done. "As of probably about two years ago...they've instituted a green infrastructure feasibility checklist," Waters said.

Several councilmembers asked for more information before taking a formal vote. Councilmember Andy Baumann asked staff to provide examples showing what projects would qualify at the $100,000 threshold (and, if useful, at other limits) so members could assess how many additional gap fills would become eligible. Waters told council staff would return with an updated list in July to finalize segments for the Transportation Master Plan update.

No formal council vote was recorded on the recommended $100,000 threshold or on launching public outreach; Waters explicitly asked for "consensus to move forward with reaching out to the public on this timeline," but the transcript records questions rather than a recorded decision. Waters said the draft list and scoring details will be posted to the city website and supported with social-media communications.

The program includes three funding categories: the priority-scored list, the gap-fill program for small projects, and the neighborhood program, which allows residents to request sidewalks that are not on the master plan by pledging 25% of construction costs. Waters said no petitions under the neighborhood program have been filed to date.

Waters also noted the priority list has both citizen requests and staff-identified needs; he said the list is not yet matched to dedicated funding beyond the projects already advanced through T-SPLOST. He said the purpose of collecting letters now is to provide a set of scored segments for the Transportation Master Plan so the city can request funding from the next T-SPLOST cycle or future budgets.

Staff provided examples of corridors raised by council members for follow-up (Windsor Parkway, North River Drive, Adair Lane, Nesbitt Ferry near Coles Way, Lake Forest Drive and Dudley in District 6). Waters said staff would double-check scoring inputs (for example, that the plan uses zoning-based density rather than actual current occupancy for density scoring) after council questions.

The item concluded with staff committing to post the draft priority list and scoring criteria online, run communications to inform neighborhoods with potential gap fills, and return to the council in July with an updated list and a clearer picture of how many projects would qualify at a $100,000 gap‑fill threshold.