Sandy Springs Revisits Rule That Created ‘Sidewalks To Nowhere’

The city introduced a rule in 2008 requiring that sidewalks be built whenever there was new construction or a home was undergoing major remodeling. In some cases, there’s an option to pay into a city sidewalk fund instead.

That policy has resulted in a patchwork of sidewalks, where they start and stop and then start again, said Mayor Rusty Paul.

“You know, some people call them sidewalks to nowhere, various names for them,” he said. “And we realized that the cost of building sidewalks was discouraging people from upgrading, renovating, improving their residential property, and we didn’t want to create a disincentive. So we’ve been somewhat struggling.”

At its meeting Tuesday, the city decided to put the rule on hold, except on major roads that are part of Sandy Springs’ Sidewalk Master Plan. Paul said in the next couple of months, he and the City Council hope to figure out a different way to get more sidewalks built.