Sandy Springs’ long journey to cityhood

Businessman author and entrepreneur Oliver Porter played an instrumental role in the lobbying cityhood and structure of Sandy Springs city authorities more than two decades ago File photo On Dec Sandy Springs will celebrate years of cityhood Located just north of the perimeter Sandy Springs has roots dating back to the s when Native Americans frequented the area s bubbling springs Known as one of the first cities to follow a public-private partnership model the present day the city boasts a population of acres of parks and green space and a bustling arts-and-dining scene Explore More Sandy Springs from Rough Draft Porter was front and center when Eva Galambos known as the mother of Sandy Springs Tibby DeJulio later a city council member Leadership Perimeter s Carolyn Axt and others led a drive to the Georgia State Capitol with the idea that they could be better served as their own entity Lobbying went on for decades Porter recalled Eva and I worked hand-in-glove for several years She was just the greater part determined and capable person for the -year effort The road to cityhood began with a movement to oppose annexation by the city of Atlanta in Residents of Sandy Springs were unhappy with Fulton County services namely police protection and felt their tax dollars were being used to bolster the less financially stable southern part of the county Zoning battles between Sandy Springs and the county which advocated building multi-family residential developments were common Surveys and polls were conducted Meetings were held to discuss the pros and cons of becoming a city When we had debates we were hard pressed to find someone from the other side We often had to get someone from Atlanta or from Fulton County to represent the opposition DeJulio mentioned Porter reported survey results evidenced zoning as a top priority followed by traffic and citizens safety People were really concerned that the character of the neighborhood was being overturned by the growth of too plenty of rental properties The county had set a limit on rental properties of percent and they had already far exceeded that and it was getting worse People were concerned that the character of the population was going to be ruined Porter noted DeJulio reported Rough Draft that Sandy Springs residents were completely tired of being tied to a non-responsive Fulton County leadership One county research proved Sandy Springs residents sent million more to Fulton County than they received in services annually But Democrats accused the Sandy Springs cityhood movement of being nothing more than white flight and used their power in the General Assembly to block cityhood efforts For nearly years elected authorities tried to get the legislature to pass a bill that would authorize a referendum In the end in with Republican Gov Sonny Perdue in office and a Republican majority in the House and Senate Sandy Springs eventually got its wish the legislature authorized a referendum The people would decide For the first time in years residents would get to vote to create a new city in Georgia On June the referendum results revealed percent of Sandy Springs voters chose to incorporate Galambos was elected Sandy Springs first mayor in November Porter was a retired vice president of sales having spent his entire career working at AT T He jumped to work putting in to hours as the volunteer interim city manager We were inventing things as we went The biggest issue was that the regulation which was passed gave no one any authority to do anything We couldn t hire anybody We couldn t buy anything or lease equipment until the moment the city was started and at that moment we needed to be fully operational That s where I became involved Porter disclosed Porter who has since written books and spoken around the world about the cityhood process came up with a concept of using public-private partnerships to jumpstart city services It worked beautifully And all of the subsequent cities new cities I believe in Georgia are based on the Sandy Springs model he declared Oliver Porter s book about the founding of Sandy Springs and its public-private partnership model Within the first year Sandy Springs hired police officers tripling their society safety staff repaired dozens of traffic lights and paved a path for starting their own fire department Looking back Porter is proud of the way Sandy Springs has grown After years Sandy Springs had zero tax rate increases We had improved services across the board Every internal and external survey indicated that people were very pleased with the direction of services We had accumulated a billion surplus And preponderance importantly we had zero long-term debt Porter announced These days Porter is busy consulting other municipalities enjoying retirement with his wife Pat of years and traveling He is the author of Creating the New City of Sandy Springs The post Sandy Springs long journey to cityhood appeared first on Rough Draft Atlanta