Sandy Springs reporter. (Sandy Springs, GA) 2007-current, November 15, 2013, Image 2
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As concerns about your medications, conditions, and specialists arise, you need a physician who respects you. It’s our mission to establish a close relationship with you, coordinate healthcare, and provide the care you deserve. Find your primary care doctor today. Visit ConcentraPrimaryCare.com/Atlanta Sandy Springs Primary Care Edgewood Primary Care 6334 Roswell Rd. NE, Suite B 1220 Caroline St. NE, Suite A230 Sandy Springs, GA 30328 Atlanta, GA 30307 770-250-0401 678-916-3600 Conceiura® primary care ©2013 Concentra Operating Corporation 1 J OF FRESH CARE.™ A DOCTOR'S OFFICE THAT UNDERSTANDS AACnir ADC WHAT A RREATH MARTA’s future plans may impact areas east of Ga. 400 Bf JOE EARLE joeearle@reporternewspapers. net Sandy Springs and Dunwoody offi cials are starting to pay close attention as MARTA takes a new look at mass transit north of the Chattahoochee River. Don Boyken, chairman of the Dun- woody Chamber of Commerce, told members of the Dunwoody Homeown ers Association on Nov. 3 “it’s not too early” to start lobbying the transit agen cy over its plans to extend the rail line north from the North Springs station. Boyken said a new MARTA study shows the rail line to the east of Ga. 400, which means neigh borhoods in Sandy Springs and Dun woody would be in the path of construc tion. Two decades or so ago, local officials convinced MARTA to build on the west side of Ga. 400, he said, but those plans have been set aside and are to be replaced by new ones. “We as Dun woody and San dy Springs need to talk to MARTA to get them to go back to the [old] plan,” Boyken said. MARTA officials two years ago began again examining ways to provide future mass transit to Fulton County residents who live north of the river. Janide Sidi- fall, project manager for MARTA, said the agency said “had to start back at zero in 2011.” MARTA is examining three options: bus rapid transit, light rail, and extend ing the current heavy rail line north from Sandy Springs. The agency is con sidering adding stations at Northridge Road, Holcomb Bridge Road, Mansell Road, North Point Mall, Old Milton Parkway and Windward Parkway. Preliminary estimates show the bus option is expected to cost about $460 million, compared to $1.8 billion for light rail and $1.6 billion for heavy rail, Sidifall said. The heavy rail option is cheaper than light rail, she said, because it extends the current line. Boyken said residents of Alpharetta, Roswell and other Fulton County cit ies north of the river support the plan. “Folks north of the river are very much in favor of this line,” Boyken told DHA board members. “They’ve been sitting in traffic for years.” During the DHA meeting, state Sen. Fran Millar (R-Dunwoody) said he and other members of the community’s leg islative delegation would weigh in to try to convince MARTA officials to move the line back to the west side of Ga. 400. Rep. Mike Jacobs (R-Brookhaven), who chairs the Legislature’s MARTA budget oversight committee, said the agency should stick to its prior agree ments. “If an understanding was reached with the community, MARTA should honor it, regardless of the passage of time,” Jacobs said in an email. The reason MAR TA is looking at a rail line east of Ga. 400 is simple: cost. Sidi fall said each crossing of Ga. 400 is project ed to add “a few hun dred thousand dollars” to the cost. If the train crosses to the west side of Ga. 400, it will at some point have to re turn to the east side, she said. “It is still possi ble to go on the west side,” she said. “It is more expensive. And when you’re looking on the national scale, competing with Port land and Dallas and New V>rk and oth er cities, cost is a big thing.” MARTA officials presented the plans to Sandy Springs City Council on Oct. 1, and council members agreed a pro posed Northridge station should be cut from the plan, according to city records. “The plan shows a station being lo cated at Northridge on the east side of Ga. 400,” city spokeswoman Sharon Kraun said in an email. “Councilman [John] Paulson spoke against having a station on the east side, where there is a school, office and residential. He sug gested extending along the west side.” Councilwoman Karen Meinzen McEnerny said she did not agree that the station should be removed from the plan, but agreed that is should be west of Ga. 400. “I agree with the council that it can not be on the east side adjacent to sev eral ‘protected neighborhoods,”’ she said in an email. “But to pass on an oppor tunity to have it on the west side is ludi crous in the long run .... The west side has commercial areas and infrastructure (sidewalks) connecting it to the many nearby apartments and Roswell Road.” The Sandy Springs council did not take a formal vote on the proposal. Sid ifall said additional public meetings could be scheduled soon. “Hopeful ly, we’ll get some folks out from Dun woody this time,” she said. “We as Dunwoody and Sandy Springs need to talk to AAARTA to get them to go back to the [old] plan.” - DON BOYKEN CHAIRMAN OF THE DUNWOODY CHAMBER OF COMMERCE 2 | NOV. 15—NOV. 28, 2013 | www.ReporterNewspapers.net ss