Newspaper Page Text
Winging it
AUG. 7 - AUG. 20, 2015 • VOL. 9 - NO. 16
Inside
Head for the Hills
Escape the summer heat
PAGES 8-11
Watch your step
Officers learn from Israeli police
PUBLIC SAFETY 19 OUT & ABOUT 14
I wanna hold your hand
PHIL MOSIER
Ruthie Williams, 3, left, and her friend Anna Harding, 3, dance to the music of “The
Return,” a Beatles tribute band performing at Heritage Green on Aug. 2. The show
was part of the annual Concert by the Springs series, now in its 19th year.
After nine
years, adult
business lawsuit
heads to trial
BY JOHN RUCH
johnruch@reporternewspapers.net
A federal lawsuit filed nine years ago that
challenges Sandy Springs’ adult-business re
strictions as unconstitutional is finally slated
for trial on Aug. 18.
But the city may have changed the playing
field with a quiet, last-minute zoning change
that essentially allows strip clubs and adult
bookstores to operate in more areas.
“We were never told” that zoning change
was coming, said Cary Wiggins, the attor
ney representing three local adult businesses
in the lawsuit. The move could delay the tri
al, he said.
City Attorney Wendell Willard and Scott
Bergthold, the Tennessee attorney representing
Sandy Springs in the lawsuit, did not respond
to questions.
In the lawsuit, the adult bookstore Inserec-
tion and the strip clubs Mardi Gras and Flash
ers allege that the city is trying to force them
out of business with laws violating the First
and Fourteenth Amendments. First filed in
2006, the case has dragged on in part due to
previous tweaks of the city code.
It is one of four lawsuits still pending in
the local legal war against adult businesses that
dates back to pre-cityhood Fulton County or
dinances in the 1990s. The businesses argue
that the city is making up excuses to shut them
down for moral reasons. The city has argued
SEE ADULT, PAGE 4
Neighbors worry about noise, truck traffic after Kroger expansion
BY JOHN RUCH
johnruch@reporternewspapers.net
Kroger plans a major expansion and upgrade of its Foun
tain Oaks supermarket. But first it must negotiate with wor
ried neighbors who say the store is already a source of deliv
ery noise problems.
The plans also involve buying and demolishing a public
housing building in Sandy Springs, at 151 West Belle Isle
Road, apparently to expand the parking lot. Residents in
volved in the talks with Kroger and shopping center own
er EDENS, Inc. say they are concerned that plans for the
property remain unclear.
“Were very supportive of [Kroger] in this expansion,”
but not “at our personal expenses,” said Paul Wendlandt, a
West Belle Isle homeowner who is among many abutters in
volved in the talks.
Kroger would not comment on the negotiations, and
EDENS and the Galloway Law Group, which represents
the project, did not respond to questions. Kroger sought a
30-day deferral from the city’s Planning Commission last
month to talk with neighbors. Wendlandt said the group is
due to meet again Aug. 10 with updated plans.
Built in 1987, the Kroger at 4920 Roswell Road is out
dated and small by modern standards. The plan would ex
pand it by nearly 40 percent, from 61,000 to 84,000 square
feet. That involves demolishing several other shopping cen
ter storefronts that until recently housed such businesses as
a martial arts studio and a coin-trading shop. Kroger aims to
start work this fall and wrap up late next year.
“The multi-million-dollar investment will include new
decor, upscale elements in service departments, [an] ex
panded grocery department, [an] expanded bakery and deli,
and extensive natural and organic food offerings,” Kroger
spokesman Glynn Jenkins said in an email.
But even at its current size, the store creates noise prob
lems with late-night deliveries and unloading of trucks,
neighbors said at the July 16 Planning Commission meet
ing. Wendlandt said residents have logged more than 150
noise complaints with the police in recent years, but Kroger
has never offered a practical solution.
“We’ve had numerous conversations with Kroger in
which they’ve essentially given us the middle finger,” Wend
landt said. “We don’t have much confidence, trust or faith
in Kroger doing the right thing or being a good neighbor.”
A city staff report says Kroger did not provide enough in
formation to figure out whether the expanded store would
SEE FOUNTAIN, PAGE 5