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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