The city of Sandy Springs is considering a $250,000 purchase of a house at 380 Hammond Drive, which would be its sixth such “protective buy” of residential property for a possible road-widening project.
So far this year, the city has spent nearly $2 million buying 372, 418, 521, 550 and 590 Hammond. The 380 Hammond property sits next to 372. The purchase will be voted on by the City Council at its Sept. 6 meeting.
The possible widening project targets the two-lane stretch of Hammond between Glenridge Drive and Roswell Road. Neighborhood associations have questioned the need and scale of the widening and criticized its appearance on the city’s transportation sales tax, or T-SPLOST, project list that is headed to the November ballot. However, the widening was supported by a majority of comments in T-SPLOST meetings and a survey, and the city recently produced a traffic study saying the road needs some sort of improvement measures to stave off gridlock within 10 years.
The community also has been concerned about the city’s maintenance of the properties in the meantime. The city is considering housing police officers and firefighters in some of the properties.
Correction: A previous version of this story incorrectly reported the city had purchased 390 Hammond rather than 590 Hammond.