Sandy Springs is close to naming a developer for City Springs 2.0, the next phase of the city's civic campus, Mayor Rusty Paul said during his State of the City address on Tuesday, Sept. 15.

City staff are in the final stretch of choosing a development partner for the site at 1 Galambos Way, Appen Media reported. Plans call for a hotel, restaurants, retail space and a mix of owner-occupied and rental housing. The project would also physically link Heritage Green and City Walk, the city's green spaces, which Paul described as forming the connective tissue that ties the community together.

Paul also updated attendees on two major road projects funded through the Transportation Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (TSPLOST), a 0.75% countywide sales tax up for renewal on the November ballot.

The long-running intersection improvement at Johnson Ferry Road and Mount Vernon Highway — which Paul has nicknamed the "eternal project" — is now expected to wrap up in November after utility relocation work by Georgia Power delayed the original schedule.

Hammond Drive improvements are next in line. The city plans to reshape the corridor between Roswell Road and Glenridge Drive to cut down on neighborhood cut-through traffic and ease congestion. Sandy Springs has already acquired every parcel needed for phase one of that widening project, which runs from Boylston Drive to Glenridge Road, Rough Draft Atlanta reported in April. That first phase alone is projected to cost more than $64 million and would add a lane in each direction, along with a median barrier and two roundabouts. City officials have called it the largest infrastructure undertaking in Sandy Springs in two decades.

TSPLOST renewal stakes

Fulton County voters first approved the TSPLOST in November 2016 with 52.7% support, then renewed it in 2021 with more than 60% backing. A third five-year extension, if approved this fall, would bring Sandy Springs an estimated $129 million for infrastructure work through the early 2030s, according to Rough Draft Atlanta. The overall sales tax rate in the city would hold steady at 7.75%.

Paul called the tax essential to the city's ability to build out connectivity across the community.

Water fight with Atlanta

Paul also addressed the city's ongoing mediation with Atlanta over control of the water distribution system — a dispute stretching back to Sandy Springs' incorporation in 2005. He said Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens is aware that Atlanta cannot afford the estimated $40 million to $100 million in upgrades the system needs to meet current demand.

According to Paul, the shortfall has grown serious enough that some hotels struggle to flush toilets and hospitals occasionally lack adequate water pressure.

Former Georgia Supreme Court Justice Mike Boggs is mediating the dispute, which has held up progress on Fulton County's Service Delivery Strategy — the framework determining where residents receive utility services. If the two cities don't reach an agreement by the Dec. 31 deadline, both stand to lose access to state and federal grant funding. City officials say they cannot discuss specifics of the negotiations while they're ongoing.

At an Aug. 3 Fulton County meeting, Paul said the funding loss would hurt Atlanta more than Sandy Springs, predicting it would "force us to get serious about negotiation."

The TSPLOST renewal goes before Fulton County voters in November. No public timeline has been set for the City Springs 2.0 developer announcement.