North Fulton city stops hotel construction for 60 days

Sandy Springs has halted the construction of hotels for 60 days so city staff can review its zoning codes.

Credit: BRANT SANDERLIN / BSANDERLIN@AJ

Credit: BRANT SANDERLIN / BSANDERLIN@AJ

Sandy Springs has halted the construction of hotels for 60 days so city staff can review its zoning codes.

At a city council meeting last week, leaders in Sandy Springs approved a 60-day moratorium on the acceptance of land use and development permit applications for new hotels.

The vote to approve the moratorium was unanimous.

The city says stopping construction will give leaders time to correct issues with the city’s zoning code.

The moratorium went into effect immediately and will expire May 19.

READ | Sandy Springs tightens grip on Airbnbs with more rules, expenses

READ | Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell ninth biggest metro area in the nation

READ | QB from North Fulton leaves Virginia Tech for Illinois

“In reviewing the code, staff realized that there remain questions related to hotels, including how they are defined within the code which need to be corrected to align with the city’s development code and zoning policies,” Jim Tolbert, the city’s assistant manager, said in a statement.

The moratorium comes at a time where the city hasn’t recently received any application requests for hotels, Tolbert said.

“The moratorium is preventative to avoid any issues while the code is corrected. We can’t predict what or when a developer may file paperwork,” said city spokesperson Sharon Kraun. “Rather than risk an issue, we are taking standard precautions.”

The city did not offer any further explanation about the specific issues in the code related to hotels that need to be addressed.

Over the next two months, the city’s staff will prepare proposed changes to the code and give recommendations to the council.

Sandy Springs' tourism website shows there are 20 hotels in the city.

Like North Fulton County News Now on Facebook | Follow on Twitter

MORE LOCAL NEWS...