The recent Stockbridge Planning Commission meeting on June 26, 2025, highlighted a persistent tension between ambitious urban planning and the practical realities of development, particularly concerning pedestrian infrastructure and on-site amenities. As new residential projects come before the commission, a pattern of demanding extensive, costly features emerges, raising questions about who truly benefits and at what expense.
A prime example surfaced with the proposed “Hanover Park” development on Flippen Road. The plans explicitly include a 10-foot-wide concrete sidewalk along the entire frontage of the road.
This isn’t an isolated requirement. During the Zoning Modification Case for “Gadson’s Crossing” on Highway 42 North, the applicant’s agent, Brian Marshburn, voiced frustration over a similar demand. His initial proposal for a more modest 4-foot sidewalk with a 24-inch landscape strip along public streets was ultimately overridden by the staff’s, and commission’s, insistence on a 10-foot-wide sidewalk along the Highway 42 frontage. Marshburn bluntly described this as a “10 foot sidewalk to nowhere,” lamenting the lack of connectivity and questioning the practicality, a sentiment echoed by Commissioner Anthony Mitten, who jokingly asked if these “sidewalks to nowhere programs” were influenced by a “concrete lobbyist”.
This raises a fundamental question: if the city’s “trailway master plan” mandates such expansive infrastructure in anticipation of future, undefined connections, why should the entire financial burden fall squarely on the developer and, by extension, the future homeowners? In essence, Stockbridge is compelling private entities to construct public infrastructure that serves no immediate, connected purpose, citing a theoretical long-term vision. This approach, where developers are forced to “pour” city-desired sidewalks for aspirational “trailways”, translates directly into higher costs for housing, making homeownership less accessible in a community that ostensibly aims to “provide additional housing options”.
Beyond sidewalks, the insistence on elaborate “resort-style amenities” further exacerbates the issue of housing affordability. For Hanover Park, the plan boasts a pool with a clubhouse, golf putting green, tot lot, tennis/pickleball courts, and a community sports field. While admirable on paper, the applicant himself admitted the “investment alone in the amenity by this development group is going to be quite excessive”, and Vice-Chair Trameka Walker rightly pointed out that these costs would “fall on the backs of the single family”. Imagine pickling your balls at the height of a scorching Georgia June with a 116-degree heat index today. How much use will those outdoor putting greens or pickleball courts truly get?
Such amenities, regardless of their theoretical longevity or “normal” HOA fees, become an additional, often largely unused, financial burden, unnecessarily inflating the cost of entry into these new communities. This top-down imposition of specific, high-cost features aligns with a “live, work, play” model that, when rigidly enforced, can feel more like a communist utopian ideal than a flexible, market-driven approach to community building. The city’s mission to “enhance the quality of life for citizens” and provide “a mixture of housing options” is noble. However, when every new development is required to conform to a singular, amenity-rich, wide-sidewalk vision, regardless of the direct utility or the target demographic’s actual needs, it dictates not just where people live, but how they live, and at what forced cost.
Ultimately, the Stockbridge Planning Commission’s decisions reflect a desire for a particular type of growth and aesthetic. Yet, this vision, while grand, must be critically evaluated for its practical implications. If extensive, currently unconnected sidewalks and lavish amenities are deemed essential to the city’s future, the question of who truly benefits, and more importantly, who should financially bear the burden for these arguably underutilized “enhancements,” needs to be openly and transparently addressed. Rather than subtly passed on to every new homeowner in the name of a collective, sometimes detached, ideal.
https://stockbridgega.portal.civicclerk.com/event/3484/files/attachment/9746
