Residents Worry MARTA Wants New Train Station on the Wrong Side of Northridge

Neighbors believed that plans for a MARTA station on the east side of Northridge and Ga. 400 were squashed 25 years ago. 

“I do not appreciate them not honoring that agreement,” said Joan Rush, during public comment at the Tuesday night City Council meeting. 

MARTA wants a letter of support from the City of Sandy Springs for a train station near Northridge Road. The Spindlewick subdivision resident and several others asked City Council members to not support any resolution for a station located on the east side of Ga. 400. 

A map on MARTA’s  “Connect 400” presentation indicates a possible rail station on the east side where local neighborhoods, the Davis Academy, Dunwoody Springs Elementary and Woodland Elementary Schools could be impacted. 

A Northridge Station along with Holcomb Bridge, Mansell Road, North Point, Old Milton and Windward Parkway stations are being considered. See the MARTA "Connect 400" plan here. 

Don Boyken, former Plannng Commission chair, explained how in 1988 current Councilman John Paulson and other homeowners worked with MARTA on the plan for what is now North Springs train station. “And how to bring traffic directly from Ga. 400 into the station,” Boyken said. “The ultimate solution was win-win for both sides.”

Boyken said a 1990 study proposed a way to have the rail crossover to the west side of Ga. 400 and then cross back between Holcomb Bridge and North Point Mall.

“A station on the east side of Ga. 400 at Northridge just makes absolutely no sense,” said Boyken, He suggested the apartment complex on the west side of Northridge would be a beneficial site.

“I encourage you as a city to approach MARTA and cause them to live up to their agreements,” he said. 

Sandy Springs spokesperson Sharon Kraun explained that some residents are concerned about property values because many plummeted in the ‘90s at talk of an east side station. 

Mayor Eva Galambos sent a letter to MARTA CEO Keith Parker, dated Dec. 18 stating that a future station should complement the city’s land use plan “and be sited on the west side of Ga. 400.”

On Tuesday, Councilman Paulson read a letter from Patrick Burke, chief of operations for Fulton County Schools. Burke said the school system has multiple safety concerns for students and staff that would arise from an east side station, and requested a meeting with the City of Sandy Springs and MARTA. 

“We have seen no plans and have not been invited to have any conversations on this matter, and would greatly appreciate being informed of a situation that has such a tremendous impact on our schools,” said Burke, in the letter read by John Paulson. 

Give us your take on a Northridge MARTA station in the comments below. Would your neighborhood be impacted?