Sandy Springs is a city in northern Fulton County, Georgia, United States, and a suburb of Atlanta.

In 1959, after a fire at Hammond Elementary School, William Hartsfield, the mayor of Atlanta, urged residents to support annexation so that the area would have better firefighting protection.

[citation needed] Efforts to incorporate Sandy Springs began in 1966 in response to attempts by the city of Atlanta to annex this unincorporated area of north Fulton County.

[7] During this time, proponents for an incorporated Sandy Springs argued that their taxes were disproportionately going to other, largely non-white, communities in Fulton County.

[7] Legislators representing Atlanta and southwestern Fulton County, who feared that tax revenue would be lost from incorporation, blocked the bills,[7] using the procedural requirement that all local legislation be approved first by a delegation of representatives from the affected area.

[citation needed] The bill allowing for a referendum on incorporation was introduced and passed as HB 37.

[7] In November 2005, voters returned to the polls to elect a mayor and six city council members.

Upon incorporation, Sandy Springs initiated a nontraditional approach by operating as a public-private partnership (PPP), with all but six full-time employees being contracted.

[15] In 2010, the city became the first jurisdiction in Georgia to successfully "bail out" from the preclearance requirements of Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act.

[16] In 2019, the Sandy Springs City Council moved to scale back the PPP model, directly hiring 183 contract employees, leaving only 15 outsourced full-time workers by the end of 2019.

In the absence of a traditional downtown, city leaders created City Springs, a multi-use development containing municipal offices, residential, retail, green space and a performing arts center, landmarking a formal "downtown" for its residents.

Since then, the surrounding area in the district has become a center for urban renewal for the city, with many new mixed-use apartment developments being planned or built, primarily replacing old strip malls along Roswell Road.

The City Springs center officially opened in 2018, 10 years after the original site purchase.

[citation needed] Riverside is the western district of the city, located south of Dalyrmple Road and west of Roswell Road, bordering the Chattahoochee River to the west, forming the western border with Cobb County.

The district's name is derived from the fact that it is wedged between the river and Dunwoody, forming a geographic panhandle.

[23] Some residents still consider the area to be "Dunwoody in Sandy Springs", similar to the Buckhead Community district of Atlanta.

Landmarks include Hammond Park, Concourse at Landmark Center, colloquially called the 'King' and 'Queen' buildings due to their distinct white crown architecture at the top of each tower, as well as two MARTA stations, the Sandy Springs and Medical Center MARTA stations.

The top three tallest suburban buildings in the country are found here, the 'King' and 'Queen', and nearby Park Towers at #3.

The southern area of this district is considered to be a part of the greater Chastain Park community of Buckhead.

[citation needed] (Note: the 2000 U.S. census numbers are for Sandy Springs prior to incorporation, but cover the same area.)

[50][51][full citation needed] The largest employers within Sandy Springs are hospitals, headquarters and regional offices from a variety of industries including computer related services, package delivery, telecommunications, media, and financial transaction processing.

The festival features artists, civic and business expositions, bands, children's events, and a road race.

[55] Stars and Stripes Celebration is an annual community fireworks display held on the July 4 holiday.

Sandy Springs was noted for contracting private companies to perform the majority of its services in a public-private partnership model of government at the beginning of its incorporation in 2005.

[59] While many governments contract with private-sector companies on a per-project basis, Sandy Springs is believed to be the first American city to outsource its services for the majority of ongoing operations.

[72] Notable television shows and movies recorded within the city include Auction Kings, Say Yes to the Dress: Atlanta, The Real Housewives of Atlanta,The Righteous Gemstones, the CW's Dynasty, The Vampire Diaries, and Driving Miss Daisy.

The Georgia Regional Transportation Authority also operates express buses from the North Springs station (which has its own ramps to and from 400) to other counties.