By MONROE ROARK
mroark@thecitizennews.com

Annexation of the proposed West Village is not yet a done deal in Peachtree City, but now it can at least be talked about.

The City Council voted 4-1 last Thursday night to lift the annexation moratorium with regard to that 1,100-acre area, a move that allows city staff to work with property owners and prospective developers on possible scenarios for making it a part of the city. Dan Tennant cast the lone dissenting vote.

The council voted 3-2 in January to keep the moratorium in place, but questions that arose after that meeting led to Councilwoman Carol Fritz placing the matter back on the agenda.

Mayor Bob Lenox gave a lengthy presentation covering the pros and cons of West Village annexation, dividing the area into three sections and showing how various transportation, environmental and other issues would possibly be addressed.

Since the January meeting, two West Village property owners applied for rezoning, one for land already in the city and another in unincorporated Fayette County.

“This property is going to develop one way or the other,” Lenox said.

The mayor repeatedly emphasized during his presentation that failure to annex the property would motivate the land owners to separately pursue their own agendas, leading to a number of disconnected developments.

Access to the property would be severely limited if the property owners do not develop the land together, Lenox said, because a “western bypass,” such as an extended Line Creek Parkway with a bridge over the railroad tracks near Ga. Highway 74, would no longer be possible.

One of the issues that Lenox and Fritz found most critical as they revisited the annexation process was the possibility of more at-grade railroad crossings, which Lenox called “dangerous.”

Lenox also stressed that this property could generate more than $2 million in impact fees and years of future taxes if developed in the city, while land in unincorporated Fayette County would bring no city taxes and, currently, no impact fees to anyone. (Fayette County is currently working to enact impact fees.)

But Peachtree City would provide emergency services and other amenities to the property owners no matter what, Lenox said.

The county's school system is going to be greatly affected regardless of how the area is developed, according to Lenox. But a single master plan could pave the way for land being donated to the county for an elementary school and a middle school, and with no land left in Peachtree City for school construction, other development plans could lead to severe redistricting.

Total city population at build-out could reach 44,000 if this area is annexed, Lenox said, a number that is about 10,000 more than the current population, but lower than the 80,000 estimated by the founders of Peachtree City in 1959.

“This is the most important thing we've ever talked about,” the mayor said.

Fritz said she voted against lifting the moratorium in January because she found “no compelling reason” to approve it after hearing the proposed developers' presentations. But subsequent discussions about the railroad issue and the impact on schools, as well as environmental and other concerns, led her to rethink the issue.

A new elementary school will be needed because of the apartment complex and Cedarcroft subdivision being built on Line Creek Parkway, and a new fire station will be needed whether new property is annexed or not, Fritz said.

A number of local residents spoke to the council, both for and against the moratorium. The key issues for everyone were traffic, school capacity and how sewer or septic tanks would affect the environmental condition of the area.

Tennant, the newest member of the City Council, said that Lenox's presentation, while impressive, presented only one side of the story.

“If we approve this, where do we stop?” he asked, adding that if the moratorium is lifted, “you can take it to the bank” that this annexation will go through.

Tennant said that he was elected largely because he promised to remain against any future annexation, which he said would bring higher density and more traffic, benefiting a select few and not the majority of residents.

Annie McMenamin said just before the vote that she had previously opposed specific plans, and while she does not mind lifting the moratorium, she will be very tough on any proposed plan in the future, making certain that it makes the city better than it is now.

Robert Brooks, who voted with Lenox to lift the moratorium in January, reiterated his past statements that the city will provide services for the area no matter what. He said that if it is not annexed, then city residents will pay for services by way of higher county taxes.

“My county taxes are higher than my city taxes,” said Brooks.