By MONROE ROARK
mroark@thecitizennews.com

The City Council of Peachtree City will reconsider at tomorrow night's regular meeting the idea of impact fees to help fund the new county jail.

The county approved the plan last month, and Board of Commissioners Chairman Harold Bost came before the City Council two weeks ago to personally ask for the city's support.

The county does not have the authority to impose impact fees on homes built in the cities, and the impact fee cannot be implemented at all unless every municipality in the county agrees to impose it.

Fees per household would range from $818.88 to $1,223.74 over a 20-year period, according to the county's calculations. The total amount of the bond issue for the jail is $25,107,000.

The city will have to go through its own regular impact fee process to approve this plan, including the use of the impact fee committee and the usual state approval required for adoption of these fees, according to Mayor Bob Lenox.

The jail has an official capacity of 86, but the daily average occupancy right now is more than 200, Bost reported.

The county expects it will take up to six months to obtain final state approval, conduct public hearings, and do everything that is necessary to finalize the process before any actual impact fees can be collected.

In other matters, council Thursday is expected to consider some changes to the city's ordinance governing the council meetings themselves.

Several proposed changes were discussed and agreed to in principle by council members at the recent city retreat.

An amendment in development would give citizens the right to address the council when publicly referred to by name during a meeting. This was proposed by Councilman Dan Tennant last month and tabled so it could be covered during the retreat.

The ordinance currently allows those other than council members to speak only upon specific agenda items. The proposed change will allow one opportunity for citizen rebuttal.

Another suggested change to the ordinance maintains that Robert's Rules of Order will be used for any matters not specifically covered by the ordinance itself.

“The majority of situations which will arise at the council meetings will be handled by our local ordinance,” city attorney Rick Lindsey wrote in his recommendation. “However, there surely will be situations which will arise in the future that we cannot possibly anticipate. Having Robert's Rules of Order as the `backstop' will ensure fairness and consistency in the meetings, as well as protect the dignity and decorum of the meetings.”

Council also will consider a rezoning request for a 15.81-acre tract on Ga. Highway 74 at the southern end of the city that would allow a new neighborhood shopping center.

The Peachtree City Planning Commission voted March 27 to recommend a rezoning from residential to general commercial for what has been known for years as the Black property.

Developers have suggested an 84,000-sq. ft. retail complex that would be anchored by a 55,000-sq. ft. Kroger supermarket. The total tract, more than 170 acres, was purchased by Centex Homes and a residential development is also planned for the remainder of the area.

Holly Grove Road will be extended through the property to connect with Hwy. 74 as a condition of the rezoning. A traffic light will be erected at that intersection. There is currently a gap of about 500 feet between the end of the Centex development and the end of the paved portion of Holly Grove Road.

The Black property has been involved in litigation for more than 10 years, since the mid-1980s when the land was rezoned from industrial to residential over the owners' objections. A separate suit was filed as a result of the city's adoption in 1997 of a new buffer ordinance.

Another condition of the rezoning states that all litigation must be settled or dismissed before the rezoning takes effect. Marvin Isenberg, a representative of the developers, said that the Black family has agreed to a settlement and the terms are being finalized in writing.