By DAVE HAMRICK
dhamrick@thecitizennews.comPathway Communities will sue Fayette County after getting less than the company asked for in its rezoning request last week, a company official said Tuesday.

“We were disappointed in the outcome,” said Pathway Vice President Jerry Peterson. The commission's action “had no relationship with the protection of the public health, safety and welfare,” said Doug Dillard, lawyer for the company.

He said he is preparing a lawsuit charging that the action was unconstitutional, and hopes to file it within “a couple of weeks.”

The company wants to build 172 homes on 364.7 acres on the northern border of Peachtree City. Because much of the property is in the Line Creek flood plain, the homes would be on one-acre to 1.5-acre lots.

The County Commission voted 3-2 to approve a zoning category that would allow about 118 homes on two-acre lots. The land previously was zoned A-R (agricultural-residential), which would have allowed about 47 homes on five-acre lots.

Commissioner Linda Wells voted against the action, arguing for a straight denial of Pathway's request. Commissioner Glen Gosa voted against the motion for the opposite reason. He argued for approval of one-acre lots as requested, saying failure to do so would cause the county to wind up in court.

Commissioner Greg Dunn, who made the motion to approve two-acre zoning, said he believes the decision was a fair one. “My motion is within our current, accepted land use plan,” said Dunn.

The land use plan calls for lots of one to two acres for the area, and while Pathway's request is within that window, so is the two-acre zoning that was granted, said Dunn.

Prior to bringing its request before the commission, Pathway had filed a constitutional challenge stating that failure to approve its request would be unconstitutional.

But Dillard said the commission's decision to reduce the number of homes allowed was “arbitrary and capricious. What was the rationale?” he said. “I know Commissioner Dunn was trying to strike a compromise, but there was no reason to arbitrarily reduce the number of units.”

Nine residents attended the commission meeting to register their opposition to the Pathway proposal, and three of them addressed the commission.

Concerns included the fact that an old landfill known as the Peach Pit is next door, environmental concerns over use of septic tanks next to Line Creek, the usual traffic and school concerns, and the fact that there is only one entrance/exit for the proposed subdivision.

Dillard said the company sufficiently answered all those issues.

Further complicating the issue, a task force in Peachtree city is studying the idea of annexing the property as part of a 1,200-acre proposed West Village.

Commissioners pointed out that their decision will be moot if the city decides to go forward with the annexation plan. And the city's provision of sewer service probably would mean higher density than Pathway's current plan calls for.

“There's still a potential that no matter what we do today, this property would still be annexed and developed at a greater density,” admitted Dunn. But he argued that commissioners should base their decision only on the information in front of them.