By JOHN MUNFORD
jmunford@TheCitizenNews.com

Retail centers with large stores won’t be prevented from coming to Peachtree City by revisions to the zoning ordinance that are being considered.

But the new regulations, if they are eventually adopted, would require stores to meet a list of requirements.

City staff have been preparing the zoning revisions, referred to as “big box legislation,” in response to a request from Councilwoman Annie McMenamin for the city to try and regulate the locations of large retail stores in Peachtree City.

A draft of the possible guidelines on the large retail stores was presented to the city Planning Commission during its meeting Monday.

Among other requirements, the guidelines would limit store size to 90,000 square feet if the store is in a shopping center with 100,000 square feet or more of total store space.

Jim Williams, the city’s director of developmental services, said the original size limit was 80,000 square feet but, because the current Kmart in Peachtree City is around 90,000 square feet, staff decided the size limit should not be less than that.

On developments with more than 100,000 square feet of gross area, the ordinance changes would also require:

•All buildings be designed to appear from the outside that no individual tenant occupies more than 6,000 square feet;
• Any tenant occupying over 6,000 square feet must provide enforceable assurances that it will not keep the space unoccupied if it ceases business;

Land owners of possible retail centers over 100,000 square feet also must prepare traffic management plans and water management plans, the amended ordinance would require.
The traffic management plan must identify traffic problems the development might generate and provide reasonable solutions to those problems, the proposed ordinance amendment states.
The water management plan must address how water runoff from the pavement on the site should be cleaned. Another environmentally related requirement would allow no more than 75 percent of the entire lot to be covered with impervious surfaces such as parking lots, driveways and businesses.

The Planning Commission will conduct a public hearing on the big box guidelines at its next meeting Monday, Sept. 11. The guidelines must be approved by the City Council before they can officially become part of the city’s zoning code.