Friday, March 9, 2001
Friday, March 9, 2001 |
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PTC advisory board to tackle rail station, other issues in growing West Village area
By JOHN
MUNFORD An advisory board to help Peachtree City develop a grant proposal for innovative transportation solutions in the West Village area will have its first meeting Monday at 5:30 p.m. The board, which includes concerned citizens and land owners in that area, will work with a consultant the city has hired through a grant from the Atlanta Regional Commission. The hopes are that the board's plan, which must be completed by June 30, will be funded by another grant or several grants by the ARC or other agencies, said city planner David Rast. The main focuses of the group will be working on a location for a potential rail station to link Peachtree City to Atlanta, and using guidelines to create a pleasant look in the area such as architectural controls, Rast said. "There's still a lot of opportunity to blend that area together," Rast said. Due to cost constraints, the board will rely more on the work of city staff for areas the board will cover that weren't necessarily addressed in the ARC's grant proposal, Rast said. Still, he's looking forward to the challenge. "Our overall goal is to tie all the developments on the west side of Ga. Highway 74 together by alternative means of transportation like the golf cart paths, sidewalks and alternative road systems if those are feasible," Rast said. "The goal is to make this area cohesive." Already, the plans for the path system are in place, so the board won't have to tinker with that much, Rast added. One major consideration will be whether to make the rail station a mixed-use development or simply leave it as a rail and depot, Rast said. The board also will focus on promoting pleasing aesthetic values in the area through architectural controls and using that to govern the use of certain types of material, Rast added. The board includes representatives of land owners in the area, including Doug McMurrain of RAM Development, Mike Lorber and Jerry Peterson of Pathway Communities. Peterson is an expert when it comes to the use of architectural controls. Others asked to serve on the task force include Steve Brown and Todd Strickland, who have shared a passion for development issues in the city, and planning commissioner Robert Ames, said Rast. John Dillahunt of the Wynnmeade subdivision and John Leonard have also been invited to help round out the panel. Rast said the aim was to keep the group small, limiting it to 10 or 12 people. The meetings will be open to the public and input from residents will be welcome, he added. The hope is that the committee will continue to meet second and fourth Mondays from 5:30 - 7 p.m., which precedes the regularly scheduled meetings of the Planning Commission, Rast said. The first meeting will focus on introducing the board members to the concepts they'll be tackling, Rast said. Also, the consultants will be on hand to share their initial ideas for the plan. "We want to explain what we think our goals should be and, if we need to, modify those goals," Rast said.
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