Friday, March 29, 2002
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Friday, March 29, 2002 |
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PTC Planning Commission approves workshop process By JOHN
MUNFORD With an eye on smoothing out the development process, the Peachtree City Planning Commission will use more workshops in the near future. Workshops were a necessity earlier this year when the city was enforcing a development moratorium that was later overturned in court. But now, officials believe workshops can be used to help create better planning, particularly for complex projects. The commission will schedule a series of workshops for its May 13 meeting. The commission meets the second and fourth Mondays of each month. Jim Williams, the city's director of developmental services, said workshops help remove the combative aspects of some projects since developers know the commission won't vote on the project at that meeting. "It seems to me there is a real benefit for us," Williams said. The commission voted 4-0 to begin devoting one of its two monthly meetings to workshop items, with the possibility of a few action items that could be added if necessary. Commissioner Dennis Payton was absent for the vote. "The real important thing is getting it right," Williams said, adding that he thought using workshops might actually speed up approval for complicated projects. Mayor Steve Brown endorsed the proposal, encouraging the commission to hold the workshops by sitting at the same physical table as the developers. "It leads to a lot more creativeness and innovation," Brown said.
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