Wednesday, January 1, 2003
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Wednesday, January 1, 2003 |
Rezonings approved for PTC's land use plan, but ponds left out after protestBy JOHN
MUNFORD
To bring them in line with the city's recently updated Land Use Plan, the Peachtree City City Council has approved "housekeeping" rezonings for 19 different properties. Most of the rezoned parcels were bestowed the "open space" designation to protect them from being developed in the future. Many of the parcels were parks that were previously zoned for residential use. But two of the proposed rezonings were voted down by the council after a significant amount of protest from several adjacent property owners at Thursday night's council meeting. Several residents claimed their property extended into one of two drainage ponds off Kedron Drive, which were referred to as "Pond A" and "Pond B". Both ponds are owned by the city. The city wanted to rezone the property from R-12 residential to open space, but several residents protested, saying there was no benefit and they were concerned about the city developing the area. City Attorney Rick Lindsey explained that since the homeowners own their property, they are the only ones who could add anything on. The city could not add a cart path without condemning the land, which apparently is not even in the works. Other residents worried that the open space designation would "open up" the ponds to be used by the public. But City Planner David Rast said that was not the case; the goal was to protect the property so it can't be used for a residential project. "Detention ponds are not residential," Rast explained. "Residential is a subdivision or an apartment complex." Mayor Steve Brown wanted to continue the matter until another council meeting so residents could meet with city planning staff to weigh the pros and cons. But several residents at the meeting said they wouldn't change their minds and they wanted their pond left alone. Some of the residents said they didn't get a letter of notification from the city about the rezoning. A number of the certified letters were indeed returned to the city because they couldn't be forwarded, it was reported. Brown said the matter would be investigated to make sure it doesn't happen again. City Attorney Rick Lindsey said the city ordinance requires use of information from Fayette County's tax digest, which is the procedure the city followed in mailing the notices. Public information officer Betsy Tyler said since the letters are sent as certified mail, they cannot list "or current owner" on the address. It was also noted that the city recently got some of the letters back in the past few days from the post office as undeliverable. Several residents said they wanted to make sure they could continue to maintain the natural growth in their area around the pond. Rast explained that the pond is supposed to have a 25-foot natural buffer that should be undisturbed. Brown said that was to protect water quality from being contaminated by runoff water from grass which could contain fertilizer or other contaminants that could harm the water supply.
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