Friday, April 11, 2003
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Friday, April 11, 2003 |
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Council reviews development issues for church, restaurant By J. FRANK
LYNCH
St. Andrew's in the Pines Episcopal Church has won approval of a variance request that will pave the way for a new sanctuary, but representatives of McDonald's at Crossings East are back to square one. At the April 3 meeting of the Peachtree City Council, St. Andrews representatives displayed drawings that clearly showed the unique predicament the church faces as it seeks to expand worship space and still meet liturgical requirements of the Episcopal Church. The church's property, at Peachtree Parkway and Steven's Entry, is shaped almost like an hourglass, narrow near the interesection of the two roads but getting wider as it expands in opposite directions. Because of that, church planners have concentrated parking on the parkway end of the "hourglass" and the actual church building along Steven's Entry, limiting the space in which to expand. The sanctuary addition must meet Episcopal Church requirements for size and shape, it was explained, and the only way to fit it on the present property causes it to encroach on the setback by about 9 feet. At the recommendation of city staff, council approved the variance with assurance by the church that as much natural vegetation as possible would be preserved. Concerns about traffic flow at McDonald's at Crossings East, on Ga. Highway 54, prompted the restaurant to request installing a unique side-by-side drive-thru lane on the rear of the building, which would have forced an encroachment of that sestback and taken part of the driveway designated for the shopping center. James R. Wages Jr. of McDonald's said the eatery earns 65 percent of revenue at the drive-thru and had reached capacity, with lunchtime traffic often backing into the highway. "We can only handle about 100 cars an hour, and we want to rachete that up, but then we're concerned about where those cars go from there," Wages said. City Planner David Rast said neighboring Chick-fil-A had similar concerns about traffic volume and that the city had worked with the restaurant to reach a compromise, and also expressed concerns about the impact even more McDonald's traffic would have on the already congested area. "Maybe moving cars in and out faster isn't the answer," Rast said. "Every way we've looked at this, it just doesn't seem to work. It's a tight site." Wages said his company was willing to work with Chick-fil-A, management of Crossings East and the city to come up with a solution to benefit everybody. Council asked if any proposal had gone before the Planning Commission, and Rast confirmed that McDonald's had bypassed that panel. Council then recommended Wages withdraw the request and bring alternatives to the planning commission for review, rather than have them deny any request outright. Wages agreed to withdraw the petition, and Rast said his staff would continue to work with McDonald's on solutions to the traffic problem. In other business at the April 3 meeting, council: Delayed awarding a wrecker service contract until it could be determined if the lowest bidder, Parker Wrecker Service of Newnan, can meet the minimum response time requirement of 20 minutes. Tabled a request by the Southern Conservation Trust to sublease office space to the University of Georgia Marine Extension Service until it could be determined what direct benefit the service would be providing to the city.
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