Wednesday, July 30, 2003
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Wednesday, July 30, 2003 |
Light agenda does not stop PTC planning commission from making important decisionsBy MICHAEL
BOYLAN
The Peachtree City Planning Commission met Monday night and, despite having a very light agenda before them, got a lot accomplished. The landscape plan for Mucklow's Fine Jewelry on Crosstown Court, where the old McDonald's used to be, was approved. The representative from Lorber and Associates told the commission that the landscape will be very artsy and would look like something in a residential area. He also informed the commission that they would like to take over the water meter for that parcel from the city so that more maintenance could be done with the landscape. The landscape plan will be installed within the next two to three weeks as Mucklow's plans to open their doors near the first of September. After the landscape plan for Mucklow's was approved, the commission discussed some ordinance revisions in a workshop format. The most interesting item concerned gasoline canopies in commercial parking lots. City planner David Rast felt that the restriction of gas canopies is an important issue because area Krogers and Publixes have started placing gas canopies in their parking lots and he isn't sure that that is something the commission or the city would like to see. While he suggested that a task force could look into the issue of all free standing developments in parking lots, he also recommended a quick measure of inserting a statement restricting gasoline sales into an ordinance. It appears that the commission will try to get this done quickly and are having the city attorney look into the proper procedure to get this done as soon as possible. Another ordinance Rast wanted the commission to look at was public notification requirements for rezonings. Currently, Peachtree City's ordinance exceeds state requirements. In addition to placing a sign of a public hearing near the location up for rezoning and a legal ad being placed in a local newspaper, a copy of the notice is sent by certified mail to all property owners adjacent to the property as well as first class mail notifying all property owners within 200 feet of the property. The commission will look at the issue in future meetings but are leaning towards doing away with the certified mail aspect because it is very time consuming for city staff. The commission will also look into drafting a lighting ordinance. Currently, lighting issues are looked at on a case by case basis as they come before the commission but because there is no ordinance some developments have added lighting and the city has no recourse against them. The commission discussed asking the City Council to form a task force to look into this issue. This task force will also look into non-conforming uses as it pertains to redevelopment. The Peachtree City Planning Commission will meet again Monday, Aug. 11, at 7 p.m. and there should be updates on the formation of the task force and the addition of a statement restricting gasoline sales in commercial parking lots.
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