Wednesday, September 3, 2003
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Wednesday, September 3, 2003 |
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County zoning upheld in West Village lawsuit By JOHN MUNFORD
The Fayette County Commission has won a legal battle with Pathway Communities, which wanted court approval for a 500-home subdivision on 364 acres north of Peachtree City on the Fayette-Coweta county line. Superior Court Judge Johnnie L. Caldwell has ruled the zoning imposed by the county commission, which would allow 98 lots, was appropriate in part because of the affect the property would have on public health, safety and welfare because the property would be served by an at-grade crossing over the CSX railroad tracks. Caldwell also ruled that Pathway failed to prove the zoning was financially detrimental to the development of the property. Caldwell's order also pointed out that 103 acres of the parcel would be undevelopable because it is in the flood plain. The land is adjacent to Peachtree City in what has become known as the West Village area, a reference to a now-discarded annexation proposal. Prior to the lawsuit, the commission had rezoned the property from agricultural-reserve to R-70, which requires a minimum size of two-acre lots after Pathway officials asked the county to rezone the property for R-40 zoning, which would have allowed minimum lot sizes of one acre each. Pathway had also contended that the county's zoning ordinance and comprehensive growth plan was unconstitutionally exclusionary of affordable housing, but Caldwell ruled that was not the case. After the trial, Caldwell had attorneys for both sides prepare orders in their favor. Caldwell chose to adopt the order written by county attorney Phil Grant as his final judgment in the case because it "most closely and most accurately reflects both the testimony offered to this court and the law of this state as it applies to the evidence before this court," Caldwell wrote. During the two-day trial before Caldwell in April, Pathway attorneys presented witnesses contending that it would be financially difficult to develop the property under the R-70 zoning because of unique challenges to the property's location. The subdivision will require an at-grade crossing over the CSX railroad tracks to reach Ga. Highway 74, and that would be expensive, developers argued. Grant said Fayette County did not have a zoning classification to allow 500 units on the 364-acre parcel. Pathway officials indicated in the suit that they planned to have the development served by Peachtree City's sewer system because of a previous agreement which grants the company access to 500 tap-ins to the system. Peachtree City's sewer system was once owned by a predecessor of Pathway Communities.
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