Friday, February 6, 2004
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Friday, February 6, 2004 |
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Hearing set for Feb. 24 in Target suit By J. FRANK LYNCH The lawsuit brought against Peachtree City by a developer wanting to bring a Target and other stores to Kedron Village finally gets its day in court Feb. 24. A hearing is scheduled in Fayette Superior Court in three weeks to consider two of the three points raised in Faison Inc.’s challenge to Peachtree City’s “Big Box” ordinance, which places strict limits on where retailers the size of the proposed Target store can locate in the city. Faison and property owner Pathway Communities, formerly the developer of Peachtree City, filed the suit against the city last fall, claiming a vested right to build nearly 265,000 square feet onto the present Kroger center at Kedron and extend an access road from Regents Park connecting the commercial center to Georgia Park. City attorney Ted Meeker doesn’t dispute Faison’s claim to extend Regents Park, which was included in the original proposals for the area drawn up in the early 1990s. But he does dismiss their “vested rights” claims to erect the Target despite the city’s ordinance banning “big box” retailers outside of certain zones. Faison claims as evidence a letter written to another proposed developer in 2000 by then-mayor Bob Lenox promising that the ordinance wouldn’t apply to Kedron Village. Meeker said the letter is worthless. “The mayor and city staff cannot promise anything on behalf of the city,” Meeker said. Further, Meeker dismissed Faison’s contention that the ordinance doesn’t apply to Target because the Minneapolis-based retailer will actually own its building. The city ordinance specifically forbids “leases” to large retailers, a moot point, Meeker said. Several hundred homeowners in that area have protested the plan since it first went public in August. If built as originally designed, the project would become the largest shopping center in the city, easily outpacing The Avenue or Braelinn Village, city officials admit. Tim Wedemyer, an officer with the Lake Kedron Homeowners’ Association, said his group filed a “motion to intervene” in the case in late December, essentially signing on as co-plaintiffs with the city and forcing them to take some action in the case. Wedemyer said their main concern remains that part of the plan that expands the Regents Park-Georgia Park intersection so that it becomes a major access point for the Target and other stores. “There are thousands of citizens in Peachtree City who are looking at this case and who expect the city to defend their laws and regulations in regards to the ‘big box’ ordinance,” he said. “We don’t know that the city is not going to defend it, but these citizens have the right to know they’re interests are taking care of.” If a judge can’t rule on the case based on the first two points, Meeker said Faison indicated in a letter sent to the city in November that they will amend their original complaint and challenge the constitutionality of the ordinance itself. “We intend to get the entranceway and tenant-owners questions settled on the 24th,” said Meeker. “After those are settled, we will get together and see if we can agree on the other” to avoid the constitutionality issue.
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