Friday, April 30, 2004

Peachtree City Planning Commission approves all on agenda By MICHAEL BOYLAN mboylan@TheCitizenNews.com The agenda for Monday night’s Peachtree City Planning Commission was filled with a public hearing on a proposed rezoning and viewing a concept plat and several conceptual site plans, including one for the Peachtree City Library’s expansion. Everything got approved by a unanimous vote from the commission. The rezoning was for two tracts of property on Greenwood Lane, near the Kedron Hills subdivision, totaling close to eight acres. The front portion of one of the tracts is already zoned R-43, which is what the portion of Kedron Hills directly across the street is zoned, and local builder Richard Simms asked that the remaining part of the property be rezoned R-43 so that he build 13 homes on one-acre lots. Simms spoke with neighboring homeowners, several of whom spoke in favor of his proposal, and the Planning Commission voted in favor of the rezoning. The proposed rezoning will now come before city council at an upcoming meeting, seeking their approval. A concept plat for a proposed residential subdivision located near Carriage Lane and Old Stagecoach Road was also approved. The 31.75-acre plat was rezoned to LUR-9 (Limited Use Residential) in 1999 and the developers have kept much of the plan the same. There will be 12 lots ranging in size from 1.57 acres to 6.49 acres and all of the lots will be served by septic sewer systems. St. Andrew’s in the Pines Episcopal Church proposed several pahases of development. The first phase will include a new parish hall and parking, the second phase will consist of interior modifications to the existing building and the third phase will consist of an expansion of the existing Sanctuary and additional parking improvements. The total building area will increase from 13,958 to 31,528 square feet and parking will increase from 101-210 spaces. Kimberly H. Wislon, the building chairperson for the church, said there was no definitive timetable for the project but they were looking to get started as soon as possible and do it as fast as they can. “We are ready to go,” said Wilson, adding, “we have been blessed with more members and now have greater needs.” Omni Consulting Services came forward with a conceptual site plan for an office/hangar addition to the “Toy Box” hangar on Echo Court. Tom Hardy, the representative from Omni, presented the commission with a last-minute site plan that differed from the one in their packet. Lucky for him, the new plan was infinitely better than the previous one, addressed all prior concerns from city staff and was fairly straightforward. The commission members told Hardy that typically last-minute revisions are not looked upon favorably and most times, the applicant is told to come back in two weeks after the commission has had the proper time to review the plan. They did approve the plan, though. The last item on Monday’s agenda was the conceptual site plan for the Peachtree City Library’s expansion. Jason Walls from Integrated Science and Engineering gave the presentation. The main thrust of discussion was the road that will connect the front to the area behind the library and the 60 new parking spaces. Walls told the commission that they will be using GravelPave, a porous paving surface that allows water to seep into the ground. This was exciting for the commission and city planner David Rast, who felt it could serve as an example to other developers who say that the system just wouldn’t work with their proposed developments. The plan is for bids for the library project to go out in July with groundbreaking to occur early in September. Randy Gaddo, director of leisure services, told the commission that it is 99 percent certain the project will not be phased and that the library will move into a temporary location during expansion and renovation. This will shorten the process and will be less expensive and less intrusive to staff and patrons. The commission approved the site plan. The next meeting of the commission will be Monday, May 10, at 7 p.m.

Back to News Home Page