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Developer pledges to repair streets in Wilshire Estates

The developer of the Wilshire Estates neighborhood on Peachtree City’s far south end has been ordered to halt all operations on the project until it repairs crumbling streets, curbs and storm drains that have plagued the final phase of the subdivision.

On Monday, Centex Homes indicated in a letter to the city that it is taking action to correct the problems.

The complaints center on phase III of the development, west of Holly Grove Church Road and directly behind the Publix Shopping Center on Ga. Highway 74 South.

Though all lots in the neighborhood have been built out, a few of the homes remain for sale or under contract and have yet to receive final inspections and occupancy permits, said Betsy Tyler, city spokeswoman. The stop work order affects those homes, and could possibly affect closing dates for some buyers.

In June, Interim Public Services Director Randy Gaddo sent a letter to Centex informing them that the city “does not accept the roads in Phase III of Wilshire Estates in their current condition” along with a consultant’s report outlining the problems.

When Centex didn’t respond to Gaddo’s June letter, the city issued the stop-work order on Monday demanding that Centex halt all operations “until such time as the necessary action has been taken to cure the deficiencies noted.”

But also Monday, officials with the company sent their own letter to the city promising to fix the problems as soon as possible.

Centex said it had hired an environmental group to go out “immediately” to Phase III of Wilshire Estates and “evaluate the existing conditions of this area.”

Developmental Services Director Clyde Stricklin was confident that Centex intended to correct the problems, which he said were caused by stormwater runoff seeping underneath the streets.

One resident washing his SUV Wednesday said he was one of the first homeowners in the neighborhood and that the pothole-filled streets have gotten progressively worse in the past 18 months.

Mayor Steve Brown called the condition of the streets “horrible.”

“They are supposed to turn that over to the city when finished, and we’ve told them we’re not going to take it,” he said.

Tyler said developers have two years from the time they begin work on a neighborhood to turn infrastructure over to the city, but the construction must meet city standards.

In the case of Wilshire Estates, Centex isn’t scheduled to deed the development over to the city until February 2005, and it has until then to correct the problems, Tyler said.

Phase III of the project, called “The Enclave,” has been the only section of Wilshire Estates where infrastructure has been a problem, city officials note. Phases I and II, located east of Holly Grove Church Road and at a higher elevation, have had “very few failures,” city officials said.