Bad Links?
Other glitches?
Notify Webmaster

Design enhancements planned for Walgreens

Rezoning required for current church site

By JOHN MUNFORD
jmunford@TheCitizenNews.com

The Walgreens drug store planned for the current location of Christ Our Shepherd Lutheran Church in Peachtree City will look a little different that the company’s other stores, according to a rezoning application filed for the 2.98-acre site.

“It is our desire to create the Walgreens facility with design characteristics that will be specific to Peachtree City only,” the application states. Walgreens plans to use design standards adopted by the city for the Ga. Highway 54 corridor, according to the application.

The company wants a limited use commercial rezoning to build a 14,820 sq. ft. drug store on the property and a second, smaller building that could house a bank or medical office.

The church, which bought the property in the mid 1970s when it was zoned for commercial use, wants the property rezoned from office-institutional so it can sell the site and move to a larger tract of land. Church officials say they want to expand their ministries in the future, and they’ve run out of room at the current facility, located at the intersection of Hwy. 54 and Peachtree Parkway.

Opponents to the rezoning have decried the proposal, saying a rezoning is not necessary for the church to relocate and the drugstore would add to traffic problems in the area.

The land uses in the area are majority commercial, with the Peachtree Crossing shopping center across Peachtree Parkway from the church and the Ruby Tuesday restaurant and Eckerd drug store across Hwy. 54 from the church. The other corner of the intersection is home to another church.

A right-in, right-out curb cut on Hwy. 54 is planned for the Walgreens site, and the entrance off Peachtree Parkway would be aligned with the current entrance to the Peachtree Crossing shopping center.

Christ Our Shepherd brokered a deed restriction with Walgreens to forbid certain types of uses for the property for 20 years, including: automotive uses such as a gas station, car wash or maintenance facility, alcohol sales, a dance club, bar or adult entertainment and also a convenience store or restaurant.

Commercial Net Lease Realty, also made changes to the plan to accommodate concerns from adjoining neighbors. The company wants to build a 10 foot-high berm with trees on top along the edge of the property bordering the golf cart path, to protect the views of residents in the nearby Highlands subdivision.

The store will be owned by Walgreens, developers have said.

A traffic analysis cited in the rezoning application indicates the drug store could generate almost 1,500 trips daily to the area.