Friday, Nov. 17, 2004

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Off the agenda

Planning Comm. will not consider rezoning at Mon. night meeting

By JOHN MUNFORD
jmunford@TheCitizenNews.com

In a surprise move, Christ Our Shepherd Lutheran Church in Peachtree City asked late Thursday to pull discussion of the rezoning of the church’s property to Walgreens from Monday night’ Planning Commission agenda.

Richard Klein, president of the church’s congregational council, sent a letter to the city yesterday and asked for the continuance of the hearing.

“We will be meeting with the CNL and Wagreen representatives to continue reviewing and preparing the information necessary for the hearing. We will advise you as soon as this material is in presentation form,” Klein wrote.

The 2.98-acre site, at the intersection of Ga. Highway 54 and Peachtree Parkway, is currently zoned for office use, but the church wants to sell the property to Walgreens for a 14,820 sq. ft. store and another smaller retail store.

The rezoning plan has drawn ire from nearby residents and others, who argue that the church can still sell its site and move without the commercial zoning. Church officials said there is no more room for them to continue expanding their ministries, thus the impetus for taking advantage of the previously-unsolicited Walgreens offer.

A right-in, right-out curb cut on Hwy. 54 is planned for the Walgreens site, and a second 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, as well as 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.

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.