Friday, Dec. 17, 2004

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Developer vents at planners

By JOHN MUNFORD
jmunford@TheCitizenNews.com

It’s not often that an approval from the Peachtree City Planning Commission evokes a negative reaction from the developer seeking the approval.

But that happened Monday night when the commission approved the architectural elevation for the Shoppes at 74 retail building, which will be on the same parcel as the new Dalton West Carpets location on Ga. Highway 74 near Wisdom Road.

The commission added several conditions to the approval which drew the ire of developer George Herrington. Chief among these were the addition of brick features and awnings to both sides of the building.

Commissioners saw this as a compromise since they dropped complaints about the appearance of the rear of the store, which will be screened from the adjacent residential neighborhood by landscaping and a fence.

Herrington, however, wasn’t pleased when asked if he was okay with the compromise.

“No, I’m not okay with it,” Herrington said. “I’ve bent over backward to the point where I don’t recognize it as my building.” He added that he felt “railroaded” into approving architectural changes he didn’t like.

Soon after, the commission unanimously approved the architectural elevations for the building with the conditions Herrington opposed.

Herrington said he didn’t like to do brick on his storefronts because it is difficult to repair when the inevitable auto comes crashing in every few years. Stucco, which Herrington said he prefers, is “light and easy to deal with,” he noted.

The commission has more leverage than usual for the store because it is on property zoned for limited use commercial, which puts more restrictions on the type of architecture that can be used. In this case, one of the special requirements is that both buildings on the site “must include architectural detailing and similar building materials.”

That means the building must have some similarities with the Dalton West building, said City Planner David Rast.

Herrington replied that he didn’t think the architecture of the Dalton West store was much to sneeze at.

In other business, the commission voted to recommend a rezoning to put up to four new office buildings on three lots on Dividend Drive near Paschal Road. The property needs a rezoning from general industrial to limited industrial because of the smaller lot size requirements.

The rezoning issue will ultimately be decided by the city council.

The commission also approved a landscape plan for the Phi Mu fraternity office building on Westpark Drive. Rast noted that the project preserved quite a bit of existing trees and vegetation on the lot, but the developer also provided all required new trees instead of asking for a tree credit for the ones that were preserved.