Friday, Feb. 11, 2005

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Walgreens on Mon. agenda

By JOHN MUNFORD
jmunford@TheCitizenNews.com

Peachtree City’s Planning Commission will consider a commercial rezoning request Monday night to allow Walgreens drug store to locate on a parcel now occupied by Christ Our Shepherd Lutheran Church.

It has been discovered, however, that the site at the intersection of Ga. Highway 54 and Peachtree Parkway was never zoned for commercial, as some church representatives have previously said at public meetings. City records show the original zoning for the property was agricultural reserve until it was rezoned in March 1981 to office institutional use, said City Planner David Rast.

Pastor John Weber, who founded the church in the early 70s, said the property was purchased in 1974 at half of its commercial value for $30,000. By comparison, the house he lived in at the time cost $24,000, he said.

The lack of a previous commercial zoning for the property could hurt the chances of securing the limited use commercial zoning sought by the church. Working in the church’s favor, however, is the commercial prominence at two other corners of the intersection: one features the Peachtree Crossings shopping center and the other features an Eckerd drug store and a Ruby Tuesday restaurant.

The parcel is currently earmarked for community service on the city’s land use plan.

The planning commission only has the power to make a recommendation on the rezoning to the City Council, which will have the final say on the matter at a future meeting.

The last commercial rezoning on Ga. Highway 54 was for the Lexington Circle development, near Walt Banks Road at the eastern city limits. That rezoning was approved in 2000 for 60 acres which included retail, office space and residential uses.

The Walgreens plans have been tweaked somewhat since they were discussed at a November workshop with the planning commission. The Walgreens building has been redesigned to reduce some of the “corporate architecture” and the outparcel building has been moved farther into the site to provide additional buffering between it and the greenspace that runs adjacent to The Highlands subdivision, Rast said.

Church officials hope to sell the property so they can move to a site with more room to expand. For its ministry, the church has simply outgrown its current space and has no room left to expand, said Pastor John Weber. Particularly, the church wants to expand its programs for youth and young adults, its pre-K and young children. Also seen is a need to minister to the city’s aging population, Weber noted.

There are five worship services each weekend, some filled to 80 percent capacity, Weber said. Parking for the congregation of 1,800 is also a big issue, as there is so little on-site that churchgoers rely on parking across the parkway in the Peachtree Crossings shopping center, he added.

Any recreational programs for kids have to be held on asphalt, which can get pretty hot in the summer, the pastor said.

The church wants the limited use commercial zoning so more stringent regulations can be in place, Weber said. Walgreens has agreed to forbid the property from being used for a gas station, car wash, auto maintenance facility, convenience store, restaurant or liquor store.

The LUC zoning also allows for more enhanced buffering, which would not be required under the current office institutional zoning, church officials pointed out.

Although the church has been accused of profiteering in its wishes to sell the property, church representatives noted that the purchase priced of $3.5 million “is consistent” with the $3.1 million valuation of the property by county tax officials. Although there have been informal discussions with other churches about purchasing the property, they too want parcels with more acreage than the current site, Weber said.

In addition to giving the church another two years after the purchase to build a new location, Walgreens is also allowing the church to take its fixtures, including its pipe organ, which could be costly to replace otherwise, Weber noted.

Acceptance of the Walgreens offer was approved by 80 percent of the voting members at a called congregational meeting, church officials said.

Although the site would be developed by Commercial Net Lease Realty, it will ultimately be owned by Walgreens itself, company officials said.