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Wieland annexation plan goes to PTC Council

By JOHN MUNFORD
jmunford@TheCitizenNews.com

The Peachtree City Council may have a hard time choking down the drastically slimmed-down annexation proposal for 360 homes on 360 acres in the northwest quadrant of the city.

John Wieland Homes initially proposed 750 homes on the property, but that changed after several council members indicated the density was too high for them to support.

Already, Councilmen Murray Weed and Steve Rapson have indicated they will oppose the annexation, and Councilwoman Judi-ann Rutherford has said she is strongly against the use of an at-grade crossing that would allow MacDuff Parkway to be extended all the way to Ga. Highway 74.

Only three votes are needed on the five-member council for the proposal to be approved or voted down.

The council will vote whether or not the annexation proposal can be studied by staff, which would conceivably take up a significant chunk of time from the city’s planning staff.

Mr. Wieland himself has pledged to pay the city for some of staff’s time, but some council members are wary because the city recently hired a part-time planning staffer to work on a special long-term project because staff was bogged down on so many other projects.

The other factor in play is that the land is currently zoned in the county for lot sizes of a minimum two acres. County officials have indicated they may challenge any bid from the city to increase the density of the land. The county won a lawsuit by the property’s previous owner, Pathway Communities, which upheld the two-acre zoning for the property in both Superior Court and at the appellate level.

A group of residents is lobbying for the Wieland annexation chiefly because Wieland would extend MacDuff Parkway from its current terminus to connect with Ga. Highway 74 north, lining up with the southern intersection of Kedron Drive using an at-grade railroad crossing.

Residents currently living in the area have a difficult fight with traffic often, because the only way in and out of the subdivisions off MacDuff Parkway is via the oft-clogged Ga. Highway 54 west corridor.

Wieland officials say if the annexation is approved, the MacDuff extension will occur far quicker than the city can make it happen and at no cost to the city.

Wieland wants to combine the proposed 360-acre tract with another 80 acres that’s already in the city but is currently zoned for industrial use.

The parcel Wieland wants annexed was originally part of an earlier ambitious annexation plan encompassing more than 900 acres plus a bridged overpass of the railroad. That plan was voted down unanimously by the City Council in 2000.