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PTC Westside annexation moves to step 2

By JOHN MUNFORD
jmunford@TheCitizenNews.com

Peachtree City will get a first test of its new annexation process after a 3-2 vote Thursday night that will allow John Wieland Homes to work with city staff on a proposed 360-home development in west Peachtree City.

Wieland is proposing that the first part of the project will connect MacDuff Parkway from its current terminus all the way to Ga. Highway 74 for an at-grade railroad crossing that would come in across from the southern end of Kedron Drive.

While that is a big selling point, specifically because Wieland will fund the road extension, several council members made it clear Thursday night that the final approval of the annexation is likely to be rocky.

Councilmen Murray Weed and Steve Rapson voted against moving the annexation process forward.

Weed said he intends to keep his campaign pledge to vote against any annexation package.

Rapson was irked about the density involved, which he said was about three times the current density allowed by the county’s zoning for the property given the reduced amount of developable land on the 360-acre site.

Rapson suggested that if the site was developed at the current density allowed by the county, Wieland would still realize a profit of $50 million compared to an estimated $144 million profit if the subdivision is developed with 360 homes.

Councilwoman Judi-ann Rutherford, who said she didn’t like the proposed at-grade railroad crossing necessary for MacDuff Parkway to reach Hwy. 74., voted in favor of letting the annexation proposal move forward, for now. Her chief reasoning was that she wanted to see how the city’s new annexation process works.

“If we do not give them that opportunity, we’ll never know,” Rutherford said.

Annexation is not guaranteed unless the council later votes in favor of a more detailed plan presented by Wieland.

Also voting in favor of moving the annexation proposal forward were Mayor Steve Brown and Councilman Stuart Kourajian. They lauded the fact that Wieland pledged to contribute up to $20,000 to cover the city’s staff costs while working with the company to prepare the annexation proposal that will ultimately be considered by the council.

“That doesn’t mean anything to me,” Weed said.

Brown, who campaigned on an anti-annexation platform three years ago, said it would be “a shame” if the city didn’t explore the possibilities of how the site, and an adjacent 88-acre tract already in the city, could be developed. The 88-acre Wieland-owned tract already inside the city is zoned for industrial use and would require a rezoning to be developed for a residential use.

Roughly 60 people supporting the annexation help up green signs urging council to vote in favor of allowing the annexation proposal to proceed. Most of the supporters who spoke in favor of the proposal live in the subdivisions along MacDuff, where the only way in and out is Ga. Highway 54 West.

Last week’s natural gas pipe leak, which cut off traffic to the Hwy. 54 West corridor, was often cited, as it kept residents from their homes for more than two hours while the situation was resolved. Some annexation supporters claimed such an incident could have slowed the fire department’s response to emergencies.

The tract was initially part of a 950-acre annexation that the City Council ultimately voted down in 2001.

Dan Fields, vice president of John Wieland Homes, said a traffic study would be the company’s first order of business, and it could be as little as two to four months before a full package could be available for council to consider. The study will help “determining what kind of MacDuff Parkway we need,” possible designs and devices for traffic calming on the parkway and also address the railroad track situation, Fields said.

The company will also be looking at how to protect Line Creek, which runs along the property’s border and will become a feeder for the county’s next proposed water source: Lake McIntosh.

Fields said the question exists of how the county would provide fire and emergency services to the property because it isn’t located near a county fire station.