Bad Links?
Other glitches?
Notify Webmaster

Controversial Walgreens rezoning to be aired

By JOHN MUNFORD
jmunford@TheCitizenNews.com

The Peachtree City Planning Commission Monday night will get a crack at the rezoning request for Christ Our Shepherd Lutheran Church which would bring a Walgreens drug store and an office building to the corner of Peachtree Parkway and Ga. Highway 54.

The 2.97-acre property is currently zoned for office-institutional use, but the church and developer Commercial Net Lease Realty Inc. want the property rezoned for commercial use to clear the way for a 14,820 square-foot store. The tract’s land use designation is for community service, a designation used for churches.

The rezoning application hasn’t changed in recent months, but the company submitted a supplemental report to the city Tuesday morning regarding the marketability of the property for office-institutional use, for which it is currently zoned.

The rezoning petition was originally scheduled to be heard by the commission in February, but it was postponed at the request of church officials after Rast recommended in writing that the rezoning not be approved.

In his memo to the planning commission, Rast wrote that the proposed development “is not consistent with the goals and objectives adopted as part of the city’s Comprehensive Plan and Land Use Plan.”

Since the rezoning application hasn’t been amended, Rast said Tuesday that his position on the matter won’t change. He will still recommend the rezoning be denied.

The planning commission only has the power to make a recommendation to the City Council, which has the final say on the matter.

The rezoning petition has stirred opposition, some of which has been published in this newspaper, as opponents counter that the property could still be developed as office space under its current zoning.

Nay-sayers also worry that bringing a 24-hour drugstore to the corner of Hwy. 54 and Peachtree Parkway would create a lot of traffic.

Church officials have said they no longer have room to expand the church’s offerings to the community, and many of its church services are at or near capacity. Also, due to the lack of parking, churchgoers often park in the Peachtree Crossings shopping center parking lot, which is just across the parkway.

The church’s parcel is across the parkway from the Peachtree Crossing shopping center and across Hwy. 54 from a Ruby Tuesday’s restaurant and an Eckerd pharmacy. On the diagonal corner opposite is another house of worship, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

The Lutherans are seeking a limited use commercial zoning, which allows the city to attach more restrictions to the lot than allowed by regular ordinances. 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.

The plan includes a landscaped berm to protect the view of an adjacent neighborhood. There will also be restrictions on the future use of the property for the next 20 years via a deed covenant, which will prevent the following uses: a gas station, car wash or maintenance facility, alcohol sales, a dance club, bar or adult entertainment and also a convenience store or restaurant.

The store would 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.