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PTC Planners vote 5-0 to deny Walgreens rezoning

By JOHN MUNFORD
jmunford@TheCitizenNews.com

It was a unanimous decision from the Peachtree City Planning Commission: Putting a Walgreens drug store at the current location of Christ Our Shepherd Lutheran Church is not a good idea.

The unanimous vote Monday night was to recommend that the City Council deny the rezoning petition for the church parcel, located on the northwest corner of Ga. Highway 54 and Peachtree Parkway.

Council will have the final say on the matter and is scheduled to take it up at its regular May 5 meeting.

The church property has been zoned for office institutional use since 1981, but Walgreens and the church are seeking a limited use commercial zoning to make room for the 14,820 square-foot drugstore and a second 10,000 square-foot building which would be limited to OI uses only, developers said.

Monday’s commission meeting drew a packed crowd for the decision about the church property. Church and developer representatives argued that the Walgreens met the land use plan because it would be a part of the commercial village center created at the intersection.

City Planner David Rast, who recommended voting against the rezoning, had a different take, saying the change from a church to a drugstore would go against the city’s land use plan, and the property could still be developed as an office complex or other use allowed under the office-institutional zoning regulations.

Rast also cautioned that if the rezoning is approved, several office complexes along Hwy. 54 could be redeveloped as commercial sites, including the Stevens Entry and Prime Point office areas and the Line Creek office park on Hwy. 54 west.

“I am not sure if it is in the best interest of the city to change the land use plan to accommodate a commercial development where it may or may not be in the best location,” Rast told the commission.

Griffin attorney Newton Galloway argued that a study performed for the site indicated if an office building was developed, the rents would be four to six dollars per square foot higher than current market prices in Peachtree City.

“There is no reasonable economic use under the OI zoning,” Galloway said.

Lane Ramsfield, representing developer Commercial Net Lease Realty, said they had met several times with neighbors and numerous times with city officials to develop a solid plan for the site. The traffic count of 35,000 cars per day going through the intersection was one of the main reasons Walgreens wants to locate at the church property, Ramsfield added.

Planning Commission Chairman Dennis Payton noted that village centers, as contemplated in the city’s long-range plan, would include a mix of retail, service, educational and recreational uses, which, he noted, is currently what the area has.

“I’m not sold this is the right thing to do with this property,” Payton said, noting that church officials didn’t object when the property was rezoned to office institutional in 1981.

“I just don’t think a drug store is an appropriate use,” said Planning Commissioner Ray Green.

All planning commissioners said they were concerned about the drugstore creating a traffic problem, and several also expressed concern about going against the city’s long-defended land use plan.

The site plan for the Walgreens proposes two entrances to the property: a right-in, right-out entrance on Hwy. 54 and a full entrance/exit onto Peachtree Parkway, which one rezoning opponent said was far too close to the traffic light at the intersection, where cars already back up at different times of the day.

Church representative Ted Thomas said the church was committed to moving from its current site regardless of whether the rezoning proposal is approved. The church came to that decision after a lengthy study process focusing on the church’s future, he noted.

The church is called by God to expand its ministry, Thomas said, and church officials have determined that it cannot expand at its current 3-acre site, which has little room for recreation and very little room for parking. Many churchgoers have to park across the street in the parking lot for the Peachtree Crossing shopping center.

Pastor John Weber noted that the church is seeking the limited use commercial zoning so more control can be exerted over the property to protect the area. Also, the church is requiring that the deed contain a provision that would prevent a number of uses on the site for 20 years, such as a gas station or restaurant.

Despite the conflict in the air wrought by a nearly packed audience at City Hall, attorney Galloway was able to crack a joke that resonated. He quipped that the matter is really a density issue, as there are “too many Lutherans to the acre.”

The church has been in existence for 30 years and even opponents of the rezoning said Monday they want to see the church continue to succeed, and the church has been a very good neighbor. But the possible harm to traffic the store would create was cited by several detractors.

Several rezoning opponents cited the potential harm to the property values of adjacent homes in the Highlands subdivision. The developer plans to have a high berm with a retaining wall, topped by trees to reduce the visual impact of the site on those residents.

Ray Helton, who opposed the project, said if the rezoning was granted, it would allow the six other churches located on Hwy. 54 to seek similar commercial rezonings, affecting what he called “the heart of Peachtree City.”

Rob Welch, another resident who opposed the rezoning, said the issue was about more than whether or not the proposal followed the land use plan.

“In the end it is all about money and yet another corporation trying to run over the wishes of Peachtree City citizens.”

The drugstore would increase traffic nine-fold compared to the site being developed as office space, resident George Kadel said. Traffic already backs up on Hwy. 54, he said.

Citizen Phyllis Aguayo said it was important to deny the rezoning for the benefit of residents in the adjacent The Highlands subdivision.

“These people came here many years ago and the land use plan was clear: it was not zoned commercial,” Aguayo said of the church site.

Resident Fran Plunkett said she would rather see the city purchase the church for use as an expanded senior center, which would allow the building’s nice architecture to avoid the bulldozer and wrecking ball.

Commissioner Marty Mullin said he was not impressed by the architecture presented for the drug store, which was touted by the developer as a design that would look unlike any other Walgreens in the country.

“This is not in the best interest of the community in my book,” Mullin said, holding up a copy of the architectural renderings of the proposed drug store.

Commissioner Theo Scott suggested there could be more creative ways for the church to address its growth issues.

After the meeting, Pastor Weber said it would be up to Commercial Net Lease Realty and Walgreens to determine if they want to tweak the proposed site plan based on input from the planning commission. He noted that such changes have been made all along the process with input from residents in the area and city staff.

As for the church’s stance on the rezoning, it’s unchanged, Weber said.

“We’ve run out of room.”