Bad Links?
Other glitches?
Notify Webmaster

Mayor Brown tries to rally support for Lutheran rezoning

By JOHN MUNFORD
jmunford@TheCitizenNews.com

While the city planner argued against putting a Walgreens drugstore on the site of Christ Our Shepherd Lutheran Church, Peachtree City Mayor Steve Brown circulated a letter to members of the Planning Commission recommending that the associated rezoning be approved.

In the letter, dated April 8, Brown indicated several times that the rezoning petition meets the guidelines of the city plan.

He also noted that previous versions of the land use plan indicated the property, on the northwest corner of Ga. Highway 54 and Peachtree Parkway, would be developed for a commercial use.

“The berm, retaining wall and planting plan proposed by the developer would make the retail establishment almost invisible to the neighboring homeowners,” Brown wrote.

Brown wrote that the rezoning proposal meets the guidelines for being part of the village center, which as defined by the land use plan will include “a variety of retail, service, educational and recreational facilities.”

“It is worthy of note that churches are almost never mentioned as a component of the village center,” Brown added.

Brown also alleged that the city “quickly” changed the zoning of the church property to office institutional in 1981 “because the city had allowed the church to be built in a non-conforming zoning category, agriculture reserve.”

Brown also attacked the position paper filed by City Planner David Rast, particularly Rast’s position that the proposed drugstore “is not consistent with the village master plan.”

“I have found the opposite to be true with the subsequent rezonings in the other quadrants of the state route 54/Peachtree Parkway intersection being similar to the current Christ Our Shepherd Lutheran Church request,” Brown wrote, providing no further details about the rezonings he cited.

“The property in question is undoubtedly within the village center and meets all the criteria related to major thoroughfare access,” Brown wrote. “Past land use plans have even shown the land as commercial.”

Brown also said the drugstore will be positive for the city’s tax base, since the church currently doesn’t pay taxes, and it is also a plus for the school system since it will bring no new students but it will also pay school taxes.

He added that officials of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, diagonally across from Christ Our Shepherd on Hwy. 54, have committed they will build a new church elsewhere when a membership level is met, and that Holy Trinity Catholic Church, further down Hwy. 54, is restricted for redevelopment because of its proximity to McIntosh High School. The latter would prohibit many uses, including those involving alcohol sales and serving, Brown added.

Brown also argued that the limited use commercial designation sought by the drugstore and the church “would allow the city to have control in determining acceptable uses, site layout, buffers and aesthetic qualities.”

“I am disappointed to see the outcome in the staff position paper and I challenge you to examine all the facts for yourself,” Brown concluded the four-page letter.