Wednesday, May 4, 2005 | ||
Bad Links? | Walgreens comes to PTC CouncilBy JOHN MUNFORD To some, rezoning the site where Christ Our Shepherd Lutheran Church sits would forever destroy the character of the intersection of Ga. Highway 54 and Peachtree Parkway. Others think the church should be allowed a commercial rezoning so it can sell the 3-plus-acre site to Walgreens, which would allow the church to seek a larger campus. City staff is opposing the rezoning, saying the rezoning goes against the citys land use plan and comprehensive plan. The Peachtree City Planning Commission has unanimously recommended that the rezoning be denied. The final determination, however, will be left up to the City Council, which is slated to consider the matter this Thursday night. The church contends it has expanded all it can on the site, but they want more room to grow and offer more services to the community. Walgreens wants to build a 14,820-square-foot store and a second 10,000-square-foot building. The parcel has been zoned office institutional since 1981, and although there is commercial use around the intersection, there is one other church that sits diagonally across from Christ Our Shepherds campus. Mayor Steve Brown has already come out in favor of granting the rezoning, a stance he took in a letter he submitted to the Planning Commission just before it voted to recommend the rezoning be denied. Church officials say the limited use commercial designation would allow the city to have more control over how the development looks. They also have brokered a deal to keep convenience stores, liquor stores and other possibly objectionable uses off the site for 20 years through a deed covenant. Some of the most critical voices against the rezoning have been from residents in the adjacent The Highlands subdivision. Some have opposed the 10-foot-tall berm that is planned to screen the Walgreens and office building from homes in The Highlands. Developer representatives say a market analysis shows that if the church parcel were developed as office space, it would cost more to do so than could feasibly be charged to rent the space. City Planner David Rast 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. Staffs recommendation to deny the rezoning went through a process that included Developmental Services Director Clyde Stricklin writing a position paper that fully supported the rezoning. Stricklin said Tuesday that he wrote the paper to help staff take a look at the rezoning proposal from a different angle. Its an in-house discussion paper, Stricklin said. We didnt change the staff report because we didnt get to that. Because Stricklins position paper was a hypothetical, it was not officially circulated to the planning commission, he said. Stricklin said if a developer presents a good case for a rezoning petition, city staff will support it. But that is not the case with the Walgreens proposal, Stricklin added. They havent made a case for the zoning, Stricklin said. |
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