PTC Council says no to Walgreens

The decision didn’t come down until after midnight, ironically when a 24-hour Walgreens would have been one of the only pharmacy options in town.

But in the end, the City Council couldn’t fill the national chain’s request for a rezoning so it could locate such a store on the current site of the Christ Our Shepherd Lutheran Church, at the corner of Ga. Highway 54 and Peachtree Parkway.

Mayor Steve Brown was the only vote against the motion to deny the rezoning.

The church was seeking the rezoning from office-instititional use to limited use commercial for its 3-acre site, which church officials have said has long since been outgrown. Walgreen’s offered the church $3.5 million for the site, which is valued at $3.1 million for tax purposes ... though the church pays no property tax.

Church supporters hoped for the rezoning so they could relocate to a larger tract, with room for recreation and parking. On the current site, some churchgoers have to park across the parkway at the parking lot of the Peachtree Crossing shopping center. And that’s on Sundays when the church has services going on at the same time on different ends of the church, just due to the space crunch.

Several city council members offered to work with the church and see if it is possible to work out a deal where the church can use vacant land behind the city’s fire station that borders the church property to the north. Church officials previously committed to moving from the property one day in the future so its members can expand its minsterial offerings.


		Friday, May 6, 2005