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4 –1: No PTC Walgreens; Mayor Brown defends his rezoning support

By JOHN MUNFORD
jmunford@TheCitizenNews.com

Peachtree City Mayor Steve Brown, who as a private citizen opposed locating a Wal-Mart in Peachtree City off Ga. Highway 54 West, was the only council member in favor of rezoning a three-acre site from office use to commercial use to accommodate the wishes of the national drugstore chain Walgreens.

The chief difference in the two cases, other than the ultimate size of the stores, is that Wal-Mart had chosen a site already zoned for general commercial. In the case of Walgreens, because a rezoning was necessary, it required approval of the full City Council, which turned down the rezoning 4-1 Thursday night.

Monday afternoon, Brown defended his vote against denying the rezoning in an interview with The Citizen.

Brown said the store’s impact on traffic would be “negligible,” a different opinion than Councilman Murray Weed, who said the right-in, right-out entrance on Hwy. 54 would be “a deathtrap.” Weed said speeding vehicles would rear-end cars that slowed down to turn into the site just after passing the traffic light.

Brown said the traffic pattern is something that could have been revisited for the site, but he didn’t suggest that at Thursday’s council meeting because it was clear that the rest of the council didn’t support the rezoning.

Brown said his backing of the rezoning proposal came from two main factors. One, he wanted to help the church since it had contributed to the community for 30 years and ran out of room to grow. Two, the limited use commercial zoning would allow for the site to be developed with better buffering and architectural standards.

The buffer along The Highlands subdivision could have been 55 feet instead of 10 feet, Brown said. Because of the proposed berm, topped with planted trees, adjacent homeowners would be more than appropriately screened, Brown said.

“They wouldn’t have even known it was there,” Brown said of the Walgreens store.

Brown said he found a Walgreens building in Roswell that would have been architecturally acceptable here, but he didn’t push the issue before council because it was clear that other council members wouldn’t support the rezoning.

Brown said he was also distressed that he couldn’t “open a dialogue” with residents in The Highlands so they could see how the development could have looked.

In Thursday night’s meeting, most citizen supporters of the church were church members who espoused the numerous ways in which Christ Our Shepherd gives back to the community. Most of the opponents of the rezoning freely credited the church for its efforts to better the community through its ministry during its 30-year existence.

Several speakers, however, complained that the entire rezoning was “about money,” specifically the $3.5 million Walgreens offered the church for its site.

Opponents also criticized the traffic plan for the site, which some contended would further degrade traffic in the area by blocking the emergency route on Peachtree Parkway used by firefighters when exiting the fire station adjacent to the church.

Brown complained about the staff presentation of the subject, and he said that some of the points brought up were unsupportable from the city’s current comprehensive plan.

City Planner David Rast argued that the rezoning should be denied because it went against the city’s land use and comprehensive plans. Although it is clear that the intersection of Ga. Highway 54 and Peachtree Parkway is a “village center,” Rast said, that means it should have a mix of retail, residential, office and other uses, he added.

Rast also said the rezoning would set a precedent for other churches and office complexes off Hwy. 54 to seek a commercial rezoning, which would forever change the character of the area.

Church officials admitted they have not marketed the property for office-institutional use. Instead, their attorney argued that a consultant’s report indicated it wouldn’t be financially feasible to build an office complex on the site because the resulting rents would be too high compared to the market average in the city.

Defending his support of the rezoning to assist the church, Brown noted Monday that the church “has been an exceptional community service oriented facility.”

“I was looking for a way to help the church,” Brown said, adding that he is not a member of Christ Our Shepherd.

Ray Helton, who opposed the rezoning, told council Thursday that the traffic counts presented for the two Walgreens stores in Fayetteville weren’t applicable because the stores haven’t been operating long enough.

Rob Welch said the city’s land use plan is a promise from the city to its residents. He added that the church “could achieve its mission without trampling the rights of their fellow neighbors and citizens.”

Robert Brown told council he attended the meeting after reading in the newspaper that Mayor Brown was supporting the rezoning petition for Walgreens.

“I had to come and hear how that could be,” Robert Brown said, noting that he campaigned heavily for Mayor Brown, who “fought against Wal-Mart and Home Depot.”

“It is not the job of the city, the government, to support the church,” Robert Brown said.

Rast also cited his experience as a member of a Peachtree City church that decided to keep its old church campus while building a new campus here. He was referring to Peachtree CIty United Methodist Church, which had outgrown its Windgate Road location off Peachtree Parkway and built a second larger campus off Robinson Road near Hwy. 54.

The decision to do so was difficult, but it worked, Rast noted.

Representatives for Christ Our Shepherd said that regardless of the rezoning they intend to relocate. Councilmen Weed and Rapson indicated they might support the city working with the church to lease it land behind the adjacent fire station so it could expand the current church campus.