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Parking, landscape rules may be changing in Peachtree City

By JOHN MUNFORD
jmunford@TheCitizenNews.com

Peachtree City is working on changes to its landscape plan and off-street parking ordinances, and drafts of the ordinances were presented in a workshop after Monday’s meeting of the Planning Commission.

City Planner David Rast said there might be a need to increase the minimum number of parking spaces allowed for such intense uses as restaurants, but several commissioners balked at the idea. Commission Chairman Dennis Payton said he’d rather see each developer seek a variance if necessary to increase parking spaces for a particular project.

The staff suggestion was developed after looking at ordinances in Hilton Head, Suwanee, Smyrna, Fayetteville and Henry County, Rast said. Restaurants, for example, could have the minimum number of parking spaces determined by the number of seats available, or the number of employees, he said.

“I think if anything we’re probably a third too big on some of these,” Payton said, referring to the city’s current minimum parking guidelines, which are broken down by building use.

The big change to the landscape plan process proposed by staff would be the additional requirement for a tree survey of the property to be developed. The city would restrict that no more than 50 percent of the existing trees and vegetation within a tree save and landscape buffer be removed.

Rast explained that he generally works onsite with crews to make sure they are aware which trees need to stay on site. Developers are allowed to “limb up” trees and clear some vegetation in buffers in some circumstances, Rast added.

The new language states the city could allow the removal of trees and vegetation if they are damaged, diseased or pose a threat to other trees, vegetation or structures. Also, they can be removed if the roots have been damaged or exposed, or if they may inhibit the healthy growth of the existing trees or vegetation.

The commission also approved landscape plans for Westpark Promenade, a retail development on Commerce Drive between Southern Community Bank and the Hampton Inn, and the Citadel self-storage facility on Dividend Drive in the industrial park.

The commission tabled a request for a change to amend a limited use commercial zoning for a building formerly known as The Galleries and now home to Campanile’s Casual Home Furnishings. The zoning, for the building at 399 Ga. Highway 74 north, limits the site to one sign, but the property has been sold and only has one tenant now instead of multiple tenants when it was operated as The Galleries.

The new property owner is requesting a second sign to better identify the building from Hwy. 74.