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Committee to study senior housing in Peachtree City

By JOHN MUNFORD
jmunford@TheCitizenNews.com

Creating housing opportunities for Peachtree City’s growing number of senior residents is one of the challenges facing the citizen committee that is updating the city’s comprehensive plan.

Committee member Dennis Payton said at Monday’s meeting that he and his wife plan to downsize to a smaller home now that his children have grown up and left. But committee member Phyllis Aguayo said she knows some seniors who have downsized and later decided to upsize to have extra room.

Aguayo said she personally hopes to continue living in her current home as she grows older, and she thinks some city residents will feel the same way.

Mayor Steve Brown, who attended the meeting but is not on the committee, noted that many residents 55 and older are coming to Peachtree City “following their children.” Although Bob Adams Homes has several developments in the city for seniors, when there are no vacancies Peachtree City seniors are steered toward Fayetteville for similar developments.

Committee member Pat Murphy said with most of the city’s residential lots already developed, building more senior housing would “tear down something else.”

Payton pointed out that some older areas of town could be a target for such redevelopment. That could affect some of the city’s labor force, particularly low-wage earners who can afford the older homes, Murphy said.

The committee also expressed a fairly strong distaste to a suggestion to lessen the city’s buffer requirements to assist redevelopment of vacant buildings in the city’s industrial park.

“You feel the peace and tranquility created by the natural environment, and that is the trees,” upon entering the city, said committee member Tom McBrayer. “Are you going to tear down a tree and stick up a twig in its place? That’s not landscaping.”

Committee member Brad Jubin said the issue can already be handled through the current process of seeking a variance from the City Council.

Murphy also said he didn’t think it was a good idea for the city to consider allowing residential development in the industrial park, because it is important for the two uses not to mix.

City Planner David Rast warned that the impending widening of Ga. Highway 74 south between Ga. highways 54 and 85 will have a negative impact on the greenspace areas along the industrial park. Although the city is working with the DOT on the matter, a significant amount of natural buffer stands to be lost so the road can be widened to four lanes, Rast said.

“It’s going to be a different landscape off Highway 74, and that is going to catch a lot of people off guard,” Rast said.