By KAY S. PEDROTTI
Staff Writer

What happens to recreation facilities in Peachtree City when the population changes? Will there one day be more need for senior citizen services than for ballfields for children?

Those are questions the recreation commission seeks to answer as soon as possible, through development of a master plan that will "take us to build-out, or make plans for another village," said leisure services director Randy Gaddo. Now the commission has hired a professional, Robert G. Betz, AICP, of Lilburn, to develop a draft of the master plan by December.

Gaddo said that Betz has done similar recreation master plans for a number of cities, including Roswell and Alpharetta, and will use data that has been gathered by city staff and by the recreation commission through meetings and public hearings. Before a master plan would take effect, Gaddo said, at least two more public hearings would be conducted by the city council.

"We started off thinking that each village would have its own recreation areas," he said, "and to an extent that's true of 'passive' type areas, like parks and walking trails. We've found that things like baseball and football, that require lights and parking and create some noise and confusion, aren't really welcome right in the neighborhood. We've tried to concentrate ballfields in the south 74 area, but if we move them all there, then what do we do with the acreage where there are fields now?"

He used that example, he said, to illustrate the kinds of questions the commission hopes the master plan can address. It will be a "living document," he said, subject to review at least annually.

Gaddo said that Betz's experience will allow "on the ground" planning, with associated costs and other estimates "to keep us headed in the right direction." Commission Chairman Earl Spell and member Dan Wright have been active in the development process for the master plan, Gaddo said.