Peachtree City's proposed "McIntosh Village" area should become primarily a mixed residential area, says an official of the largest landholder.

Most of the property owners in the area proposed for annexation on Peachtree City's west side have bought into the idea of planning the area's future, says Jerry Peterson, vice president-planning for Pathway Communities Inc.

He says the group is looking forward to coming up with a plan for land uses that can be both acceptable to Peachtree City and beneficial to the owners and developers.

"We've been working on this for several years," says the representative of the company that used to be known as Peachtree City Development Corporation (PCDC). "And one of our goals has always been to make it (the west village area) feel and look like Peachtree City."

He said he is in agreement with the idea that the city is the best entity to have control of about 2000 acres bounded generally by the city of Tyrone to the north, Line Creek/Coweta County to the west, and the present Peachtree City limits on the south and east. Pathway holds nearly 400 acres in the proposed annexation area, plus about 70 acres west of Ga. Highway 74 that are within the city limits.

"We don't feel that this area can be developed in any way other than residential," Peterson said. "We know the (CSX) railroad tracks are there, and we'll have to come up with ways to work with that somehow. But it wouldn't be right to put an 'industrial strip' along the railroad. We don't want factories across the street from houses." He said the noise and disturbance from trains can be ameliorated by buffering aspects such as parks and other non-residential uses, tree strips, walls or other architectural treatments.

"Once we get a separated grade crossing at Kedron Drive," he said, "most of the other at-grade crossings can be eliminated. That'll take care of a lot of the whistle-blowing." A good proposed collector road is also an essential, Peterson said.

"You can't believe how nice this property is until you get back into it," he added. "Right now, it's hard to get into."

The numerous acres of designated wetlands along Line Creek and several smaller waterways will likely become a selling point for the area, Peterson said. He noted that the areas are "mapped out, and we plan to stay out of them." Parks, recreation areas and possibly boardwalks into the wetlands could create that greenbelt-open space atmosphere people look for, he added.

Developers envision the more concentrated commerical uses to be at the south end of the area around Ga. Highway 54, Peterson said. The plan won't call for any "heavy commerical," but instead will concentrate on "daily convenience" stores and services, such as laundries and day care, within the neighborhoods, said Peterson.

There won't be any new golf courses, he says, but plenty of tennis courts, pools and community centers focused around neighborhood associations. There's a new ballfield area in progress already, west of InterMedia's cable television facility, Peterson said. A school site is also planned for the area.

"We will not just include only one type of housing," Peterson said, "and we are not intent on starter houses on small lots. There will be a variety, to match Peachtree City."

Peterson says "90 percent" of the property owners have come together and are working on a plan. It will have to be like Peachtree City, he says, because that message came through clearly at the Aug. 13 special workshop and public hearing.