The Fayette Citizen-News Page
Wednesday, September 30, 1998
Planners OK 220 apartments for Kedron

By KAY S. PEDROTTI
Staff Writer

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The Peachtree City Planning Commission Monday paved the way for an upscale complex of 220 apartments at Ga. Highway 74 and Kedron Drive, with several members calling for high standards from the developers.

Eric Edee's 21.7 acre tract will have "excellent buffers," said Jim Williams, the city's development services director. Plans call for the 60-foot Hwy. 74 buffer area to retain some "natural" vegetation as well as a "tree save" area, Williams said, and the complex's "amenities" area will be located near the street corners so that the initial view will be landscaping. Each "perimeter leg" of the complex will have a 50-foot tree buffer, he added.

The better-than-average buffering and landscaping are possible because the commission approved rezoning a four-acre tract in the middle of the property to allow a more compatible design, Williams noted.

Bill Foley, sitting as chairman for the last time because his term has expired, insisted that the Dominion Company, who will build the complex, adhere to standards shown in the displayed photographs of other Dominion apartment complexes. The commission attached conditions to the rezoning which were agreed to by Elliott Lewis, representing Dominion, to establish minimum square footages for the apartment configurations and to proceed with impact studies about traffic, schools and other services with city staff.

Lewis said the complex will contain 50 percent two-bedroom units, 35 percent one-bedroom, and 15 percent three-bedroom homes. Single-bedroom units will be a minimum of 700 square feet; two-bedrooms, 1000 square feet; three-bedrooms, 1200 square feet. Rents will likely range from about $725 to $1800 per month, according to architect Doug Dillard, and some units will have attached two-car garages. Construction financing is all private, Lewis said, and the owners anticipate no subsidies, "though we will of course not violate any Fair Housing Laws."

The complex was proposed about the same time that Peachtree City imposed a moratorium on apartment-building. Edee sued the city, and the rezoning of the four-acre tract is part of the settlement agreement with the city. The little tract has been zoned "agricultural," which Williams described as a classification "not intended to be permanent." The remainder of the Edee property, 17.4 acres, has been zoned GR-10 (multifamily residential, 10 units per acre) for a long time, Williams noted.

The developers promised to have a more complete conceptual site plan ready for October meetings of the planning commission and City Council. Dillard said they anticipate being able to move ahead, pending council approval Oct. 15.

BOOTH MIDDLE SCHOOL

The commission delayed action on a plan for the proposed "bus entrance" at Booth Middle School on Peachtree Parkway.

Because the city and the Fayette County School Board have been unable to agree on a configuration to separate bus and car traffic at the school, both parties have agreed to hire an "objective third party" to make recommendations for a solution, Williams said.

He said the city staff had recommended a "traffic planner with good credentials" be retained to study the site. Williams noted that Peachtree City Police Chief Jim Murray still considers moving the bus exit further south to be "unsafe."

Mike Satterfield, facilities director for the Board of Education, said the school authorities would "have no problem delaying a decision to wait for a study by an objective third party."

In other action at the three-hour meeting, the commission:

Tabled action on a wetlands mitigation proposal at Flat Creek Golf Course;

Approved a re-plat of lot lines on Loblolly Circle, provided the landowner ties both lots to the sewer system;

Approved the landscape plan for Peachtree City Tennis Center's expansion;

Approved landscape plan for GymXpress at Hwy. 74 and Aberdeen Parkway;

Approved landscape plan for new FAA facility on Hwy.74;

Approved conceptual site plan for Village Package Store on Crosstown Court, relocating from Braelinn.


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