The Peachtree City Planning Commission Monday turned down a bid by Pathway Communities to "pre-grade" two unsold industrial lots in the city's industrial area.

Tate Godfrey of Pathway (formerly PCDC) told the commission that the two lots, 19.74 acres on Ga. Highway 74 south and 5.6 acres on Newgate Road, are among the "harder to market" sites left in the area. The lots are "in today's jargon, topographically challenged," Godfrey said, with the kind of slopes that would make a prospective developer want to "walk it, kick it, see what it would look like with a building on it."

Godfrey's eloquent plea for the pre-clearing came toward the end of a session that lasted nearly five hours, but did not sway four of the members. Newly-elected chairman Julian Campbell Jr. said he understood the difficulty of having "the prime land all but gone," adding that he felt "guardedly optimistic about the (pre-grading) proposal as a way to help move a tough-to-move parcel."

Commissioner Wes Saunders said he felt it was not a positive move for the city, that other sites not pre-graded were able to design around interior trees, "and we need to send the message that we don't do that in Peachtree City, regardless of what other communities do."

Willis Granger said he felt that industries "will come without pre-graded sites," and "taking out 75 percent of the trees is not in anybody's best interests." Geraldine Holt also expressed her opposition to the plan. James Finney, a new member replacing Bill Foley, also voted to deny the request for pre-grading in the 4-1 vote.

Godfrey said that Pathway was pledged to "leave extensive buffers around the property, and just tell whoever looks at it that those are the tree-save areas, and that's how it is." He also promised to plant grasses on the sites, once cleared, so that erosion would be controlled.

"The next best thing," he said, "to having an empty, speculative building on a site, is to have it pre-graded, pad-ready, so we can attract a compatible industry."

The city planning staff had recommended denial of the pre-grading, mostly because "we felt that we would be opening the door to just any developer's decision to pre-clear, and they might not be as conscientious about buffers and erosion as Pathway promises," said City Planner David Rast.

In other action, the commission approved a revised layout for home lots in Blueberry Hill subdivision. The new plan will include more turning space for reconfigured garages for each set of two homes with a shared driveway. The rear area of the development, adjoining Pinegate, would be screened with walls and fencing. The previous lot designs had garages at an angle to the homes, but the new design creates a shared courtyard that is much more pleasing, Rast said.

The commission also:

Tabled the site plan for Booth Middle School bus area expansion because a traffic study still is not ready.

Tabled consideration of a wetlands mitigation area on Flat Creek Golf Course because a new report is pending from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and because the property owner, Patten Seed, does not yet have a plan in place for managing what happens as the wetlands are develops over the next five years.

Approved a landscape plan for the Kedron Convenience Store at Hwy. 74 and Georgian Park.

Approved conceptual site plans for a relocation of McDonald's Restaurant on Crosstown Road and for Metal Forming Inc. at Southpark Drive and International Drive.