By MONROE ROARK
Staff Writer

A local church's plan to expand and relocate has triggered some debate among nearby residents about what, if any, guidelines should be set for locating churches in Peachtree City.

The First United Methodist Church announced at Monday night's Planning Commission meeting its intention to purchase 63 acres at the intersection of Robinson Road and Old Stagecoach Road for a new campus, and residents on adjoining properties are not too pleased at the prospect of what they think could ruin their quality of life.

A conceptual site plan unveiled at the meeting showed how the church could eventually have a sanctuary, a family life center, two ball fields and an outdoor amphitheater on the proposed site.

One resident who spoke out in opposition said that, while he thought churches are of great benefit to the community, he felt a church was fairly assured of getting almost any type of request approved by the city simply because it's a church.

It was pointed out by the Planning Commission that the issue of churches and their locations was studied in detail a couple of years ago and nothing was changed. Under the current ordinance, a church is considered a conditional use and can legally be located in any zoning classification in the city. A measure was introduced to restrict where a church could locate, but it was defeated.

While members of the commission recognized and were concerned at the scope of the Methodist Church's plan, board member Willis Granger mentioned that the church's request is legal as presented.

“This is probably the largest piece of property I've seen presented since I've been on this board in three and a half years,” said board member Wes Saunders.

Most complaints from residents focused not on the proposed sanctuary itself, but on ancillary facilities such as the ball fields and the possibility that they could have lights. Several people said that the idea of nightly activities long after dark is not what they had in mind when they moved to this area, which they still consider quiet and rural.

Also under attack from one resident were the recommendations from city staff, which he felt were not definitive enough. “There's too much `may' and `could' and `should,' and not enough `must' and `will,'” he said.

The chairman of the church's building committee presented the plan, along with an architect retained by the church. They reported that the church now has 2,000 members and typically has 1,000 in attendance on a given Sunday.

A contract on the land in question is to be signed in August, but it would be two years or so before any ground was broken, the building committee chairman said, since a major capital fund-raising campaign would have to begin at the first of the year.

Board chairman Julian Campbell Jr. said he thought the plan should have been more detailed at this stage, particularly what phases the development would be divided into and when they would commence. He specifically mentioned traffic studies. The proposed church would be close to Holy Trinity Catholic Church, which Campbell said has 2,500 families in its congregation, and that could create problems on weekends, he said.

After some discussion, it was agreed that the church would table its request for approval of the conceptual site plan until the July 12 meeting.