The clock is ticking.

That was the overriding message Tuesday afternoon as Peachtree City officials and members of the traffic task force discussed ways to get a handle on what can be done to work out differences before the Home Depot appeal concerning the Huddleston property is heard at the Dec. 16 City Council meeting.

“Either we will control the situation, or it will control us,” Mayor Bob Lenox said.

With an already traffic-choked Ga. Highway 54 West looking at six years or more before any widening would be completed, commuters can expect a lot of pain, both now and during the construction process, according to task force member Bill Lancicome.

A planner and architect who has done a large amount of work for the city over the years, Lancicome spoke out Tuesday about what he called a “missed opportunity” for the city to shape that area in a way that would have avoided much of the current unpleasantness.

The city shot down a 1997 plan for the Huddleston property that would have seen a much smaller retail center than the one now being proposed, Lancicome said.

“Peachtree City has set itself up for a big left hook,” said Lancicome. “And you're getting it.”

He said that the earlier plan was rejected because it would have required a change in zoning, and emotion got in the way of good planning.

“It was the fear of the unknown, that it would change everything that's nice about Peachtree City,” Lancicome said about the motives for denying the plan. “And I don't believe that. We missed a great opportunity. Nobody saw the benefits of good planning.”

Instead of spending so much time making the Home Depot developers out to be the bad guys, Lancicome suggested that the city and the task force focus on dealing with the traffic problems, both before and during the future highway improvements.

“The state DOT is going to plow through here,” he said. “We'll have six years of pain. We must have interim solutions.”

Task force member Eileen Shaw, a Planterra Ridge resident, asked why the group must “rush to judgment,” pointing out that there is a great deal of information to absorb and consider before making any recommendations.

Lenox responded that the city is “legally compelled” to do so, adding that the city cannot dictate development, and the Home Depot/Wal-Mart plan cannot be stopped if road improvement restrictions in metro Atlanta related to federal clean air guidelines are lifted in the spring, as many believe they will be.

The sentiments of Lenox and Lancicome were echoed by Jim Fulton, who said the city must take advantage of the current opportunity to work with the developers before the courts tell the city to do whatever the developer wants.

Both Lancicome and Lenox pointed out repeatedly that a large retail center is eventually going in on the Huddleston property, no matter what.

“A big box is going to go there,” said Lancicome. “There's too much traffic, the site's too attractive [not to].”

He said that the plan proposed in 1997 was similar in scope to the Braelinn Village shopping center, which is much smaller than what is being planned there now.

“I said two years ago the city would regret that,” said Lenox of the denial of that plan.

According to city development director Jim Williams, the city received the plan in question in August 1997. At that time, there was a moratorium in effect that would allow no more land in the city designated for multi-family use.

The plan called for a village shopping center closer to the highway, Lancicome said, along with apartments behind and near the railroad tracks. Single-family residential housing would have been located where apartments are now being planned at Line Creek Parkway.

Although Lancicome said Tuesday that the Planning Commission and City Council rejected the plan, Williams said it actually never got to an official meeting of either body. The council simply decided not to lift the moratorium, and that effectively quashed the plan.

City staff prepared a report saying that the plan would shift some of the apartments from an adjoining property onto the Huddleston property, resulting in what Williams called a “more unified” concept, as the apartments would be spread out over both tracts.

The 1997 plan called for about 180,000 square feet in the shopping center, with some outparcels next to the highway. The proposed Home Depot and Wal-Mart would total nearly 350,000 square feet.

Regarding the current proposal, quite a bit of Tuesday's discussion centered around the idea of making the main entrance to the retail center across from Huddleston Road instead of across from Planterra Ridge.

The current DOT plan for Hwy. 54 has no median cut at Huddleston Road, which is of great concern to the task force considering its use as an access road to the industrial park.

Lenox said that at peak morning drive time, 17 cars per hour turn right into Planterra Ridge after coming east from Coweta County, while more than 240 turn right onto Huddleston Road.

“And they'll need to turn left going back in the evening,” said Fulton.

Lenox said that he thinks several improvements can be done now which would help the situation in that area no matter what is done by developers. He suggested adding right-turn lanes to Huddleston Road from Hwy. 54 and to Hwy. 54 from Hwy. 74, as well as restricting left turns at the Huddleston Road intersection in the afternoon.

The extension of TDK Boulevard into Coweta County is high on the priority list for the city.

Lenox feels that it should be completed before the Hwy. 54 widening project begins, to ease traffic congestion that will result from construction. Lenox also feels that the TDK extension can be done even under the current road guidelines.

City officials are scheduled to meet next week in Thomaston with state DOT representatives to discuss various aspects of the road projects. Lenox said that once the “political” portion of the process is decided in Atlanta, then the DOT office in Thomaston will make decisions on the “road-building” portion, such as whether to start on the east or west end and where the railroad bridge fits into the priority list.

Task force member Ted Taylor brought up an intriguing possibility, wondering if the bridge improvements could be extended enough to allow Huddleston Road to run underneath it.

As far as taking away the traffic light at Planterra Ridge and deciding where to put median cuts for when the highway is widened, Lenox said that the DOT will have the final say on what is done, but with plenty of input from anyone and everyone.

When the Wynnmeade Connector is completed along with Line Creek Parkway, direct access from Hwy. 54 to Wynnmeade subdivision will be cut off, Lenox said, adding that this is what the Wynnmeade residents want and everyone involved is happy with it.

That will make Line Creek Parkway, which will be directly across from Days Inn, the main access road for about 900 homes when the planned apartments and homes are completed.

Task force member Robert Brown, also a Planterra Ridge resident, said that his subdivision is unique in Peachtree City in that its main entrance is directly on a state highway and it connects with the industrial park on the other side.

No matter what is done, as Shaw and council member Annie McMenamin pointed out, the city will still have a residential subdivision directly across from a regional retail center. McMenamin added that it is “unheard of” for such a commercial development to have only one entrance off a two-lane road.

Brown said that perhaps the city should consider what was done with Lowe's in Fayetteville. That retailer originally looked into building around Hwy. 54 and Sandy Creek Road, but a city ordinance there requires retailers that size to have access to two separate four-lane roads, which led Lowe's to build its new store between Hwys. 85 and 314.

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