Now that Home Depot is definitely coming to Peachtree City, the next step is to make it look like it belongs here, according to developers and city officials.

The City Council last week reversed the Planning Commission's denial of RAM Development's conceptual site plan for the retail center on the north side of Ga. Highway 54, just west of Ga. Highway 74 near the Coweta County line.

City development director Jim Williams said at last week's City Council meeting that should the plan be approved, the city would want a structure consistent with what is elsewhere in the city rather than Home Depot's typical big orange storefront.

He added that the guidelines set for Home Depot could help determine how future commercial development in the area will look, so it is a very important project in that regard.

Doug McMurrain of RAM Development told the council that his firm has been all about cooperation during the planning of this project and is committed to making it safe and in tune with the rest of the city.

“I think we've made a substantial leap,” said McMurrain of the concessions his company has made concerning road improvements and other items. RAM Development owns a considerable amount of property in this area and is working with the builders of the Line Creek Parkway, so there is a good deal of incentive for the developer to make this work to everyone's satisfaction.

McMurrain said this week that his group has met with representatives of the Georgia Department of Transportation, and they feel that the road improvements being proposed in the area will increase safety.

“Anything that would make the area safer is a positive step,” he said.

As for the design of the store itself, Williams said one of the conditions of conceptual site plan approval was addressing the architectural character of the site.

Both Williams and McMurrain said that some progress was made in that area when Home Depot was planning its previously proposed store in Kedron Village. That project was shelved a few weeks ago as the new site was being considered.

“It'll look like a Peachtree City project,” McMurrain said Wednesday, echoing his comments to the City Council last week.

Water runoff at the site has not been discussed very much so far, Williams said, but it will be important in the future months as the final site plan is completed.

While that is being done, RAM Development is preparing its site plan for the next phase of the project, which would be a Wal-Mart store, McMurrain said.

He expects to be back before the city sometime in the next few months, perhaps in March or April, with that plan.

But the Home Depot site still hinges on the all-important road situation, and with local, state and federal interests involved, nothing is certain there.

“They've [RAM Development] got their work cut out for them with the DOT,” said Williams.

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