In a surprise reversal to what many thought was a done deal, Pathway Communities has decided to drop its annexation request to the town of Sharpsburg.

The move comes less than two weeks after the Town Council had approved the first reading of a proposal by the development company to annex 500 acres into the town near McIntosh Trail and Ga. Highway 54. The Peachtree City-based company wanted to create a development called Twelve Parks at Sharpsburg and would have featured 725 homes, 60 townhomes and two large commercial tracts.

The notice was sent to Sharpsburg officials Thursday afternoon, and Pathway provided an e-mail response to The Citizen on the reasons for the withdrawal.

“The application was withdrawn from the Town of Sharpsburg because it is important that the infrastructure is in place to provide Coweta County with a top-notch community. We want to ensure the needs of residents will be met in a manner consistent with other great developments in Coweta County. This necessary step will make certain that we can continue our successful model of creating communities in an environment where residents will say ‘this is the best place I’ve ever lived.’ We are looking at all options as it relates to seeing Twelve Parks come to fruition,” said Peggy Sullivan, president of Pathway Communities.

The move comes after a citizen’s group was formed in the East Coweta town questioning the wisdom of annexing such a large tract into the town that does not have water or sewerage capacity.

Pathway is the successor company to the old Peachtree City Development Corp., which was responsible for planning and developing much of current-day Peachtree City.