In case you are wondering, the massive membership warehouse store or Lowe’s, complete with “sea of asphalt” parking, has already been approved across from the Publix on Georgia Highway 74 South.

I know, you are going to tell me the official government signs posted on the property say the land is still up for a rezoning hearing to Limited Use Commercial zoning.

It’s the other signs that give the whole thing away. For starters, there is the large sign planted firmly on the roadside already advertising that “out lots” and “retail space” is available next to the gigantic membership warehouse store.

I believe the brimming pre-approval confidence from the developer’s advertisement stems from Mayor Logsdon’s assurances the development is a “done deal.”

During my tenure in elected office, I looked at several plans for the property in question, and had several discussions with developers and the property owner. At the time, my main interest was re-aligning a very hazardous Rockaway Road so that it intersected at the traffic signal with Holly Grove Road.

One interesting plan called for joining the lot with an adjacent parcel, zoned commercial, in the county and doing something similar to the size of The Avenues. That particular plan also included a 10-screen cinema, recreation ball fields and more public restrooms for the Meade Field complex. However, the plan kept getting tripped up on the subject of big box stores.

Fortunately for all of us, GDOT made the re-alignment of Rockaway Road a priority and committed to do the project on their own. The bottom line is a development-for-road swap is not needed to solve traffic hazard any longer.

I am not opposed to an appropriate sized commercial development across from the Publix on Hwy. 74 S. However, I am questioning the logic of creating the beginnings of a vast commercial thoroughfare near the Starr’s Mill School Complex.

If you drop a Costco or Lowe’s on that site, you can be assured that the future zoning environment will change significantly. Other large stores will want to follow (they always do) and they will cite this first massive membership warehouse store as a significant deviation in the city’s Comprehensive Plan to get the ball rolling.

Landowners on Hwy. 74 currently zoned industrial will demand to be converted to large commercial, and homeowners will be clamoring for speed humps on Holly Grove Road to slow the shoppers down heading in from Robinson Road.

One thing is for sure, we will not get a second chance to take it back once it is approved.

Many local residents have asked me why the mayor and council would want to build such an enormous store on Hwy. 74 S., especially since the city has a clearly written mandate from the people and two previous councils in the city’s big box ordinance.

In addition, others have pointed out that the property in question is part of a huge watershed area and the large amount of impervious surface from the building and parking lot will have an impact on those wetlands and Line Creek.

Many of the Starr’s Mill School Complex parents appreciate the rural and residential feel around the schools and do not want to see the drastic increase in traffic from all the surrounding counties (six counties minimum). The big box stores on Ga. Highway 54 West have already contributed to the highest accident rates for any corridor in all of Fayette County.

You could even argue the value we will gain from the realignment of Rockaway Road will be greatly diminished by the creation of another “choke point” with the much higher traffic volumes associated with a regional Costco or Lowe’s development.

For all the local residents who worry about the continued health of our existing shopping centers [and] the locally owned businesses within them, a Costco will create more convenience and offer much lower prices. Obviously, this does not bode well for our little guys and the centers they inhabit.

For the first 23 weeks of its reporting period ended Feb. 4, 2007, Costco reported net sales of $27.80 billion, an increase of 9 percent from $25.43 billion during the similar 23-week period of the prior year.

Unfortunately, those dollars headed straight to their Issaquah, Wash., headquarters, unlike the local shops in our existing centers that use their profits locally. You can say the same for Lowe’s.

Like I said before, once this development gains rezoning, there is no turning back. We once had a city constructed on the “village concept” whereby each village had a suitable commercial core which encouraged shopping within the village and lessened traffic on our arterial and collector roads.

The things that make Peachtree City unique are becoming extinct.

The desire for short-term cash and the absence of long-term vision will have us looking like Just About Anywhere, USA.

By the way, if you are interested in locking in a pre-construction out lot or lease special near the massive membership warehouse store or a Lowe’s, the sign says the developer’s phone number is 678-460-3120.

Steve Brown

Peachtree City, Ga.

[Brown served as mayor from 2001 to 2005.]