With very little undeveloped residential and commercial land left in Peachtree City, the city will be getting more and more redevelopment proposals, officials said last week at a meeting about the city’s comprehensive plan.

One recent proposal, which would raze three homes and build 46 in its place on 15 acres off Robinson Road, was one of those decried by the crowd as out-of-bounds for the city’s character. Those three lots currently are in a zoning district that requires minimum lot sizes of three acres.

Moreover the three tracts in question are bordered to the east by lots zoned the same — estate residential — and to the west by lots with a one-acre minimum size.

The general gist of the crowd’s comments was: “Why can’t the city just say no?”

The answer, according to City Manager Bernie McMullen, is that the city can’t keep developers from presenting proposals. However, the city can turn down redevelopment proposals, and McMullen indicated he was fairly confident the city would turn down the rezoning.

The meeting at the Kedron Fieldhouse is one in a series designed to garner citizen comments to help drive the updating of the city’s comprehensive plan, said City Planner David Rast.

Rast said he doesn’t anticipate any significant changes for the city’s comprehensive plan nor its land use plan. At the same time, some redevelopment might be welcome by the city, in such areas as the businesses along Huddleston Road, Rast said.

And redevelopment may happen in other cases whether the city wants it or not ... such as the plans recently aborted by Kroger to close its store at the Peachtree Crossings East shopping center, Rast said.

One new development in the Kedron Village area, Rast noted, is the Lexington Circle mixed use project, which includes some residential uses along with office and retail projects. Located on Ga. Highway 54 West at the intersection of Walt Banks Road, Rast said high asking prices have stifled some of the development that could potentially occur there.

At the same time, some projects in Lexington Circle are about to break ground, including a mixed-use loft building that features retail and office space on the lower level with living spaces above. That development will also have the city’s first underground parking garage; it also has been successful before groundbreaking, with 15 of the 36 units already spoken for, Rast noted.

Also coming to Lexington Circle is a Comfort Inn and Suites that will be located behind the Neighborhood Community Bank and Zaxby’s, Rast said.

All told there’s enough retail space zoned in for Lexington Circle that it will be bigger than the last phase of the Kedron Village retail center, which included the Target superstore, Rast said.

One resident expressed concern about the appearance of condo-office units in Lexington Circle that have already been built, particularly since those units aren’t selling. Rast said the city has been working on ways to improve the appearance of that development and the property owner is receptive to the ideas.

Another issue the city has been working on is the possibility of putting a cart path tunnel on Peachtree Parkway near the Kedron Boat Docks, as residents have recently reported problems crossing the parkway nearby for both pedestrians and those in golf carts because of the speed of traffic.

Rast also noted that the city plans to install landscaping along Ga. Highway 74 to shield the view of the new train siding on the CSX railroad near the Marketplace shopping center.

One resident also expressed concern about the lower level of Lake Kedron, and McMullen explained that was in part due to an agreement with the city, which owns Lake Peachtree, and the county, which operates the water system and owns Lake Kedron. The agreement calls for the water system \to keep the water level up at Lake Peachtree, McMullen said.

Lake Peachtree is used as a reservoir by the county water system, and it is fed by Lake Kedron, which in turn is fed by Flat Creek.

Rast noted that the city will soon be evaluating potential areas for annexation just outside the city limits in terms of what makes the most sense for the city. He also added that he doesn’t see the city’s projected population increasing by much.

“It’s not like we’re going to annex the world,” Rast said.

Rast said he hoped a by-product of the comprehensive plan process is getting more of the public interested in the planning process, particularly at the planning commission level. Too often, people don’t show up at those meetings unless they are interested in a project that is near their home, Rast said.

“We’ve got to think proactively,” Rast said.

Marie Washburn, who previously served on the city’s library commission, said the apathy among residents isn’t surprising given the low number of citizens who bother to vote in city elections.

Rast said the city has been making efforts to notify property owners of potential zoning changes and developments in their area with signs. The city also posts copies of development plans on the city’s website at www.peachtree-city.org, Rast said.