Road widening claimed trees, leaving others susceptible to fall

A gas station owner will be allowed to landscape a smidgen of city-owned property on the border of his new development at the intersection of Ga. Highway 74 and Crosstown Road.

Mike Hyde’s OMNI Fuels will include the city-owned parcel in its landscaping plan as a result of the approval from the Peachtree City Council last week.

City Planner David Rast noted that at one time there was a significant stand of trees on the city-owned land, but they were drastically thinned out after clearing was conducted for the widening of Ga. Highway 74. The remaining trees are likely to fall because they were used to being surrounded by other trees, Rast noted.

Should the trees fall, they could fall across a road or they may fall on the canopy for the gas station, Rast noted.

With the council’s approval, OMNI Fuels will be allowed to remove the remaining trees and replace it with other landscaping as part of the landscaping plan he will bring before the planning commission and also before the City Council, Rast said.

Ironically, Hyde is tangling with the city in court in a zoning lawsuit he filed because he wants to build a Lowe’s Home Improvement store on property he owns behind the gas station. The property is zoned for general industrial use and the city contends that Lowe’s is a retail use and thus disallowed from being built on land zoned general industrial.

In the suit Hyde notes the city already has a significant number of retail stores located on land zoned general industrial.

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