Thursday night the Peachtree City Council will again consider the possibility of abandoning two roads in the West Village so they can be sold to a developer planning a shopping center there.

Council will only be voting on the road abandonment issue and not the sale during the meeting, which starts at 7 p.m. at City Hall. Still, City Attorney Ted Meeker has said that should the city abandon Line Creek Drive and Line Creek Court, developer Doug McMurrain could advance an argument in court that he should be allowed to purchase the property.

McMurrain, who initially sought to buy the roads to make room for a 95,000 square foot Kohl’s Department Store, needed the roads at first because the city’s setback regulations wouldn’t allow for the Kohl’s footprint to fit on the site.

McMurrain has since said all big box proposals for the site are off the table, but he also said that some retailers desired by city residents, such as Whole Foods, don’t do any buildings smaller than big boxes.

The property is located off Ga. Highway 54 directly across the highway from McMurrain’s previous development: the commercial center that includes the Wal-Mart, Home Depot and Best Buy stores.

A committee appointed by Mayor Harold Logsdon recently asked McMurrain to prepare a site plan that doesn’t include a large anchor tenant but assumes the roads would be abandoned. On that committee are council members Steve Boone and Cyndi Plunkett, Marty Mullin from the planning commission, citizens Lynda Wojcik and Tim Lydell and City Planner David Rast.

Unless council somehow places stipulations on the road abandonment or purchase, it is possible McMurrain could seek a special city council approval for big box stores, defined under city ordinance as those larger than 32,000 square feet in size.

Numerous residents have spoken out against big box stores because they tend to have regional draws, creating traffic problems in addition to creating other issues.

The site is currently zoned commercial and is bordered to the east by Planterra Way.

McMurrain said recently that he needs to acquire the roads in order to be flexible with the site plan for the shopping center.

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