Tim Lydell and Paul Van’t Hof are hoping to convince their fellow Peachtree City residents that the City Council should abandon Line Creek Drive and Line Creek Circle to make room for a “better” shopping center off Ga. Highway 54 West, next to Planterra Way.

And they’re hoping those residents will feel compelled to email their council members, urging the action.

The shopping center will be in the backyard of Cardiff Park, where Lydell lives, and also will affect the Planterra Ridge subdivision, where Van’t Hof lives, south of Cardiff Park.

The road abandonment proposal has drawn heated criticism from many residents and the two newest members of the council.

Opponents of the road sale to the developer have said the city should avoid setting the precedent of selling public property to enable any commercial development, especially one that would bring in a big box store.

Although selling the roads to Capital City Development creates the possibility of a big box store coming to the site, Lydell and Van’t Hof argue it’s the best choice for a number of reasons, including:

• The development would be styled similar to The Avenue shopping center;

• The big box retailer, Kohl’s, has agreed to changes to the facade such as awnings, that will make the 89,000-square-foot store “fit” in Peachtree City;

• Because Kohl’s has stores in Newnan and Fayetteville, a store in Peachtree City would not be a regional draw;

• There would be a 70- to 140-foot natural buffer between Cardiff Park and the shopping center (more than required by city ordinance) and the entrance road will be lined with trees up between four and six caliper inches in diameter;

• The grade of the site will be reduced 20-plus feet to further screen it from view from adjacent residents in Cardiff Park; that would be impossible if the roads remain as-is;

• Kohl’s has agreed to forbid delivery trucks between 8 p.m. and 8 a.m.;

• The plan is more pedestrian-friendly than two other plans that have been submitted; and

• The developer has agreed to seek retailers for the smaller stores from a list submitted by a citizen’s committee.

In short, Lydell said, “It would look a lot more like Peachtree City.”

If a less-than-stellar shopping center goes in, it could affect the property values of residents in a two- or three-mile radius, Lydell said.

A decision on the road abandonment is expected to be made at the Feb. 7 council meeting. Even if the road abandonment were approved, the development would still need a special use permit from the City Council to build any big box stores on the parcel.

If the roads are abandoned, developer Doug McMurrain would still need to come to an agreement with council on a transaction to purchase or swap land for them.

The parcel is already zoned for general commercial use, so something will be built there and soon, Lydell said.

If the roads remain in the city’s possession, McMurrain plans to build a 99,000-square-foot shopping center that includes a gas station directly off the highway. Lydell said McMurrain also has interest from a restaurant that would have a regional draw.

“A gas station does not create the aesthetic that the citizens of Peachtree City want to have in their commercial developments,” Van’t Hof said.

No matter what type of shopping center is built, traffic will be an issue in the corridor anyway, chiefly because of the million-square-foot retail development planned in Coweta County at Hwy. 54 and Fischer Road, Van’t Hof said. It is not known whether a traffic light will be required on Hwy. 54 at Line Creek Parkway to serve the development.

The roads remaining as is would also eliminate the grade reduction on the site that was proposed to soften the view for Cardiff Park residents.

There is a third possibility McMurrain has proffered, with the city still abandoning the roads and Capital City Development building two smaller big box stores just upwards of 40,000 square feet each instead of the Kohl’s store. That plan contemplates the addition of a grocery store use in one of the largest stores.

While that plan also needs tweaking, it is still better than the smaller shopping center with the gas station, Lydell and Van’t Hof said.

Both development proposals that include the roads being abandoned also have a list of 20-plus conditions that McMurrain has agreed to, ranging from installation of a security fence to installation of a six-foot berm along Cardiff Park with a six-foot visual screen fence on top.

Van’t Hof noted that all the conditions are enforceable because they would be recorded as part of the deed for the property.