Peachtree City’s three new City Council members will take their oaths of office Thursday night, and they will also consider setting a deadline for accepting annexation plans from developers.

The annexation deadline proposed by staff would last one year, starting the date council votes to approve a “step 1” request from a developer, which only allows the developer to work with city staff on the development plans.

For the annexation to be approved officially, council must approve the “step 2” vote, which will come after much more detailed information is presented to council and staff.

If a developer waits longer than one year to get all necessary information to city staff, the previous “step 1” approval will expire, according to the ordinance that will be considered by council Thursday night. That would mean an annexation request could not be resubmitted for that property for six months.

Also under the new legislation, council would be allowed, but not required, to grant an extension of the “step 1” approval for up to six months.

The city’s planning commission has unanimously recommended adoption of the new change.

Also Thursday night, Councilwoman Judi-ann Rutherford will suggest the city change the make-up of the Peachtree City Tourism Association, which oversees the city’s amphitheater and tennis center in addition to tourism efforts.

Rutherford said Monday that she wants the board to be made entirely of volunteers; currently the board is made up of three volunteers, the city manager and one council member.

Making the board all-volunteer would eliminate any politics coming into play in the operation of the tourism association, Rutherford said. Instead, it is important for the association to be run as a business, she added.

Council will also discuss the status of landscaping the southern portion of MacDuff Parkway after the city received a citizen complaint on how poor the area looks.

In a memo to council, it was noted that designing the landscape plan will occur this year, but it won’t be landscaped until fall 2006 with funds from the county’s Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax for transportation.

That time frame coincides with the completion of the Ga. Highway 54 West road-widening project, City Planner David Rast said in the memo.

login to post comments