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PTC approves shopping center 3-2Fri, 06/20/2008 - 11:53am
By: John Munford
With an improved buffer along its border with the Cardiff Park subdivision and an easement for potential access to Planterra Way, the Peachtree City Council approved a special use permit for a 175,000 square foot shopping center off Ga. Highway 54 West Thursday night. The permit was necessary because the size of the center exceeds the city's size guidelines by 25,000 square feet. The vote was split with Councilmen Don Haddix and Doug Sturbaum against. Council members Cyndi Plunkett and Steve Boone voted for granting the permit along with Mayor Harold Logsdon. There is some question as to whether the Department of Transportation will allow a traffic light to be erected to serve the property at the current intersection of Line Creek Drive. Though representatives for Capital City Development said they've been told by DOT officials there was no problem with the new light, Councilman Don Haddix said a city resident forwarded him an email from DOT that indicates the light wouldn't meet the 1,000 foot distance guideline because of its proximity to the two existing lights on either side: at Planterra Way and MacDuff Parkway. Because the light is listed as a condition in the authorizing documents for the special use permit, if the light isn't allowed the special use permit will be void. That also means that CCD would be allowed to develop the shopping center under the regulations for general commercial zoning, it's current designation. The shopping center will feature a 45,000 square foot grocery store directly off the highway, located at Hwy. 54 and Planterra Way. The development's buffer along the south against Cardiff Park has been improved by removing 20 feet of planned parking, which will allow for additional landscaping. That buffer will also include an eight-foot berm with an eight-foot fence on top to screen the buildings from view of the Cardiff Park residents. Concerns over the buffer along the highway were allayed with schematics for an outdoor plaza with a seating area that features a trellis, tiered planting walls and additional landscaping. Capital City Development has also agreed to add landscaping to the entrance to Planterra Way. That's on top of the $500,000 CCD has committed to pay the city in cash or via a land swap for acquiring most of Line Creek Drive and all of Line Creek Court. That move has drawn some controversy because without those streets the larger stores would not be possible because of the city's setback regulations. The $500,000 payment will be due 15 days after the final site plan is approved for the development. As to the easement for the access to Planterra Way, that's being made in the hopes the city will eventually construct an access drive that would go across Planterra and link up with Huddleston Road. That plan has met some opposition from residents in the Planterra Ridge subdivision, but Councilman Don Haddix has said he thinks the access road would help prevent cut through traffic from heading through Planterra. The site plan includes two courtyard plazas in-between stores. Before the vote, Councilwoman Cyndi Plunkett asked if the permit was approved would it force the city to approve other special use permits in the future. He said it did not, unless a future property owner were to prove their property couldn't be developed as currently zoned. Council also granted a request to allow CCD to pre-clear and grade the site while simultaneously adding the buffering and landscaping for the site. The reason is that CCD is still waiting on approval from the Department of Transportation for a traffic light on Line Creek Drive, and the company wants to go ahead and get started, said CCD Attorney Rick Lindsey. login to post comments
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