A local businessman’s plan to have Peachtree City build and lease to him an ice rink and fitness center will be considered by the City Council Thursday night.

Council will also consider a request from John Wieland Homes to allow city staff to consider rezoning an 89-acre tract for multi-family housing.

Wieland wants to build townhomes on the property as part of a combination residential and office development. The tract is located at the intersection of Ga. Highway 74 and south Kedron Drive and is currently zoned for industrial use.

The request from Wieland is to lift the city’s moratorium, which bans city staff from even discussing the rezoning of any property to a multifamily residential use.

Should the moratorium be lifted, city staff could work with Wieland and prepare a recommendation to the city’s Planning Commission and the City Council, but ultimately any decision to rezone the property rests with the council.

The proposal for the ice rink and fitness center is coming from Dar Thompson, who owns several World Gyms in the area. Thompson — a former mayoral and council candidate — wants the city to pay for the $9.73 million cost and recoup it through leasing the facilities back to his business group. The annual debt service is estimated to be $798,414 a year for 20 years.

Meanwhile the estimated annual rent from the ice rink and fitness center would be $436,000 a year, putting the city’s annual costs at $505,866 a year.

The City Council is not considering a direct funding of Thompson’s plan. Instead, Thompson is asking the city to put it on the ballot so voters can decide if the proposal should be funded by tax dollars.

The 76,000-square-foot rink and 10,000-square-foot fitness center would be located on undeveloped property at the north end of the city’s Baseball and Soccer Complex on Hwy. 74 South.

Thompson has said the ice rink will host several large tournaments a year, bringing an economic impact that would help the city increase tax revenue. He said the facility would also attract people to move to Peachtree City who might otherwise have to move elsewhere in the metro Atlanta area to be near ice rinks for their children.

Thompson’s proposal has been pared down from his initial suggestion of a $19.5 million facility that included multi-use field, basketball courts and meeting rooms in addition to the ice rink and fitness center.

In other business, the council is expected to weigh in on a citizen’s request to allow “brown bagging” so people can bring their own alcohol for consumption at bars and restaurants.

The recommendation from city staff is to leave the current ban on brown bagging. The city sought input in letters to 47 businesses allowing alcohol consumption on premises and got 10 replies. Of those six indicated they were concerned about regulating patron consumption in accordance with the city’s alcohol license regulations should brown bagging be allowed.

The city has also recently learned that Georgia regulations do not allow employees to serve “brown bag” alcohol since the establishments may only get and serve alcohol from licensed wholesale dealers.

Proponents of brown bagging say it allows them to enjoy spirits the establishments don’t offer.