An existing shopping center on the city’s east border and owners of 35 acres in the West Village area want to come into Peachtree City.

The City Council will consider this Thursday night whether to initiate step one of the annexation review process for the existing Publix and SteinMart shopping center — known as Peachtree East — and, across town, the combined 35-acre tract off Senoia Road (Old Highway 74 North) and just north of the city’s newest named village — Wilksmoor.

Should council vote to initiate the “step 1” annexation process for either proposal, it would not guarantee annexation; instead it would allow city staff to work with developers on the proposals.

Should either annexation be ultimately approved in a potential “step 2” phase, the city will have to reconcile the cost of providing fire and police protection to the properties along with other city services.

The Publix shopping center wants to come in as is, with no changes in its commercial uses or looks, though the applicant plans to work with city staff on non-conforming matters such as buffers, setbacks, signage and the like as the city’s requirements are different than those applied in the unincorporated county.

The center — built in 1995 — covers nearly 18 acres and contains five buildings and 22 retail shops totaling 147,602 square feet of commercial space. It’s currently zoned C-C Community Commercial under Fayette County zoning.

The three Hawthorne, N.Y., owners of the center say the annexation would be worth nearly $200,000 a year in property taxes to Peachtree City.

According to the application on file with the city, “The applicant understands that the city is in the planning process for designing multi-use paths in the general vicinity of Peachtree East. A possible bridge over [Ga. Highway] 54 is also being considered. The applicant will cooperate with the city if it is determined that the [cart path] bridge should cross [Hwy.] 54 in front of the shopping center.”

“There are no planned changes to the aesthetics of the shopping center,” the application says.

The west side tract includes the historic Wilks Grove Baptist Church, one of the pioneer black churches in Fayette County.

Representing the four property owners of the 35 acres is the well-known Fayetteville developer, Scarbrough and Rolader, which wants to bring the nearly undeveloped land in under the city’s AR Agricultural Reserve zoning, essentially the same zoning it now has in the unincorporated county.

The land abuts the recent 379-acre annexation by John Wieland Homes — and a 403-acre tract owned by Scarbrough that has been zoned in the city for an upscale subdivision of homes for people over 55 years old. The tracts are also near an 89-acre tract zoned already in the city that is zoned for industrial use but is now under consideration for rezoning to multi-family residential and commercial uses.

“The applicant is not proposing to rezone or develop the property at this time,” a city staff memo to the council says. Scarbrough and Rolader want the agriculture-residential zoning “until the use of the property is determined,” the memo says.

The property’s land use designation, the memo says, is low-density residential.

Annexing the land would bring the city only slightly under $400 a year in property taxes, the memo says, while the city would pick up the responsibility of providing police and fire protection and other city services to it.

The advantages to annexing the land, according to the memo, are so “future access to the proposed MacDuff Parkway Extension can be properly planned for,” and “so land planning may be coordinated for the entire area.”

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