Plans for a 170,000-square-foot shopping center off Ga. Highway 54 and Planterra Way was unanimously approved by the Peachtree City Planning Commission Monday night.

The Line Creek retail center will be anchored by a Publix grocery store, a T.J. Maxx and a Homegoods.

The plan includes a traffic light at the intersection of Hwy. 54 and Line Creek Drive that has not yet been approved. Doug McMurrain of Capital City Development said the company is still working with the Georgia Department of Transportation to coordinate the light.

Previously the DOT turned down CCD’s application for the traffic light, saying it was too close to the lights at Planterra Way and MacDuff Parkway.

If the light is not approved, the special use permit granted for the shopping center must go back to the City Council for reconsideration.

Also on the plan is a future connection from the shopping center to Planterra Way. The connection will not be built as part of the project but will be available if needed in the future, McMurrain said.

The connection was initially contemplated to be built immediately but that was scrapped after nearby neighbors opposed it, worried it would lead to cut-through traffic on Planterra Way.

Earlier this year the City Council approved a special use permit allowing the center to eclipse the city’s size limit of 150,000 square feet for a shopping center.

Council also approved a proposal to sell Capital City Development the city-owned right of way on Line Creek Drive and Line Creek Court in exchange for a minimum of $500,000. Without that land, the shopping center would have been more limited in size due to setback requirements from the road.

The 16-acre site is zoned for general commercial use, but lush landscaping depicted on plans can be enforced by the city because they are tied to the special use permit, said City Planner David Rast.

The site may not include a gas station or a fast food restaurant, according to a development agreement between the city and CCD.

In addition to committing a significant landscaping project on the border between the shopping center and Cardiff Park, CCD has also promised to pay to have landscaping installed on the Hwy. 54 island between Planterra Way and MacDuff Parkway.

The shopping center will not be served by dumpsters but instead will utilize trash compactors, CCD attorney Rick Lindsey said.

The landscaping for the shopping center along Hwy. 54 will be terraced and that area will also include a golf cart path that extends down Planterra Way. A golf cart connection may also be made at the rear of the property to link up with the Line Creek Nature Area, Rast said.

Resident Phyllis Aguayo said she wanted assurances from McMurrain that the landscaping would look as nice as the drawings he showed to gain the city’s approval. She noted that on the other side of Hwy. 54 the landscaping is not nearly as nice as the drawings that were proffered for McMurrain’s former company, RAM, which built the shopping center that includes the Wal-Mart and Home Depot.

McMurrain responded that not only does he promise to meet the landscaping bar set by the drawings, but it’s also required by the city as part of the special use permit process.

“The plans are adopted and codified as part of the special use permit so they’re binding,” Rast said.

The plan was approved unanimously by the three commissioners present: Theo Scott, Larry Sussberg and Joe Frazar.

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