DOT approves power lines in right of way, reducing buffer encroachment

The proposed second phase of widening Ga. Highway 74 won’t cut into a landscape buffer in front of a new shopping center quite as bad as initially anticipated.

It was initially thought that some 40 feet of the 60-foot highway buffer would be rendered useless by utility projects associated with the road construction. The news was met by protests from several nearby residents worried about the impact it would have on the proposed Wilshire Pavilion shopping center off Hwy. 74 south near Holly Grove Road.

Peachtree City officials learned last week that the cut will be limited to just 20 feet thanks to the Georgia Department of Transportation. That area is necessary to relocate water lines due to the widening project, officials said.

DOT has agreed to allow large power transmission lines to be located within the new road’s right of way, which will save 20 feet of the buffer from being cleared.

The second phase of the highway widening project will run from Cooper Circle southward to where Hwy. 74 joins Ga. Highway 85.

City officials had required the Wilshire Pavilion development to allow 60 feet of undisturbed buffer from the property line for the new highway right of way. But because that plan was approved by the city before the utility encroachments were known about, officials indicated that the city didn’t have much legal leeway to require Columbia Properties to resubmit a development plan that takes the encroachments into account.

City Attorney Ted Meeker has said previously that when the initial plan for the site was approved in February, Columbia Properties’ development rights were “vested” because the plan met all city standards.