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PTC shopping center gets green lightTue, 12/16/2008 - 5:01pm
By: John Munford
Yet another traffic light may be coming soon to the traffic-choked commute on Ga. Highway 54 West in Peachtree City, and the City Council’s hands apparently are tied from trying to stop it. Approval of the signal will give the green light to a large commercial development next to Planterra Ridge subdivision. If ultimately approved by state officials the light will add a fifth traffic light on Hwy. 54 between Ga. Highway 74 and the county line. The area office of the Georgia Department of Transportation has approved a traffic light permit to erect a new light on Line Creek Drive to serve the planned Line Creek shopping center that will be anchored by a Publix grocery store. The DOT previously had turned down two previous traffic light applications from Capital City Development for Line Creek Drive and Hwy. 54, saying the light was too close to the other nearby lights: at Planterra and Hwy. 54 to the east and at MacDuff Parkway and Hwy. 54 to the west. If the request is approved by the City Council it must be forwarded to the main DOT office in Atlanta for final approval, city officials have said. According to a development agreement the city entered with CCD, the city has agreed not to oppose the traffic signal at the intersection. The issue will be discussed at Thursday night’s council meeting which begins at 7 p.m. at City Hall. In a Monday night posting on The Citizen’s website, Councilman Don Haddix expressed his dismay at the change in the light’s status. “Supposedly I have seen the communications, but have seen nothing that justified this permit request being brought before Council,” Haddix wrote. “I have asked what changed to allow this, but have gotten silence for an answer. Which makes me, to be polite, extremely displeased. “This permit request is not in CCD’s name, but PTC’s,” Haddix wrote. “Without this light, I doubt CCD could build anything.” CCD will pay for design and installation of the signal and the city will be responsible for paying the ongoing electric and phone bills associated with the light, officials have said. In a development agreement for the property that was approved earlier this year, the city will receive at least $500,000 in return for deeding part of the Line Creek Drive and Line Creek Court’s rights of way to Capital City. The final amount is to be determined by appraisals from an entity selected by CCD and approved by city officials. Without that property CCD would have been forced to have smaller stores due to the city’s road setback rules. CCD has also agreed to pay for landscaping the median on Hwy. 54 from the intersection westward to MacDuff Parkway. The company will also re-landscape the nearby entrance to the Planterra Ridge subdivision along Planterra Way. In his Monday posting Haddix expressed disappointment in the city’s direction, as exemplified by the proposed new traffic light on busy Hwy. 54 West. “No, we are not going in the right direction. Having lived here almost 22 years now, this is not the PTC vision we bought a home here for,” Haddix wrote. “One reason I ran for office was to try to stop going down the wrong path, get back to that vision and fix as much of what was done wrong as possible. But on the important votes, that speak direction to this, Councilman [Doug] Sturbaum and I keep losing 3-2.” login to post comments
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