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Callula Hill rezoning pulled from PTC Council agendaThu, 06/18/2009 - 1:28pm
By: John Munford
Council vote on rezoning industrial park for 80 homes, event center close to airport safety area postponed to July 16 OPINION column: With Callula Hill, unplanning reaches its apex The applicant for the Callula Hill rezoning application requested that the item be pulled from the Thursday night Peachtree City Council agenda and tabled for further discussion, according to Betsy Tyler, the city’s public information officer and city clerk. Although no date was given for reconsideration, the next regular meeting will be on Thursday, July 16 (the July 2 meeting has been cancelled). As always, the agenda packet will be available on the city website on the Friday prior to the meeting (July 10). According to a map provided by city officials, approximately 10 lots of the proposed Callula Hill subdivision encroach into a runway protection zone for Peachtree City’s Falcon Field airport. Federal officials discourage construction in such areas for safety purposes. The 37-acre site in the city’s industrial park but adjacent to the future Lake McIntosh will be considered for a rezoning in mid-July by the Peachtree City Council. Pathway Communities wants to build 80 high-end homes with 12 villas that would be rented to patrons of an events center planned for the site, which is due north of Falcon Field and zoned for heavy industrial use. The FAA discourages the building of residences or any place where people might congregate inside a runway protection zone, said spokeswoman Kathleen Bergen. “That is for the protection of people and property around the airport,” Bergen said. However, because Falcon Field, like many airports, does not own all the land in its runway protection zone, the FAA’s guidance is only a recommendation, Bergen said. Former Airport Manager Jim Savage is strongly opposing the rezoning. In a letter to the Planning Commission, Savage said having a subdivision in an industrial area, especially near a very active airport, not only violates the city’s land use plan, “... It is simply a bad idea regardless of the potential ‘great view’ of the future Lake McIntosh.” Savage, a former City Council member, expressed in his letter that the city’s land use plan has helped prevent problems with homes near Falcon Field. But by Savage’s calculations, aircraft landing at Falcon Field may fly at less than 150 feet above the subdivision if it is built. On takeoff during summer conditions, jet aircraft and large propeller-powered aircraft may take off less than 200 feet above the ground, Savage added. If approved, the rezoning would be a significant departure from the current land use plan recommendations for the site. Pathway officials have argued that the proximity to the eventual Lake McIntosh and also the Planterra Ridge Golf Course, along with the site’s sloping topography, make it ideal for residential use, not industrial use. The site is not contiguous to any residentially-zoned property. It is bordered completely by industrially zoned parcels, the golf course and the future Lake McIntosh site. The city’s Planning Commission narrowly voted to recommend approval of the Pathway proposal last week, but it drew strong criticism from the two commissioners voting against it, and even one commissioner who voted in favor. Commissioners Lynda Wojcik and Larry Sussberg, who voted against the proposal, both said the proximity of the property to the airport was a deal-breaker for them. The final say on the matter rests with the City Council. login to post comments
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