Search the ArchivesNavigation Contact InformationThe Citizen Newspapers For Advertising Information Email us your news! For technical difficulties |
Bigger box plans get cool receptionTue, 09/15/2009 - 4:05pm
By: John Munford
Capital City Development didn’t earn any praise Monday night for its latest development plan for a 14-acre site at the southwest corner of Ga. Highway 54 and Planterra Way. CCD is asking to increase the largest store from 50,000 square feet to 63,830 square feet to accommodate a Kohl’s department store. The company is also asking to increase the shopping center’s size from 175,000 square feet to 186,000 square feet. The proposal was scrutinized by the Peachtree City Planning Commission in a workshop session Monday. CCD’s Doug McMurrain said the company would prepare an improved version of the latest plan. The drawing was criticized for including a right-in, right-out entrance on Ga. Highway 54 between a new traffic light that will serve the shopping center and the existing light for Planterra Way. That access point was placed in an area along the highway that was to be landscaped. Another resident complained that the latest plan created a problem with rear access by not having a complete driveway for service deliveries. The plan, if built, would have forced trucks to turn around and likely go in reverse, activating their loud warning signals while in reverse and potentially disturbing residents in Cardiff Park. McMurrain said those problems would be addressed in the new plan and the the buffers to the rear abutting the Cardiff Park subdivision would remain intact. He said the Kohl’s would be about the size of the largest Kroger grocery in town. McMurrain said he is willing to give up the possibility of having two other large stores of up to 50,000 square feet each. Instead, the other stores will be 32,000 square feet or smaller, McMurrain said. CCD had hoped to have a Publix grocery store in the development but that proposal fell apart late last year, McMurrain said. About the Kohl’s location, Planning Commissioner Larry Sussberg asked what might happen should Kohl’s leave in the future. McMurrain said the store size would be ideal for a Kroger or could be split into two smaller stores for “junior anchors” such as a T.J. Maxx or Homegoods. Cardiff Park resident Tim Lydell said he is hopeful about the Kohl’s project because that company doesn’t leave its buildings, unlike Wal-Mart. “They do not arbitrarily put up buildings and then pull them,” Lydell said, adding that the shopping center will also contribute sales taxes to the city. The development already has secured an earlier special use permit allowing it to eclipse the city’s retail size limits of 32,000 square feet for an individual store and 150,000 square feet for the entire development. But because CCD is asking for another size increase, the matter will have to go back to the City Council for a new approval at a later date. The city also sold public-owned rights of way and abandoned two city streets to the developer to allow the larger project. The commission did not vote on the proposal Monday because it was reviewed in a workshop format only. The commission is expected to vote on its recommendation for the project at a later date. The shopping center plan has been of some controversy. Early on, the plan drew fire from some residents after CCD asked the city to sell it the city streets, Line Creek Drive and Line Creek Court, that lead to the location. Had the streets remained, there wouldn’t have been room to build large stores on the tract due to the city’s road setback guidelines. Months later, CCD secured a traffic light for its entry road, despite the intersection’s proximity to two existing lights on either side: for Planterra Way and also MacDuff Parkway. login to post comments
|
Copyright 2010 - Fayette Publishing, Inc. | Privacy Policy | Terms of Use Policy
Server 4
