The Peachtree City Council Thursday will consider a request to deannex a 10-foot wide strip of land at its northern border with Tyrone at the request of a developer.

The request is a tactical one, as Brent West Village wants to nullify a lawsuit filed by resident David Worley over Peachtree City’s 2007 annexation of a 401-acre site on the city’s northwest border abutting Tyrone.

The company, which includes local developer Brent Scarbrough, plans to build 648 age-restricted homes on the site.

Worley contends that the annexation was illegal because it created an unincorporated island of land contrary to Georgia law.

The deannexation has already been approved by the Fayette County Commission.

The 10-foot wide 1.17 acre strip, which connects two parcels bordering the annexed land, is a court-tested way of legally avoiding the creation of an unincorporated island.

The appellate court decision allowing that strategy was approved in reference to a 2004 Fayette County case involving an annexation near the Fayette Pavilion in north Fayetteville. The Georgia Court of Appeals ruled in that case that the use of a 10-foot wide strip of land to meet the intent of the law was legitimate.

Like that 2004 case, Worley’s lawsuit has been taken up at the appellate level, meaning it could be a year or more before a decision is made, developer attorneys have contended.

Meanwhile, Brent West Village cannot proceed with road construction while the suit is pending challenging the validity of the annexations. Brent West Village and John Wieland Homes are required to build the extension of MacDuff Parkway from its current terminus to Old Senoia Road as a part of the development agreement approved for both annexations.

The city’s planning commission last month voted 4-1 to recommend approval of the deannexation, except for commissioner Lynda Wojcik, who noted that she felt many citizens opposed the annexations when they initially occurred in 2007.

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