PTC to consider larger store for 54W

Mon, 01/04/2010 - 10:39am
By: John Munford

A proposal to upsize a “big box” store for a new shopping center on Ga. Highway 54 West at Planterra Way is up for a vote by the Peachtree City Council Thursday night.

Currently, the largest store allowed on the site is capped at 50,000 sq. ft., up from the city’s normal limit of 32,000 sq. ft. Now Capital City Development wants the cap raised to 65,000 sq. ft., ostensibly to allow room for a Kohl’s Department Store, an Academy Sports store or a potential movie theater.

Capital City currently has the right to build up to three 50,000 square foot stores on the site for a total of 175,000 square feet for the entire development.

The company is proposing to eliminate two of those large stores which instead would be built under the city’s size limit of 32,000 square feet each, according to CCD’s Doug McMurrain. The company is also requesting that it be allowed to build a third store up to 32,000 square feet.

According to city staff, if council agrees to the change CCD will have to apply for an amendment to its special use permit for the site and the existing development agreement between CCD and the city will have to be amended. Staff would review the request as part of the special use permit request, according to Community Development Director David Rast.

With the recent announcement of a movie theater coming barely over a mile down the road in Coweta County, the prospects of a different movie company coming to Peachtree City may have dimmed.

With four new council members in office, the request is expected to face a significant amount of scrutiny. The slate elected by voters each indicated they prefer to avoid big boxes in a bid to improve the city’s village shopping centers, some of which have suffered as much commercial development has moved to Hwy. 54 West in the past few years.

The shopping center, which abuts Cardiff Park at the rear, is already zoned for general commercial development. It also will be served by a traffic light on Hwy. 54 West that was approved by the Georgia Department of Transportation after the City Council intervened on CCD’s behalf.

That light will be in-between the existing lights for Planterra Way and MacDuff Parkway. Prior to the city’s intervention, DOT had turned down CCD’s request for the traffic light on two previous occasions.

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Submitted by Hisgirl on Mon, 01/04/2010 - 4:55pm.

Seriously folks. Can we please have something at these shopping centers besides a tanning salon, nail salon, mexican restaurant, and dollar store? These places are great but how about a little variety?

I would love to shop at a TJ Max, Marshall's, or any other clothing store. Something...anything besides another tanning salon.

Submitted by jsmith on Mon, 01/04/2010 - 5:40pm.

We have to let city council know that we don't want this! With more shopping centers comes more traffic and crime!! We need to write our city council and let them know we are against this!

Submitted by Spyglass on Tue, 01/05/2010 - 11:02am.

Its not going away. You can't just "stop" it.

Submitted by skyspy on Tue, 01/05/2010 - 4:48pm.

That's just it. The current zoning has been in place for years.

Now we have a builder who was arrogant enough to buy it thinking that he would get all kinds of special favors and amendments so he could do whatever he wanted to OUTSIDE of the current code and zoning.

That is the problem. We have a low caliber idiot who thought he could do whatever he wanted to.

The lesson here is that if you buy property make sure your building plans match with the current zoning and codes that pertain to the property. If you have plans that are not covered in the current zoning then you are taking a huge risk, and the risk is all yours.

Expecting special favors was a HUGE gamble on the part of this developer.

Submitted by Spyglass on Tue, 01/05/2010 - 5:14pm.

"with more shopping centers comes more traffic and crime"...that tells me that someone doesn't want anymore shopping centers. In other words, don't let them build a shopping center here. My comment back to them was simply, the zoning is in place. jsmith simply didn't seem to care that the zoning was in place and wanted no more centers to be built. I realize the developers are asking for a change, the Council owes it to PTC to look at said change and see if it makes any sense at all.

All the while, keep in mind Coweta will allow ANYTHING to be built just over the County border...this will impact us much more than swapping a little footage around on this center.

I do think it's in our best interest for the Council to work with developers to get the very best for PTC. More landscaping, setbacks, etc...

All that said, do we really need to guess how this Council will vote on most anything? Frankly, I see no need in even having an article about it beforehand. Smiling

Submitted by skyspy on Tue, 01/05/2010 - 5:56pm.

You are right about Coweta allowing anything to be built. I don't see our economy turning around any time soon.

Spear Road Guy's picture
Submitted by Spear Road Guy on Tue, 01/05/2010 - 11:34am.

Give us a break Spyglass!!! Use your cotton picking noodle!!!

No they can't do whatever they want. They should've never been allowed to build big box stores there either.

Vote Republican


Submitted by Spyglass on Tue, 01/05/2010 - 2:17pm.

they could do "whatever they want". If you can show me where I said that, I'll gladly stfu about it. Frankly, I won't hold my breath.

That said, all I ask of the Council is to try and get the best possible development for the Citizens of PTC, within the zoning restraints of the property.

The Wedge's picture
Submitted by The Wedge on Tue, 01/05/2010 - 3:06pm.

Off topic, I love to visit Battery Park there in your neck of the woods. How is that park viewed by its neighbors? just curious


Submitted by Spyglass on Tue, 01/05/2010 - 3:34pm.

I enjoy watching sunsets there myself...I have Neices and Nephews who enjoy going there too. It's nice in the summer, watching folks fish etc (most throw away their bait buckets) ..you never know what you will see. Pretty good people watching at times.

It is fairly well patrolled by the Police and the Park Monitor...that's the job I even I think I could handle. Smiling

Sometimes the folks who come through with their carts wide open amaze me. It seems to be either Golfers or Kids not paying attention.

The Wedge's picture
Submitted by The Wedge on Tue, 01/05/2010 - 11:19am.

If a 65,000 square foot individual store was in the zoning code regulations, then there would be no need to go through this exercise. The council is being asked to provide a variance. One that would allow others to craft similar variances and have legal standing to challenge if denied. Let's stop the variance approvals now and if we want to change the code, then lets talk about doing that wholesale. There are mechanisms to make that happen in a planned manner. That is what professionals should do.


Submitted by Spyglass on Tue, 01/05/2010 - 2:18pm.

Others, who just want the development stopped, not so much.

Hoosier Fan's picture
Submitted by Hoosier Fan on Tue, 01/05/2010 - 12:25pm.

The zoning variances of the last City Council have left PTC vulnerable to legal challenges. Revise the Comprehensive Plan, if necessary, but stop the variances as they can appear to be arbitrary and can also appear to be influenced by "Friends of the Council".

The rules should work the same for everyone, not just for those who have connections. I believe our new Council understands that - for now. It's up to all of us to hold our Council members accountable for their votes and for following their campaign pledges on these issues.

This Thursday's PTC City Council meeting will be streamed live on the internet. If you can't be there live, view it online.


Submitted by Spyglass on Tue, 01/05/2010 - 2:18pm.

good idea. I assume it will be linked from the City Website?

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