Height variance for cell tower in industrial park also on agenda Thursday night

An Atlanta company is asking Peachtree City to lift its moratorium on multi-family rezoning to make way for a 4.8-acre senior rental complex in the Lexington Circle retail center off Ga. Highway 54 East.

NorSouth Companies is proposing to build an age-restricted independent living complex directly across Lexington Circle from the Zaxby’s restaurant. The moratorium request will be considered Thursday night by the Peachtree City Council.

The moratorium on multi-family zoning must be lifted in order for staff to even consider the possible ramifications of the proposal. If council lifts the moratorium it does not lock the city in to approving the plan.

If council decides to lift the moratorium, it most likely would be only for this specific 4.8 acre site and not for the entire city.

For the project to go forward, the city will have to approve a rezoning for the property. Currently the site is zoned limited use commercial.

In other business, council is slated to vote on two variance requests for a new cellphone tower off Dividend Drive in the city’s industrial park. The site is a short distance from Ga. Highway 74 and Kelly Drive/McIntosh Trail.

A similar request was denied several years ago because the tower protruded into an area of protected airspace due to its proximity to Falcon Field. The current request would extend into that area by approximately 43 feet, according to a city memo on the request.

But a review by the FAA in 2006 determined the tower “would have no substantial adverse impact on the safe and efficient utilization of the navigable airspace by aircraft or on the operation of air navigation facilities,” the staff memo noted.

City staff is recommending denial of the variance requests, though if the tower height shrunk from 165 feet as currently proposed to 122 feet, it would be allowed under current zoning and development regulations, the memo said.