Land swap off the table

First Baptist Church of Peachtree City has abandoned its request to acquire the city’s existing Pebblepocket tennis courts in a land swap to build a community center.

But the construction plans are still on. The newly revised plan features the 25,000 sq. ft. building has been moved south of the Willowbend retail center, at the northwest corner of Willow and Willowbend roads.

The plan will be considered Monday night by the Peachtree City Planning Commission. Because the proposal is now just a site plan, the matter will not come back to the City Council for further consideration, city officials said.

“Since a land swap is no longer part of the proposal, the plan will be finalized by the city Planning Commission and will not come back to the mayor and city council for approval,” said City Manager Bernie McMullen.

Removing the land swap should appease neighbors in the area who opposed the relocation of the tennis courts and use of city-owned land nearby that’s currently greenspace. In fact, it was the concerns of those neighbors about possible deed restrictions on the property, which was deeded to the city by developers.

“The deeds really preclude relocating the tennis courts to the area along Pebblestump Point, making the land transfer a moot point,” McMullen said.

The church also has cut down the number of parking spaces by about 200 from its original request of 740, officials said.

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