Peachtree City’s City Planner is worried about how quickly regional planners will handle a request from two developers to annex and rezone 859 acres and build more than 1,600 homes on the city’s west side ... despite the fact that the City Council hasn’t even voted whether or not to annex the parcels and rezone a third tract necessary for the project.

The development proposed by John Wieland Homes and Levitt and Sons is large enough to be considered a “development of regional impact” and thus must be reviewed by the Atlanta Regional Commission and the Georgia Regional Transportation Agency. Rast said he learned at a recent meeting that the matter may be ready for a planning commission meeting as early as November.

Several city council members said, “Whoa!” at Thursday night’s council meeting, noting they weren’t about to sign off on the plans based on the number of homes proposed.

The City Council, Planning Commission and Comprehensive Plan task force will hold a combined meeting Monday night at 7 p.m. at City Hall to hear details from both developers about the current status of their plans. Both Levitt and Wieland have filed “step 2” annexation applications with the city.

Rast said if the city changes the density 20 percent in either direction from the figures presented to the regional agencies, the plans would have to be resubmitted.

A density change of more than 20 percent “is more than likely,” said City Councilwoman Judi-ann Rutherford. Councilwoman Cyndi Plunkett also indicated she was opposed to the densities of the projects.

Levitt has not revised its requested density despite a strong suggestion from council to do so when it first agreed to consider Levitt’s proposal several months ago.

Wieland tempered its original request with a lower density for the annexed property, but the density on the 80-acre townhome parcel already in the city is quite high, especially considering it is currently zoned for general industrial use.

The parcels proposed for annexation, which are currently in the unincorporated area of Fayette County, are zoned by the county for lots with a minimum size of two acres each. The county defended a lawsuit several years ago that ended with the court upholding that zoning designation.

Rast noted that this is the city’s first large-scale development that must be reviewed by the Atlanta Regional Commission and the Georgia Regional Transportation Authority. State regulations require the DRI review process to begin when a developer initiates a request for action from the local government, but it does not require any action from the government.

ARC’s policy is to include local government agencies when reviewing DRI plans, according to the ARC web site.

But Rast feels differently after leaving the first ARC meeting held on the project.

“My feeling is that the city is left out of the process,” Rast said.

Rast explained that GRTA would require the city to finish any necessary transportation element of the subdivisions should the developer default on either.

Wieland wants to build 881 homes on 458 acres on the city’s west side, with 335 townhomes and the remainder being single family homes. Just to the north, Levitt wants to build 752 single family homes on a 400-acre parcel in a self-contained “active adult” housing community.

The townhome plan for Wieland calls for 335 townhomes on a 79-acre site. Wieland also wants to build a 5.7 acre neighborhood retail center.

Both developers will participate in building a bridge so MacDuff Parkway can span the railroad tracks and link with Old Senoia Road — also known as Old Highway 74 —at an at-grade crossing. MacDuff will ultimately link up with the traffic light at the intersection of Ga. Highway 74 and the northern end of Kedron Drive.

Rast noted that growing the city by annexation was a significant concern for many residents on the city’s recent planning survey.