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Developers moving forward without sewer |
2010-02-01 |
By Trey Alverson |
What could have been a 14 acre expansion of Peachtree City's Meade Fields may soon be the site of a commercial grade septic system.
Development group Southern Pines Plantation received approval Thursday from the Fayette County Commission to rezone several acres of the 80 acre tract the company owns along Highway 74 across from Redwine Road.
The rezoning cleans up the lines of the planned development and compensates for land lost in the Highway 74 expansion. Thirty-three of the acres are zoned for office or commercial use.
Southern Pines Plantation's request likely means the company is moving forward with the development, despite an unsuccessful two year effort to obtain access to the nearby Peachtree City sewer system.
In December, Southern Pines' Jim Wells and Peachtree City Water and Sewer Authority Chairman Wade Williams implored the Peachtree City city council to accept a deal, which would have given the city 14 acres for a Meade Field expansion, $25,000 in grading work and a deed restriction capping the single store size at 95,000 square feet.
In exchange, Southern Pines would pay for the water and sewer authority to construct a gravity line adjacent to the development, giving the office and commercial sections of the project access to Peachtree City's sewer.
Following a recommendation from city planner David Rast and the planning commission, the former Peachtree City city council of Doug
Sturbaum, Cyndi Plunkett, Steve Boone and Harold Logsdon rejected the proposal in a 4-0 vote.
Wells said after the Peachtree City rejection he felt the city was hedging its bets that he would not develop the site without sewer. At the time, he promised that would not be the case.
"We have six projects on the drawing board as a company and two are currently funded. This is one of the two and I'm going to take advantage of that," Wells said.
"There is an immediate market for phases of this project."
The plans brought before the county commission Thursday showed the project's septic system being built on the 14 acres originally offered to Peachtree City for the expansion of Meade Fields.
Commissioner Eric Maxwell said he was glad to see the septic system moved to the opposite side of the development, away from the Brechen Park subdivision.
This development dates back to 2000, when the Fayette County Board of Commissioners rezoned 28 acres along Highway 74 South near Meade Field from Agricultural/Residential to Community Commercial and Office Institutional -- despite a request by Peachtree City not to do so.
Southern Pines brought forth the original request and has owned the undeveloped property in the years since.
Commissioner Eric Maxwell said Thursday that he would not have voted for the original 2000 rezoning, but saw no valid reason to deny the current request. Maxwell also reiterated the deal the county had with Southern Pines Plantation 10 years ago, which will deed a large chunk of the acreage behind the planned development to the county for a buffer for Brechen Park.
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