The plan for a shopping center off Ga. Highway 74 south and Redwine Road has shrunk a bit under a rezoning approved Thursday night by the Fayette County Commission.
Southern Pines Plantation has had a combination commercial and office zoning for the site, on Peachtree City’s southern border, since 2000. The new plan has shrunk by more than 16,000 square feet to 129,000 square feet. But under the new plan the commercial component has grown by 10,000 square feet with reductions to the size of the office component.
The rezoning restricts a number of uses from occurring on the site, including a gas station associated with a convenience store. However, a standalone fuel center such as those associated with grocery stores, said Fayette County Planning and Zoning Director Pete Frisina.
Other uses that are restricted from the site include:
- Amusement/recreation facility including pool halls
- Dry cleaning
- Novelty shop
- Private club
The new rezoning does remove a previous restriction on the property which would have precluded a college or university.
The reason behind the shrinking size of the overall development is due to part of the site being trimmed along Hwy. 74 to accommodate the widening.
The company has moved its septic field from the rear of the property to a point farther away from the Brechin Park subdivision that is part of unincorporated Fayette County. The septic field will now be along the Peachtree City side of the property which is near Meade Field.
Commissioner Eric Maxwell referenced the original rezoning from 2000 and a commitment from Southern Pines to donate approximately 50 acres to the county at the rear of the site along the Brechin Park neighborhood. Maxwell said he wants to see the deed for that property.
Southern Pines attorney Carl Westmoreland said the deed couldn’t be transferred until the company does some preliminary work that’s required for the site to be subdivided.
Maxwell said he understood but he wanted to at least see the deed. Westmoreland said Southern Pines’ attorney in Macon had the deed in a trust until it can be transferred to the county, from what he understood of the situation.
A written agreement on that property transfer has a reversion clause that allows part of the 50 acres to revert back to Southern Pines should its septic system fail so a new septic field could be installed. But even if that happens, the field would be set some distance from Brechin Park, with a buffer and grassed area separating the neighborhood from the septic field, Westmoreland said.
