In a surprise move, the Peachtree City Council has withdrawn the possibility of selling Line Creek Court and Line Creek Circle to accommodate a shopping center off Ga. Highway 54 West directly across from the Best Buy store.
And that is what sent Trinity Development back to the drawing board with a plan that has shrunk from 164,000 square feet to 69,000 square feet, the Peachtree City Planning Commission learned Monday night.
The new plan includes a potential gas station right off the roadway with its own right-in, right-out entrance. It also shows one “large” retail building around 32,000 square feet, the maximum size allowed under city ordinance without a special use permit.
The plan includes a 75-foot “transition yard” undisturbed buffer, as required by city ordinance, between its rear and adjacent homes in the Cardiff Park subdivision.
The Trinity parcel, currently owned by BB&T Bank, is zoned for general commercial use, a zoning three decades old.
Council’s decision to withdraw the offer to sell Line Creek Drive and Line Creek Court is believed to have been made in executive session, as it has not been publicly discussed at any council meeting for a number of months.
The presence of the roads severely limits the potential for any large stores on the site due to the city’s road setback rules.
One drawback to keeping the new roads is that the grade of the site cannot change in the rear. Under the previous plan Trinity had agreed to lower the grade to reduce the visual effect on homes in Cardiff Park.
Trinity Development has not firmed up any potential tenants or property owners as of yet, said Trinity representative Jim Lowe. The company has been in contact with other companies, however, and the plan was designed to meet the parking lot requirements for some of those companies, Lowe added.
Trinity is asking the planning commission for a conceptual plat approval, which will give it flexibility to sell off parts of the property if necessary to accommodate a particular development. If that were to occur, each individual parcel would go through the city’s planning process individually, with conceptual and landscape plans subject to approval of the planning commission.
The matter is expected to be heard at the commission’s Sept. 12 meeting.
Cardiff Park resident Tim Lydell, who has worked with Trinity and a previous developer, said he is hopeful to retain concessions that Trinity had already agreed to for the larger development, including restrictions on the times allowed for service deliveries.
Lydell said subdividing the site could lead to an unsightly development such as that seen at Lexington Circle on the city’s far east side off Ga. Highway 54. Lexington Circle has a number of undeveloped parcels, attributed in large part to the properties having a variety of different owners.
“It’s just not aesthetic to Peachtree City,” Lydell said. “And it’s not conducive to the residents of Cardiff Park, so why should we support it?”
Later in his comments, Lydell called the proposal “a troubling plan.”
“The gas station is there,” Lydell said. “What’s missing is the Hooters.”
Lydell was sarcastically referring to a plan submitted for the site a number of years ago that indeed featured a Hooters restaurant.
Resident Caren Russell said she felt there were four gas stations in the area already so she didn’t see the need for another one. She said she too was hopeful that Trinity would work with nearby residents, but said she felt the current proposal was “not conducive to the lifestyle in Peachtree City.”
Among the feedback on the conceptual plat, the commission suggested extending a cart path that runs along Hwy. 54 into the development so it would go up Planterra Way and connect with an existing cart path there.
Commissioner Lynda Wojcik said she felt the site appeared to have a good amount of greenspace.
Commissioner Patrick Staples noted that part of Line Creek Circle will extend into the 75-foot transition buffer, and he hoped the city would agree to give up that “stub” so it can be landscaped to screen the shopping center from view of a homeowner in Cardiff Park.
Staples also suggested implementing a walking path so pedestrians can move easier from parcel to parcel, and Lowe said he would work on that.
Commissioner David Conner said he was disappointed at the loss of an east-west road connecting Trinity’s shopping center through the Line Creek Nature Area to the Shoppes at the Village Piazza shopping center.
“My advice is to take this plan, crumple it up, throw it in the trash and come back with something more cohesive like we have had that council would be willing to listen to,” Conner said. “… These are extremely creative plans y’all have come up with, but I don’t think it’s right for Peachtree City.”
A commercial real estate broker working for BB&T told the commission that the bank would be taking “an unbelievable significant loss” on the sale of the property, but he felt the plan was economically viable.
