A proposal to build a 80-home subdivision and special events center on the border of Falcon Field Airport and the Peachtree City industrial park will be voted on Monday night by the city’s planning commission.
The commission is also expected to rule on a separate request to annex 77 acres for two office buildings and a 90-home subdivision off Ga. Highway 74, south of the Meade sports complex and directly across from Redwine Road.
In both matters, the commission’s role is advisory because the final say rests with the Peachtree City Council. The commission meets at 7 p.m. at City Hall, and citizens can comment.
The development on the edge of Falcon Field is called Callula Hill and the property is currently zoned for industrial use as it is surrounded by other industrially-zoned land and the Planterra Ridge golf course.
The property also borders the new Lake McIntosh drinking water reservoir, a feature that has led Phoenix Development Team to argue is so significant that it lends the site to a residential zoning instead of the existing industrial designation.
Phoenix officials have also argued that the proximity to Falcon Field, also known as Atlanta Regional Airport, is a plus because of the hope to attract pilots to the new homes, which will be marketed in the range of $350,000 to $700,000.
Phoenix has proposed using a deed notification to make sure that the initial and subsequent home buyers are aware of the proximity of the airport, which is populated mostly by smaller aircraft, with a handful of business-class jets.
There has been some concern that rezoning the 37-acre site to residential and commercial, the latter for the special events center and 12 overnight villas for guests, would take undeveloped land away from a potential industrial or business client that could bring jobs to the city. At least one business in the area has also shared concerns about traffic through the industrial park during the development phase.
Phoenix has committed to improving golf cart connectivity in the area by building a new path along Dividend Drive north of TDK Boulevard, and also to the possibility of extending that path southward to Falcon Field.
The site plan has several “pocket parks” for residents along with a large picnic pavilion that would be used by school buses to pick up children for the entire neighborhood, Phoenix officials have said.
A similar plan was submitted in 2009 but was withdrawn in the face of heavy criticism.
As for the proposed annexation in south Peachtree City, the 77-acre site is currently located in unincorporated Fayette County and is zoned for mix of office and commercial uses totaling over 175,000 sq. ft.
The owner, Southern Pines Plantation, wants to be annexed in part to allow access to the city’s sewer system, which is practically impossible in the unincorporated county as Fayette officials have denied such access in the past in large part as a way to control the rapid growth that has plagued other areas of metro Atlanta.
SPP has proposed developing a 200-foot buffer around the entire property line to prevent the sewer from being accessed by existing and future developments to the south via a state law that requires sewer systems to link to new developments built within that distance of a given sewer line.
SPP wants to build a road to link with the current traffic light at Redwine Road, featuring two medical-type office buildings on either side in addition to up to 90 homes.
The site is bordered on one side by the Meade Field recreation complex and on the other by Starr’s Mill Academy day care center and the Brechin Park subdivision, both of which are located in unincorporated Fayette County.
SPP is proposing for the homes to be priced in the $350,000 range with no mass grading in an effort to preserve vegetation on individual lots.
SPP is working on building a cart path connection to a new tunnel underneath the highway that is near the RiteAid store. Commissioners also expressed concern about the handling of an at-grade cart crossing across Rockaway Road.
On the site plan for the property, SPP included several “pocket parks” but a planning commissioner noted recently that they were poorly positioned on the site.
