The Peachtree City Council has approved the annexation of four tracts along the north side of Ga. Highway 54 East.
Totaling 7.36 acres, the request initiated with the owner of the Peachtree Professional Center so the new building could hook up to the city’s sewer system which the owner contends would be better long-term than a septic system. The annexation also would allow for more of the site to be used for parking, according to Chuck Ogletree, a representative of owner Foot Pain, LLC.
The properties were zoned for office use and include not just the 4.36-acre Foot Pain parcel but three other smaller parcels along Hwy. 54 between it and the city limits. The annexation and rezoning to office institutional use were approved 4-1 with Councilmember Vanessa Fleisch voting against.
The newly-constructed professional center has architecture worthy of the city, Ogletree has said, adding that the owner would work with neighbors off Sumner Road to provide additional landscaping to screen the site from the road as well as decide the location of a cart path connection.
City staff recommended approval of the annexation and rezoning to office use subject to several conditions including the inclusion of a 25-foot undisturbed buffer along the Sumner Road right of way in addition to re-establishment of the buffer in areas void of vegetation using evergreen plant material at least six feet tall.
One of the other conditions is that all impervious surfaces on each parcel shall be at least 50 feet off the Sumner Road right of way and none of the parcels shall have vehicular access to any of the parcels from Sumner Road. All four parcels already have direct vehicular access to Hwy. 54.
The city’s analysis determined that the annexed parcels would contribute about $9,500 a year in city taxes with no impact to personnel levels.
Some citizens who live in the area said they were concerned about a need for a potential “regional” lift station to provide sewer access to the site, but Ogletree said it is also possible that the building might be served by its own lift station instead.
City Planning and Zoning Administrator David Rast said while the smaller parcels in the annexation don’t meet the city’s design and landscaping guidelines along with other regulations, the hope is to enhance them as they are redeveloped “to bring them into conformance with city ordinances to the greatest extent practicable.”
