With several controversial traffic-related aspects on hold until the city’s highway corridor study is available, the Peachtree City Planning Commission approved a plan for an 87,000 square-foot shopping center on Ga. Highway 54 West that will be anchored by an unnamed “specialty grocer.”
With that approval, the developer could begin construction of the retail center, but without some items it previously said were essential.
Hot-button traffic elements previously associated with The Overlook shopping center, such as a potential new traffic light on Ga. Highway 54 West and proposed connections to Planterra Way and the MacDuff Crossing shopping center, were not considered as a part of the conceptual site plan approval.
Those elements are mostly in the control of the city anyway, as the Planterra connection would have to cut through city-owned greenbelt and the traffic light requires city input though the final say rests with the Georgia Department of Transportation.
The link to MacDuff Crossing is a bit more challenging as it involves the adjacent Line Creek Nature Area and would require special permission from the Southern Conservation Trust.
Without the traffic matters in play, the commission approved the site plan with 17 conditions including the use of 15-foot wide sidewalks in front of the stores.
The shopping center will be located at the intersection of Ga. Highway 54 and Line Creek Drive.
Jim Lowe of Trinity Development said the company has a tenant for each store including the specialty grocer, which at 28,500 sq. ft. would not have as much impact as a regular-sized grocery store of 150,000 sq. ft.
The site plan includes a 75-foot undisturbed buffer between the shopping center and the adjacent Cardiff Park subdivision, and many of the homes there will have their view of the stores screened. Also included is a wooden fence to further remove the stores’ rear sides from the view of those residents’ backyards, Lowe said.
