UPDATED and clarified 8:57 a.m. Thursday, March 19 — It’s three postponements now for Great Wolf Lodge’s rezoning request. April 2 is the new date that the water park company is asking to present its plans to turn the Dolce-Atlanta property into a regional tourist attraction. The Peachtree City Council now must decide tonight whether it will agree to the latest delay request to hold a public hearing for the proposal in two weeks at the first meeting in April. While delay requests are routinely granted, the council has the power to decide to refuse the request and to proceed with the scheduled public hearing tonight, including a final vote on the rezoning.
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UPDATED for print Tuesday, March 17, 2015 — Great Wolf Lodge after two postponements is returning to the Peachtree City Council on March 19 with an updated rezoning and associated variance request after eliminating two of the variances previously requested.
Great Wolf Lodge Family Resorts wants to establish an indoor water park and hotel resort facility on the 38-acre site of the Dolce Atlanta-Peachtree Hotel and Resort on Aberdeen Parkway off Ga. Highway 74 near the center of the city.
The revised rezoning proposal by Great Wolf continues to ask for LUC (limited use commercial) zoning over the current GC (general commercial) zoning, but has been amended to include fewer variance requests.
The proposal is receiving strong opposition from adjacent neighborhoods. The hot-button issue could have political ramifications: Two of the five council posts — currently represented by Mike King and Eric Imker — are up for election this fall.
The updated rezoning proposal calls for:
• the overall height of the indoor water park would be reduced from the previously requested 75 feet down to 64 feet, 2 inches by modifying the design of the roof above the proposed water slide platform tower;
• a reduction in the overall footprint of the proposed hotel adjacent to Preston Chase subdivision by increasing the building from the previously requested three stories to four stories which would increase the building height from 47 feet to 55 feet, 3 inches;
• the relocation and extension of the service drive within the 75-foot transition yard buffer (behind the new hotel) as initially proposed has been eliminated, thereby negating the need for a variance;
• the proposed water slide tubes associated with the indoor water park would encroach into the transition yard buffer no more than 27 feet but would be located above the existing service drive and employee parking area, both of which are currently located within the buffer area; and
• the proposed expansion of the outdoor dining terrace into the stream buffer has been removed, thus eliminating the need for a variance.
As before, city planning staff recommends approval of the rezoning from GC (general commercial) to LUC-26 (limited use commercial).
The city’s five-member Planning Commission on Feb. 9 voted unanimously to recommend that the rezoning request be denied after hearing from a standing-room-only crowd from all five villages of the city that overwhelmingly opposed the location of a major tourist attraction adjacent to residential areas.
A traffic study performed by the city’s contracted firm, Pond and Company, concluded that the additional traffic from Great Wolf is not anticipated to fundamentally change traffic operations in the vicinity and that the existing lanes and traffic control configurations at Hwy. 74 and Aberdeen Parkway is likely appropriate to process the anticipated additional traffic.
The Pond report noted that the intersection of Hwy. 74 and Aberdeen Parkway will likely not warrant a traffic signal due, primarily, to the majority of traffic orienting to and from the north on Hwy. 74.
The report also noted that the “SR 54 Corridor Traffic Study” currently proposes a traffic signal at the intersection of Hwy. 74 and Westpark Drive, which runs parallel to and one block south of Aberdeen Parkway.
A report by Georgia Tech’s Enterprise Innovation Institute (GTEII) and entitled “Economic and Fiscal Impacts of a Proposed Great Wolf Lodge in Fayette County, Georgia” is included in the online agenda packet. The report concluded that with “nearly half a million visitor nights expected at full operation, it is estimated that the economic impact of the Great Wolf Lodge on Fayette County would be more than $75 million and would generate nearly 770 jobs across the economy resulting in more than $20 million in local personal income.”
In terms of the impact on local government and revenue generated, the report states the Great Wolf would have a fiscal impact on Peachtree City estimated at $24.4 million over the next 15 years and, in Fayette County, an estimated impact of $2.9 million.
The difference in impact between the city and county comes from Peachtree City’s 8 percent hotel-motel tax that would apply to the nearly half million visitor nights, the report said.
The report also took into account the existing contribution of Dolce Peachtree-Atlanta and the 100 people currently employed there compared to the 500 jobs expected at Great Wolf at full operation.
“In addition to the 400 new jobs that Great Wolf itself will bring to Fayette, we expect that there will more than 130 other new jobs that will result from visitor spending on food service, recreation, transportation and other retail,” the report said.
“Combined, these jobs represent nearly $14 million in new income to Fayette County. The indirect and induced impacts should generate approximately 235 more jobs with total income of about $6.6 million. Combined, given the visitor numbers, we expect that the total economic impact of Great Wolf on the Fayette County economy to be 769 new jobs, more than $20 million in new local income and more than $75 million in new economic output,” GTEII said.
Opponents of the plan have filed a petition containing more than 250 names of residents who want the water park anywhere but in the quiet, tree-filled campus of the financially struggling Dolce conference center.
Dolce and previous iterations have appealed mostly to business conference customers, while Great Wolf’s business plan is to bring in outside customers to its more than one dozen retail units that will accompany the water park component, as well as overnight guests for the indoor water park.
Though the Planning Commission was unanimous in opposition to the rezoning, City Planning Director David Rast remains a staunch supporter of the water park proposal.
The public hearing on the rezoning and variance requests will be Thursday at 7 p.m. at City Hall.
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Earlier online version —
After a negative reception by the public and the Peachtree City Planning Commission in February and after two company-requested postponements before City Council, Great Wolf Lodge of Ga. has revised its plans for some elements of a proposed water park resort.
It’s asking the council on March 19 to rezone the current Dolce-Atlanta hotel property on Aberdeen Parkway to allow reconstruction to get underway.
The sticking points may include a variance Great Wolf still wants that would allow an enclosed water slide to encroach into a protected area that buffers the commercial property from adjacent residential neighborhoods.
The water park company wants “a rezoning from GC to LUC-26 to permit the building heights as proposed as well as a variance to permit an encroachment of no more than 27 feet into the transition yard buffer to accommodate the water slide tubes,” the revised proposal says. That would bring the hotel’s height to just over 55 feet.
The revision includes adding a fourth story to a proposed hotel building but lowering the height of the enclosed water park by 10 feet, down from an initial 75-foot roofline to slightly over 64 feet, which would still make it one of the taller buildings in Peachtree City.
Great Wolf says it will be asking for no other variances.
Opponents of the plan have filed a petition containing more than 250 names of residents who want the water park anywhere but in the quiet, tree-filled campus of the financially struggling Dolce conference center.
Dolce and previous iterations have appealed mostly to business conference customers, while Great Wolf’s business plan is to bring in outside customers to its more than one dozen retail units that will accompany the water park component, as well as overnight guests for its water park component.
Though the Planning Commission was unanimous in opposition to the rezoning, City Planning Director David Rast remains a staunch supporter of the water park proposal.
Rast says the rezoning:
• complies with the policy and intent of the city’s land use plan,
• is suitable because of the site’s three-decade history of being zoned for commercial uses despite hundreds of nearby homes,
• will not adversely affect nearby property,
• permits reasonable economic use as currently zoned,
• Will not cause excessive of burdensome traffic problems, and
• there are no other circumstances that would argue against making the site a water park resort.
In his summary to the council, Rast recommends that the council approve what is in effect Great Wolf’s Plan B.
In its initial presentation, the company contended that the water park would employ up to 500 workers, compared to the Dolce’s current roster of around 100.
Likely the most attractive inducement to the council was the prospect of increased city property taxes of $108,000 and higher hotel/motel tax income of up to $1.5 million, payable to the city for its tourism programs.
The public hearing on the rezoning will be Thursday night 7 p.m. at City Hall.
Below, the iconic wolves’ heads greet visitors at other Great Wolf water parks. Photo from company’s Facebook page.
