Members of the steering committee for the Peachtree City Comprehensive Plan Update on Jan. 10 met with staff from the Atlanta Regional Commission (ARC). The committee echoed the sentiments of citizens at a December open house, suggesting that the city sustain the current course of action in the future rather than instigating transformative leaps.
The meeting included a review and discussion pertaining to the public comments from the Dec. 8 open house, a discussion on the city’s Future Land Use Map and Character Area Map and the schedule for completing the comprehensive plan update.
ARC staff members Allison Duncan and Katrina DeBerry on Jan. 10 met with a half-dozen steering committee members. The steering committee was unified in the belief that the city should “celebrate the village concept,” even though more recent arrivals to the city might not be as familiar with that concept as being central to the city’s development over time.
“A common thread we keep hearing from residents is that they love (the Peachtree City concept) but they are not sure how to maintain it,” said Duncan.
When it comes to future changes to the city, the overarching suggestion of the steering committee was to keep with the city’s current course of action rather than embarking on transformative leaps that might alter the city’s vision.
Duncan and DeBerry in reviewing the public open house participation noted that all 16 respondents voted to keep the city current vision. Though a very small percentage of the city’s overall population of more than 35,000, the respondents at the Dec. 8 meeting gave their input on the vision and goal category areas.
The city’s vision reads, “To promote our status as a pre-eminent planned community by enhancing and strengthening our comprehensive plan to enrich and improve the quality of life for our residents; the educational, recreational and cultural resources for citizens of all ages; and, the technical and physical resources for our businesses and industries, while embracing the preserving greenspace, aesthetics and the overall character of the community.”
The major goal categories at the Dec. 8 open house included multiple items dealing with transportation, housing, land use, community aesthetics, commercial and economic development.
Given that public input overwhelming approved of the current direction in the category areas, the discussion by the parties at the Jan. 10 meeting concluded that the optimum outlook for the city would be to stay the current course and deal with emerging issues as they arise.
We need to be good stewards of what we have and only change the city’s concepts after thoughtful consideration, the committee concluded.
“People were saying make sure we can sustain what we’ve got,” Duncan said in summation of the 19-page report based on public input from December.
Based on the Future Land Use Map and Character Area Map, both of which outline the village concept and where future development could occur in a city that is essentially built-out, city Planning Director Mike Warrix suggested that the group recommend to the City Council that they look at current land uses, such as the industrial-zoned areas, to determine if there is a use that should change.
A second public meeting on the comprehensive plan will be held on Feb. 7, followed by a steering committee meeting on March 7. The committee will have a joint review with the council and with the planning commission at a later date followed by the plan’s transmittal to the Ga. Department of Community Affairs for review. The council is expected to adopt the plan in June.
