A proposed rezoning of 5.8 acres near the northwest corner of Ga. Highway 74 South and TDK Boulevard to establish a hotel and a commercial outparcel was recommended for denial on April 8 by the Peachtree City Planning Commission. Next stop for the rezoning request will be the City Council.
The vote to recommend denial of the rezoning request was 3-0.
The request would have the property rezoned from General Industrial to Limited Use Commercial.
The 5.8-acre property is situated on the northwest corner of Hwy. 74 South and TDK Boulevard and to the rear of the Pit Stop and Wings ‘N’ Things stores. Those businesses are also owned by Hyde Investments.
The family also owns approximately 15 acres immediately to the northwest of the property. The two are separated by the private Widget Drive.
Project representative Nathan Dockery said the Hyde family has legal standing to develop the property for commercial uses based on the outcome of a former lawsuit against the city.
Property co-owner Michael Hyde told commissioner he believed he had a vested right to have the property rezoned from General Industrial to Limited Use Commercial to construct a 107-room Hilton Home 2 Suites hotel and a commercial outparcel given that the court ruled in 2007 that the zoning parameters were ambiguous, leading to the construction of the Pit Stop. Hyde Investments has owned the property since 2003.
Hyde said his family won the ability to construct the Pit Stop and had always planned to develop the current site commercially. Construction on the Pit Stop began in mid-2007, with the opening in mid-2008.
Then-Superior Court Judge Paschal English in November 2007 granted a summary judgment on behalf of Hyde, noting that several commercial businesses had been operating in the General Industrial district for a number of years. English in the ruling said the city “failed to offer a sufficient explanation as to why the restaurants and businesses … have been allowed while Plaintiff’s business has been denied all the necessary permits.”
Hyde said the city changed the zoning requirements in 2008, thus negating the ability under the current ordinance to develop the property commercially. Hyde maintained that his company had a vested right to develop it in that manner.
City planning staff in the report for commissioners said, “Prior to 2008, the city’s zoning ordinance allowed some commercial uses in the industrial zoning districts. The intent of the re-write of the industrial zoning districts in 2008, as stated in the ordinance, is to protect undeveloped areas suitable for industrial uses and to discourage encroachment by other uses that may adversely affect the industrial users.”
City planning staff subsequently recommended denial since the requested rezoning does not conform to the city’s current land use map.
Planning commissioners agreed, saying they based their recommendation to deny on the current comprehensive plan zoning requirements for the property.
“We’re here to rule on whether it complies with current requirements,” said Chairman Frank Destadio.
Mike Hyde after the meeting said since 2002, he has received no inquiries from the former Peachtree City Development Authority, the Fayette County Development Authority to develop the property for any industrial uses.
The rezoning request is expected to be heard by the City Council.
