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At the last city council meeting on September 7, there was a public hearing for an annexation and large development on 52 acres outside the city limits at Stagecoach Road. That’s the same dirt road Peachtree City agreed to pave in order to access the new J.C. Booth Middle School. The current annexation proposal would have up to 29 homes.
The real estate developer tried to get this property annexed into Peachtree City at least once before. On October 1, 2020, the City Council voted on an annexation and development application for the exact same property. The past and current requests are very similar.
The 2020 proposal for the 52 acres called for two separate residential building areas; one connecting to Spear Road, the other to Stagecoach Road; linked together by a golf cart path crossing Camp Creek. To see the application go to pages 25 through 31, at this link.
The 2020 annexation request was so bad for the city that even Mayor Vanessa Fleisch, Councilman Mike King and Councilman Terry Ernst voted to deny the request (Phil Prebor and Kevin Madden voted to approve it).
That denial was quite a feat because the Fleisch-led city council was in favor of almost every harmful development proposal, including The Great Wolf Lodge, Calistoa apartments at the end of the local airport runway, the Livable Centers Initiative to replace the Tennis Center with apartments, and building apartments on other city park sites as well as Huddleston Road. All of those proposals were defeated due to the onslaught of citizen participation and angry opposition to such bad plans.
Fast forward three years and we’re having our “deja vu” moment in Peachtree City, as the same annexation resurfaced. Not even the new coat of polish on this plan can hide all the pitfalls and negative impact it will have on our city and citizens in perpetuity.
The Peachtree City Planning Commission held a Public Hearing on August 14. Angry citizens voiced their opposition to the non-productive and costly proposal. The Planning Commission voted unanimously to deny the request.
It appears that Mayor Kim Learnard and lame ducks King and Prebor want the annexation despite the pleas from angry citizens, and the denial by the Planning Commission. The three voted to postpone the council vote until a future meeting. Are they hoping the delay causes fewer angry citizens to attend? After all, it’s so much easier to go against the will of your citizens when they aren’t there redressing their grievances to you. Guess again, we’ll be there!
This annexation has no benefit for Peachtree City. The projected Peachtree City property tax revenue that the development would bring in will fall way below the cost of providing the city services to the site. Unfortunately, we always have to force our city council to vote for the benefit of our city and our citizens. Why is that? Maybe that’s what happens when we elect people who don’t truly share our values and goals.
I have been working along with others to try to kill these real estate developer windfalls at the expense of the local citizens for several years. We are tired of seeing tax increases and sales tax revenue being diverted to service annexed real estate developments that do not adhere to our land plans and serve no purpose other than lining the pockets of the landowners and developers.
What motivated me to run for City Council was being able to put an end to the constant line of damaging development proposals and annexations. The best way to put a stop to it is to overturn the majority of council members who want to build the very dense neighborhoods on our borders, and apartments throughout the city. That, along with encouraging the right type of technology and industrial growth will benefit the city and citizens the most.
It looks like they want to pass this annexation before the election in November, so it can’t be stopped by the next council members.
Tell the city council we are tired of paying more for dense unproductive development proposals and they need to deny this annexation.
Here are their email addresses:
Suzanne Brown
Peachtree City, Ga.
[Brown is a candidate for Post 2 Peachtree City Council in this year’s city elections.]
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