Developer withdraws plan for smaller 34-home subdivision on school site
A planned vote on a 204-home rezoning off MacDuff Parkway was postponed Monday by the Peachtree City Planning Commission because of a problem with the sign on the parcel that advertised the meeting.
Also Monday it was announced that the same developer, John Wieland Homes, has withdrawn a smaller 34-home rezoning proposed for a nearby 17-acre tract that was originally set aside for an elementary school that was never built.
As for the larger tract, Monday’s meeting again focused on traffic the development will bring to MacDuff Parkway and Ga. Highway 54. Wieland wants the 208-acre tract rezoned from general industrial to residential use. The site borders the CSX railroad track and also is the location of the former “Peach Pit” construction debris landfill.
The city is expecting results in coming weeks of a traffic study that will recommend improvements to Ga. Highway 54 West, and several commissioners indicated they would prefer waiting until that information is available before they vote on the matter. But Wieland Vice President Dan Fields said the company is under time constraints so a vote from the commission is necessary as soon as possible.
The commission’s vote will be one of recommendation only as the final say rests with the Peachtree City Council.
The peak-hour traffic in the morning for the 204-home subdivision is projected at 153 cars, and in the afternoon peak rush hour it’s expected to add 206 cars to the roads, Fields said. If the property remains general industrial, it would have an expected peak both in the morning and afternoon of more than 800 cars, Fields added.
Fields also noted that the subdivision is projected to add more than $1 million a year in property taxes to the city, but several residents asked what would be left after the city’s costs of providing police and fire services.
The 204-home subdivision would be age-targeted for residents 55 and up with price points north of $300,000 and the 34-home subdivision would not be age-targeted but would have price points upwards of $450,000, Wieland officials have said.
Fields said Wieland is anxious to start construction on the extension of MacDuff Parkway not just for this proposed development but also for its existing homeowners in the Centennial neighborhood. The complicating factor is that Wieland shares responsibility for road construction with developer Brent Scarborough.
Fields said he has been told that Scarborough may be close to an agreement with a developer for his annexed parcel, in which case both companies could proceed with building the MacDuff extension, which will reach Ga. Highway 74.
One of the main frustrations for residents in Wilksmoor Village is that the only way in and out of their subdivisions is one intersection on Hwy. 54. The MacDuff extension would improve that by linking up with Hwy. 74 at north Kedron Drive, but some residents Monday questioned whether the road extension would serve as an aggravation by allowing cut-through traffic for Coweta drivers also seeking to avoid the clogged artery of Hwy. 54 West during peak commuting times.
The Wieland-Scarborough link came from a 2007 annexation during the administration of then-Mayor Harold Logsdon that added 750 acres to the city limits north of the current terminus of MacDuff Parkway. To insure the road is completed prior to the homes being sold, the City Council at the time required that no certificate of occupancy would be issued for either annexed tract until the road and bridge were fully built.
