Starting in the fall, some McIntosh High School students will have to find a better place to park their golf carts.
The hope is that the school will be able to add about 60 to 80 new spaces by paving some additional parking area before the new school year starts, city officials said.
The Peachtree City Council Thursday approved the first-ever “no parking” area along a cart path. City staff showed photos of a cluster of golf carts, a few parked with two wheels still on the path, leaving a narrow opening for other carts to get through.
There were also photographs of litter in the area as well.
Scott Simon, who lives near the McIntosh practice field, told council that golf carts would go through his backyard, some driving through trees and others over his plants.
“We have tried to be flexible with the school, knowing that they have a problem,” Simon said.
Al Yougel of Keep Peachtree City Beautiful said that section of path “was atrocious” for litter.
The measure was approved over the objections of Councilman Doug Sturbaum, who wanted a written commitment from the school system that the project would indeed be completed in time for this school year.
Haddix said one issue exacerbating the golf cart parking problem at McIntosh is some students didn’t want to spend the money to purchase an on-campus parking permit.
“When that lot is not done, they’re going to park in the same place,” Sturbaum said. “… And we’ll be promoting deviant behavior. My mind’s not going to change on this.”
Councilwoman Kim Learnard said even if the school is unable to construct the additional parking, the city still should not let students park off the paths near the school.
Sturbaum preferred to delay a decision until the parking lot was in place. But by acting now the city and the school will have plenty of time to educate students before the off-path parking ban goes into effect, said resident Robert Brown, who lives near the school.
City staff has recommended to school officials that each golf cart permit be assigned a number designated to a given space, so even if the student is late to school, their space would still be available.
The use of off-path parking instead of the school’s on-campus parking lot worsened earlier this year, Simon said, when students were no longer allowed to park in the nearby Lexington Circle shopping center because it is private property.
