Change would reverse a decade-old go-slow policy
Peachtree City for more than a decade has used a two-step annexation policy. But on Oct. 6 the Peachtree City Council agreed that city staff should adjust the process and return with a proposal that would give planning staff additional early input and allow the city to market itself to potential annexation candidates. Staff will likely return with recommendations before the end of the year.
Step 1 in the current process provides a general overview of the proposed annexation and identifies how the annexation and proposed development may or may not be compatible with the established goals within the city’s Comprehensive Plan. The information is initially reviewed by city staff and then forwarded to council for review.
If the council approves, the second step moves the process forward and the property will go through the annexation process that requires additional detailed information pertaining to the annexation request and the proposed development.
Step 2 provides city staff the opportunity to work with the applicant to develop a detailed analysis of the proposed annexation, a schematic master plan of the proposed development and a more informed recommendation that will ultimately be considered by the Planning Commission and City Council.
The days of the two-step annexation process might be numbered, as the council on Oct. 6 agreed with staff that the process be adjusted to give staff the ability to work with annexation applicants from the beginning of the process.
To that end, Councilman Eric Imker suggested, and the council agreed by consensus, that the process include a Step 1A in keeping with the current process and a Step 1B to enable staff to become more involved and make a recommendation prior to the Step 2 review and approval process by the Planning Commission and City Council.
Another aspect of the council’s thinking, something the current process does not permit and what staff is recommending, is for the city to be able to market itself to property owners for potential annexation.
City Manager Jim Pennington during the discussion said staff are sometimes asked why the city doesn’t approach property owners with adjacent property to consider coming into the city.
Pennington said the current ordinance prohibits such interaction and has done so for a number of years. It appears to stem from a previous time when the city was in a high-growth mode and, subsequently, in a no-growth mode, Pennington said.
Citing an example, Pennington said the city the today cannot approach property owners, such as the owner of the Publix property on Ga. Highway 54, because the current process prohibits it.
The discussion pertaining to the adjustment of the annexation process came with another topic for future discussion — one that could result in the city identifying contiguous areas that might be suitable for annexation in the next 20 years. Pennington said the topic would be pertinent given that the city’s 20-year Comprehensive Plan must be updated in 2017.
