Wants to skip next Thursday’s water park rezoning hearing for a future meeting to be announced Monday
After getting buffeted with a public outcry and a unanimous 5-0 vote against their requests for rezoning and variances at the Feb. 9 Peachtree City Planning Commission, Great Wolf Lodge is asking for more time before presenting their case to the City Council.
Facing an uphill battle before the council — four of whom attended the Feb. 9 hearing — Great Wolf executives want some breathing room.
“At the applicant’s request, staff is recommending that the public hearing to consider this request be continued,” wrote the city’s Senior Planner David Rast Friday.
“We are anticipating receipt of a specific meeting date request no later than close of business on Monday, Feb. 16, and will forward this information to City Council such that the meeting date can be included with the [council’s] motion to continue,” Rast wrote in the pre-meeting packet posted online at the city’s website Friday afternoon.
Such a request is not uncommon, especially if the rezoning applicant is changing the original plan to respond to objections made at the earlier public hearing — which might be the case here.
The request to continue, if approved by the council, allows the applicant to go back to the drawing board in hopes of producing a proposal more likely to draw a majority of votes on the council. The revamped proposal would not have to go back before the planning commission.
A continuance also means the project will not face a denial next week, which would bring into play a mandatory one-year moratorium on refiling for any zoning change to the Dolce property on Aberdeen Parkway.
The public hearing was scheduled for Feb. 19 before the Peachtree City Council on a rezoning request by Great Wolf Lodge Family Resorts to establish a facility on the site of the Dolce Atlanta-Peachtree Hotel and Resort on Aberdeen Parkway off Ga. Highway 74.
The city’s Planning Commission on Feb. 9 voted unanimously to recommend that the rezoning request be denied.
At the conclusion of the meeting that lasted nearly four hours and after hearing from nearly 30 residents opposed to the request, the vote by the commission was unanimous to recommend that the City Council deny the rezoning request that would have the 38.4-acre property rezoned from GC (general commercial) to LUC (limited use commercial).
Offering their perspective on the request, planning commissioners just prior to the vote cited concerns over the proximity of neighboring residences, setback requests that encroach into the buffer areas, the need for additional parking, stormwater issues and questions about the traffic study and estimated tax revenues as reasons to recommend that the rezoning request be denied.
As for comments from the public, it was the variance requests, along with other issues such as stormwater runoff, increased traffic, noise pollution, light pollution, decreased property values and not having Peachtree City become a tourist destination, that drew substantial comments from residents opposing the rezoning.
Also at the meeting, Great Wolf representatives Alex Lombardi and Rodney Jones were joined by Brian Rochester, of Rochester and Associates, in answering a number of questions posed by residents.
Asked why Great Wolf chose the Peachtree City location so far off the expressway, Lombardi said the company considered a number of factors such as the overall demographics of the area in a 180-mile radius, the site and accompanying acreage and the proximity to market areas. Lombardi some Great Wolf locations are not along expressways, adding that some are located in urban areas while others are more remote.
Responding to a question about problems with teenagers on the property and out of the reach of parents who might go to bed early, Lombardi said the only teenagers are with their mom and dad and younger siblings since Great Wolf caters to children ages 2-12.
Asked about noise coming the facility infrastructure, Jones explained the water park facility set-up that is contained inside a three-floor “bunker building” constructed of concrete. He said noise has not been a factor with any of the company’s other facilities, including those in Boston and Grapevine, Texas, which are situated near residential areas.
Rochester offered a take on the 38-acre property currently occupied by Dolce, one he said seemed to be glossed-over by many.
“The property is zoned GC and is for sale. This is the part that is key,” Rochester said, adding his belief that the contentious part of the Great Wolf proposal for neighbors is the water park feature.
In terms of potential projects for the site if the City Council fails to approve the rezoning, the GC-zoned property is already zoned for nearly 75 different uses under the zoning designation. A sampling of those permitted uses that could not be turned down by the council include amusement centers, bars, restaurants, donation centers, automotive maintenance businesses, car washes, convenience stores and a large variety of other retail and office uses. Properties to the west and south are currently zoned commercial while properties to the north and east are zoned residential.
Rast in his report provided a detailed review of the history of the 38-acre site that included the original rezoning to GC in 1981 to permit the development of the property as the location of a Pitney Bowes training facility.
Regulations relating to the 75-foot transition yard buffer that is a sticking point for Preston Chase residents of the north side of the property, and a source of the a variance request, were adopted in 2009.
Regulations relating to the stream buffer ordinance were adopted in 2009, Rast said.
The proposal by Great Wolf Lodge of Georgia LLC requests the rezoning of the 38.4-acre property from GC (general commercial) to LUC (limited use commercial) to redevelop the property. In addition to the indoor water park and hotel, the application states that the property will include specialty restaurants, arcades, spas, fitness rooms and children’s activity areas.
Great Wolf Lodge currently operates 13 family-oriented, all-suites water park resorts. The only facility in the Southeast is located in Charlotte, N.C.
Great Wolf is proposing to operate a family-oriented destination resort operating from 8 a.m. until 10 p.m. each day which would include 398 guest rooms and a total of 173,615 sq. ft. of entertainment, retail, restaurant, meeting and support space.
Beyond the existing hotel and conference center buildings spread throughout the 38-acre property, Great Wolf is proposing to add a 54,800 sq. ft. indoor water park connected to the current conference center, a three-story hotel on the north side of the site, increased parking, two additional stormwater ponds and a possible patio off one of the existing restaurants.
In terms of the economic benefit to the city and county, Great Wolf said property taxes are estimated to total $108,000 while hotel/motel taxes are expected to generate $1.5 million. County property taxes are expected to total $433,000 while county and state sales taxes are estimated at $1.7 million.
Elements open to the public at the Peachtree City site would include the Bear Essential retail store, Buckhorn Exchange retail store, Northern Lights Arcade, Howlywood XD Theatre, Bear Paw Cafe, Hungry as a Wolf Pizza, MagiQuest live-action virtual gaming, Howl at the Moon mini-golf, Ten Paw Alley bowling, Loose Moose buffet restaurant, Wood Fire Lodge Grill, Dunkin Donuts, Scoops Children’s Spa, a ropes course and meeting rooms.
The resort is projected to employ up to 500 people during peak operating times. Dolce today employs 99 full-time equivalents.
The Great Wolf narrative stated that user demographics typically project five persons traveling from a distance of 200 miles by automobile and staying an average of 2-3 days.
As for the Dolce, there has been a recent change.
Wyndham Hotel Group, a subsidiary of Wyndham Worldwide, announced Feb. 2 it had acquired Dolce Hotels and Resorts, a leading provider and manager of group accommodations with a portfolio of 24 properties and over 5,500 guest rooms across seven countries in Europe and North America, for $57 million in cash, according to a company press release.
Dolce Atlanta-Peachtree currently operates the facility that includes 236 rooms and 65 meeting rooms in 178,593 sq. ft. of convention center space along with swimming pools, restaurants and tennis courts.
Contacted last week, Wyndham Worldwide Vice President for Marketing and Communications Michael Valentino said there are no current plans for any changes in the operation of the two Peachtree City hotels.
“This acquisition (of Dolce properties by the Wyndham Hotel Group) will have no immediate impact to any existing hotel in either the Dolce or Wyndham portfolios. The Peachtree hotels are independently owned franchised properties, and we look forward to growing the Dolce brand in the U.S. and around the world,” Valentino said.
The property on which Dolce is located is owned by Chicago-based Leeward Strategic Properties, Inc. Constructed in 1984, the current fair market value of the property and buildings is $8.155 million, according to the Fayette County Tax Assessor, down from the $30 million sale price in 2007. — Additional reporting by Cal Beverly.
