A local church's

plan to expand and relocate has triggered some

debate among nearby residents about what, if any,

guidelines should be set for locating churches in

Peachtree City.

The First United

Methodist Church announced at Monday night's

Planning Commission meeting its intention to

purchase 63 acres at the intersection of Robinson

Road and Old Stagecoach Road for a new campus,

and residents on adjoining properties are not too

pleased at the prospect of what they think could

ruin their quality of life.

A conceptual site

plan unveiled at the meeting showed how the

church could eventually have a sanctuary, a

family life center, two ball fields and an

outdoor amphitheater on the proposed site.

One resident who

spoke out in opposition said that, while he

thought churches are of great benefit to the

community, he felt a church was fairly assured of

getting almost any type of request approved by

the city simply because it's a church.

It was pointed out

churches and their locations was studied in

detail a couple of years ago and nothing was

changed. Under the current ordinance, a church is

considered a conditional use and can legally be

located in any zoning classification in the city.

A measure was introduced to restrict where a

church could locate, but it was defeated.

While members of

the commission recognized and were concerned at

the scope of the Methodist Church's plan, board

member Willis Granger mentioned that the church's

request is legal as presented.

"This is

probably the largest piece of property I've seen

presented since I've been on this board in three

and a half years," said board member Wes

Saunders.

Most complaints

from residents focused not on the proposed

sanctuary itself, but on ancillary facilities

such as the ball fields and the possibility that

they could have lights. Several people said that

the idea of nightly activities long after dark is

not what they had in mind when they moved to this

area, which they still consider quiet and rural.

Also under attack

from one resident were the recommendations from

city staff, which he felt were not definitive

enough. "There's too much `may' and `could'

and `should,' and not enough `must' and

`will,'" he said.

The chairman of the

church's building committee presented the plan,

along with an architect retained by the church.

They reported that the church now has 2,000

members and typically has 1,000 in attendance on

a given Sunday.

A contract on the

land in question is to be signed in August, but

it would be two years or so before any ground was

broken, the building committee chairman said,

since a major capital fund-raising campaign would

have to begin at the first of the year.

Board chairman

Julian Campbell Jr. said he thought the plan

should have been more detailed at this stage,

particularly what phases the development would be

divided into and when they would commence. He

specifically mentioned traffic studies. The

proposed church would be close to Holy Trinity

Catholic Church, which Campbell said has 2,500

families in its congregation, and that could

create problems on weekends, he said.

After some

discussion, it was agreed that the church would

table its request for approval of the conceptual

site plan until the July 12 meeting.

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