As

expected, developers of the planned apartment complex to

be located on Line Creek Parkway dove headfirst into the

city's recent traffic debate at Monday night's Peachtree

City Planning Commission meeting.

At issue

was a suggested condition to the approval of the

conceptual site plan for the 399-unit complex, requiring

Summit Properties to "demonstrate that the

development of this project will not have a negative

impact on the existing level of service within the Ga.

[Highway] 54 corridor."

Summit

representatives noted that any development of the

property, which is currently barren land, could be

construed as having some type of negative impact on

traffic, but that is not the issue, they added.

What was

also objectionable to Summit was the fact that

"negative impact" is difficult to define.

"What does `negative impact' mean?" asked

attorney Doug Dillard, representing Summit.

Dillard

repeatedly told the Planning Commission that, as a matter

of law, this project must be considered according to the

ordinances in effect when the application was made, and

any traffic ordinance or other action taken in the near

future cannot apply to the apartments.

Pointing

out that apartments were approved for the site several

years ago as a result of a court settlement concerning

the property, Dillard said that more than $5 million has

been spent to get the development process going and

Summit will help the city in any way it can as long as it

does not stop development.

Bill Brown,

a regional vice president for Summit who handled the

initial purchase of the property, reiterated Dillard's

comments about his company's commitment, saying that

Summit has already paid sewer fees in advance, among

other expenses.

"The

city committed to let us build apartments," he said.

"We've done what we are supposed to do. This is not

a new plan. This is not a surprise."

Brown said

that because of prior agreements between Summit and the

city and the settlement, the project should be exempt

from the proposed condition concerning traffic.

There were

other concerns besides traffic, however. One local

resident addressed the commission about his concerns for

the effect of water runoff onto the nearby Wynnmeade

subdivision, and the owner of a nearby piece of property

also had water concerns.

Planning

Commission members had some trouble coming up with the

exact language they wanted for approval of the project.

Jim Finney

suggested eliminating the controversial condition and

replacing it with one that was also discussed at the

meeting, addressing engineering and hydrology. Unrelated

to the traffic issue, that condition and the other seven

were fine with Summit.

Willis

Granger said the wording in the traffic condition should

be changed from "negative impact on the level of

service" to "decrease the level of

service," referring to the letter grades given in

various traffic studies. He said that the Planning

Commission should not eliminate this point completely,

but should follow the City Council's direction and

address it.

Granger

made a motion based on his suggestion, but it died for

lack of a second. Finney then made his motion, which was

seconded by Wes Saunders, but the vote was 2-2.

Granger

then suggested changing the wording in the condition to

require the applicant to comply with the city's proposed

traffic ordinance, if and when it is adopted. Dillard

emphatically stated that there was no way his client

would agree to that.

Finally,

Finney moved to approve the plan, with the condition that

information from Summit's independent traffic study be

included in the ongoing Dames and Moore study covering

the entire corridor. Saunders seconded, and it passed

3-1, with the lone dissenting vote coming from Geraldine

Holt, who was sitting in her final meeting as a member of

the Planning Commission.

Construction

on the apartments should take 18 months from start to

finish, according to a Summit representative. The company

plans to own and operate the complex on a long-term

basis, as it does with other properties in the metro

Atlanta area.