Annexation of the

proposed West Village is not yet a done deal in

Peachtree City, but now it can at least be talked

about.

The City Council

voted 4-1 last Thursday night to lift the

annexation moratorium with regard to that

1,100-acre area, a move that allows city staff to

work with property owners and prospective

developers on possible scenarios for making it a

part of the city. Dan Tennant cast the lone

dissenting vote.

The council voted

3-2 in January to keep the moratorium in place,

but questions that arose after that meeting led

to Councilwoman Carol Fritz placing the matter

back on the agenda.

Mayor Bob Lenox

gave a lengthy presentation covering the pros and

cons of West Village annexation, dividing the

area into three sections and showing how various

transportation, environmental and other issues

would possibly be addressed.

Since the January

meeting, two West Village property owners applied

for rezoning, one for land already in the city

and another in unincorporated Fayette County.

"This property

is going to develop one way or the other,"

Lenox said.

The mayor

repeatedly emphasized during his presentation

that failure to annex the property would motivate

the land owners to separately pursue their own

agendas, leading to a number of disconnected

developments.

Access to the

property would be severely limited if the

property owners do not develop the land together,

Lenox said, because a "western bypass,"

such as an extended Line Creek Parkway with a

bridge over the railroad tracks near Ga. Highway

74, would no longer be possible.

One of the issues

that Lenox and Fritz found most critical as they

revisited the annexation process was the

possibility of more at-grade railroad crossings,

which Lenox called "dangerous."

Lenox also stressed

that this property could generate more than $2

million in impact fees and years of future taxes

if developed in the city, while land in

unincorporated Fayette County would bring no city

taxes and, currently, no impact fees to anyone.

(Fayette County is currently working to enact

impact fees.)

But Peachtree City

would provide emergency services and other

amenities to the property owners no matter what,

Lenox said.

The county's school

system is going to be greatly affected regardless

of how the area is developed, according to Lenox.

But a single master plan could pave the way for

land being donated to the county for an

elementary school and a middle school, and with

no land left in Peachtree City for school

construction, other development plans could lead

to severe redistricting.

Total city

population at build-out could reach 44,000 if

this area is annexed, Lenox said, a number that

is about 10,000 more than the current population,

but lower than the 80,000 estimated by the

founders of Peachtree City in 1959.

"This is the

most important thing we've ever talked

about," the mayor said.

Fritz said she

voted against lifting the moratorium in January

because she found "no compelling

reason" to approve it after hearing the

proposed developers' presentations. But

subsequent discussions about the railroad issue

and the impact on schools, as well as

environmental and other concerns, led her to

rethink the issue.

A new elementary

school will be needed because of the apartment

complex and Cedarcroft subdivision being built on

Line Creek Parkway, and a new fire station will

be needed whether new property is annexed or not,

Fritz said.

A number of local

residents spoke to the council, both for and

against the moratorium. The key issues for

everyone were traffic, school capacity and how

sewer or septic tanks would affect the

environmental condition of the area.

Tennant, the newest

member of the City Council, said that Lenox's

presentation, while impressive, presented only

one side of the story.

"If we approve

this, where do we stop?" he asked, adding

that if the moratorium is lifted, "you can

take it to the bank" that this annexation

will go through.

Tennant said that

he was elected largely because he promised to

remain against any future annexation, which he

said would bring higher density and more traffic,

benefiting a select few and not the majority of

residents.

Annie McMenamin

said just before the vote that she had previously

opposed specific plans, and while she does not

mind lifting the moratorium, she will be very

tough on any proposed plan in the future, making

certain that it makes the city better than it is

now.

Robert Brooks, who

voted with Lenox to lift the moratorium in

January, reiterated his past statements that the

city will provide services for the area no matter

what. He said that if it is not annexed, then

city residents will pay for services by way of

higher county taxes.

"My county

taxes are higher than my city taxes," said

Brooks.

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