Charged with analyzing what

Mayor Bob Lenox called "one of the most important

decisions this city is ever going to make," the

Westside Task Force met for the first time last week to

lay the groundwork for what should be three or four

months of intensive study concerning annexation issues

for the proposed West Village.

The task force is charged

with giving City Council a recommendation on whether it

should annex the 1,100-acre area just north of the

current city limits and work with property owners to

master-plan its development.

"This is one of the

most complex subjects I've ever looked at," said

Lenox. "The members of this committee will play a

major role in determining what this city looks like for

the next 100 years."

The City Council recently

lifted its annexation moratorium with regard to the West

Village, at which time Lenox began assembling a diverse

group of citizens to look at all of the possibilities

relating to that area.

Members present at the

first meeting were Phyllis Aguayo, Jim Barber, Liz

Bunker, Dennis Chase, Debbie Condon, Cele Eifert, Dan

Fields, Willis Granger, George Kadel, Chuck Lehman, Mayor

Bob Lenox, Jerry Peterson, Jim Steinbach, Todd Strickland

and John Williams. City staff members present were city

manager Jim Basinger, city planner David Rast, and public

information specialist Betsy Tyler.

Lenox said the task force's

goal is to have a presentation ready for the City Council

arrived at by consensus, like what was accomplished by

the Walt Banks/54 task force last year. Included in that

presentation would be the group's complete rationale for

whatever decision is made, with all of the pros and cons,

as well as any conditions that may be needed.

So far, no one has made an

official application for annexation.

The group is starting with

a map that has only the outlines of the various parcels

included in the 1,100-acre site and names of the property

owners. "We're starting with a clean slate,"

said Lenox.

The task force could ask

the same firm that designed the original master plan for

the Walt Banks/54 corner, now being developed as

Lexington Commons, to come back and put something

together for this area, if it is deemed appropriate.

There is a sliver of land

on this site that is already in the city limits, zoned

industrial. The surrounding county land is zoned

agricultural the county's land use plan currently

envisions two-acre lots for the area, Lenox reported.

The West Village site is

landlocked by Peachtree City, Tyrone and Fayette County.

All of the land is west of the railroad tracks, with no

direct frontage onto Ga. Highway 74.

The task force will meet at

least once every two weeks, if all goes as planned. With

such a large group, Lenox does not expect every member to

be present every week, but all members have expressed a

desire to be involved as much as possible.

The next meeting is set for

Tuesday, April 4, 5 p.m. at City Hall. All meetings are

recorded and open to the public.

Lenox stressed that nothing

the committee says or does can be held against the

members legally. Annexation is arbitrary by law, and

applicants for annexation have no legal recourse.

Annexations set no legal

precedents, Lenox added, and the city cannot legally put

an annexation proposal on the ballot for a referendum or

conduct a straw poll.

"You're going to know

more than you ever wanted to know about this subject by

the time we're done," the mayor told the task force

members.

He said that he expects

some members are leaning one way, while some are leaning

the other way, and that's how it should be. But no one

should have his or her mind totally made up, or it

betrays the process, he added.

"There's only one

member of the council who already knows the answer,"

he said. While he did not name that person, Councilman

Dan Tennant cast the lone vote against lifting the

annexation moratorium.