The

City Council of Peachtree City will reconsider at

tomorrow night's regular meeting the idea of

impact fees to help fund the new county jail.

The

county approved the plan last month, and Board of

Commissioners Chairman Harold Bost came before

the City Council two weeks ago to personally ask

for the city's support.

The

county does not have the authority to impose

impact fees on homes built in the cities, and the

impact fee cannot be implemented at all unless

every municipality in the county agrees to impose

it.

Fees

per household would range from $818.88 to

$1,223.74 over a 20-year period, according to the

county's calculations. The total amount of the

bond issue for the jail is $25,107,000.

The

city will have to go through its own regular

impact fee process to approve this plan,

including the use of the impact fee committee and

the usual state approval required for adoption of

these fees, according to Mayor Bob Lenox.

The

jail has an official capacity of 86, but the

daily average occupancy right now is more than

200, Bost reported.

The

county expects it will take up to six months to

obtain final state approval, conduct public

hearings, and do everything that is necessary to

finalize the process before any actual impact

fees can be collected.

In

other matters, council Thursday is expected to

consider some changes to the city's ordinance

governing the council meetings themselves.

Several

proposed changes were discussed and agreed to in

principle by council members at the recent city

retreat.

An

amendment in development would give citizens the

right to address the council when publicly

referred to by name during a meeting. This was

proposed by Councilman Dan Tennant last month and

tabled so it could be covered during the retreat.

The

ordinance currently allows those other than

council members to speak only upon specific

agenda items. The proposed change will allow one

opportunity for citizen rebuttal.

Another

suggested change to the ordinance maintains that

Robert's Rules of Order will be used for any

matters not specifically covered by the ordinance

itself.

"The

majority of situations which will arise at the

council meetings will be handled by our local

ordinance," city attorney Rick Lindsey wrote

in his recommendation. "However, there

surely will be situations which will arise in the

future that we cannot possibly anticipate. Having

Robert's Rules of Order as the `backstop' will

ensure fairness and consistency in the meetings,

as well as protect the dignity and decorum of the

meetings."

Council

also will consider a rezoning request for a

15.81-acre tract on Ga. Highway 74 at the

southern end of the city that would allow a new

neighborhood shopping center.

The

Peachtree City Planning Commission voted March 27

to recommend a rezoning from residential to

general commercial for what has been known for

years as the Black property.

Developers

have suggested an 84,000-sq. ft. retail complex

that would be anchored by a 55,000-sq. ft. Kroger

supermarket. The total tract, more than 170

acres, was purchased by Centex Homes and a

residential development is also planned for the

remainder of the area.

Holly

Grove Road will be extended through the property

to connect with Hwy. 74 as a condition of the

rezoning. A traffic light will be erected at that

intersection. There is currently a gap of about

500 feet between the end of the Centex

development and the end of the paved portion of

Holly Grove Road.

The

Black property has been involved in litigation

for more than 10 years, since the mid-1980s when

the land was rezoned from industrial to

residential over the owners' objections. A

separate suit was filed as a result of the city's

adoption in 1997 of a new buffer ordinance.

Another

condition of the rezoning states that all

litigation must be settled or dismissed before

the rezoning takes effect. Marvin Isenberg, a

representative of the developers, said that the

Black family has agreed to a settlement and the

terms are being finalized in writing.

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