"We

were disappointed in the outcome," said

Pathway Vice President Jerry Peterson. The

commission's action "had no relationship

with the protection of the public health, safety

and welfare," said Doug Dillard, lawyer for

the company.

He

said he is preparing a lawsuit charging that the

action was unconstitutional, and hopes to file it

within "a couple of weeks."

The

company wants to build 172 homes on 364.7 acres

on the northern border of Peachtree City. Because

much of the property is in the Line Creek flood

plain, the homes would be on one-acre to 1.5-acre

lots.

The

County Commission voted 3-2 to approve a zoning

category that would allow about 118 homes on

two-acre lots. The land previously was zoned A-R

(agricultural-residential), which would have

allowed about 47 homes on five-acre lots.

Commissioner

Linda Wells voted against the action, arguing for

a straight denial of Pathway's request.

Commissioner Glen Gosa voted against the motion

for the opposite reason. He argued for approval

of one-acre lots as requested, saying failure to

do so would cause the county to wind up in court.

Commissioner

Greg Dunn, who made the motion to approve

two-acre zoning, said he believes the decision

was a fair one. "My motion is within our

current, accepted land use plan," said Dunn.

The

land use plan calls for lots of one to two acres

for the area, and while Pathway's request is

within that window, so is the two-acre zoning

that was granted, said Dunn.

Prior

to bringing its request before the commission,

Pathway had filed a constitutional challenge

stating that failure to approve its request would

be unconstitutional.

But

Dillard said the commission's decision to reduce

the number of homes allowed was "arbitrary

and capricious. What was the rationale?" he

said. "I know Commissioner Dunn was trying

to strike a compromise, but there was no reason

to arbitrarily reduce the number of units."

Nine

residents attended the commission meeting to

register their opposition to the Pathway

proposal, and three of them addressed the

commission.

Concerns

included the fact that an old landfill known as

the Peach Pit is next door, environmental

concerns over use of septic tanks next to Line

Creek, the usual traffic and school concerns, and

the fact that there is only one entrance/exit for

the proposed subdivision.

Dillard

said the company sufficiently answered all those

issues.

Further

complicating the issue, a task force in Peachtree

city is studying the idea of annexing the

property as part of a 1,200-acre proposed West

Village.

Commissioners

pointed out that their decision will be moot if

the city decides to go forward with the

annexation plan. And the city's provision of

sewer service probably would mean higher density

than Pathway's current plan calls for.

"There's

still a potential that no matter what we do

today, this property would still be annexed and

developed at a greater density," admitted

Dunn. But he argued that commissioners should

base their decision only on the information in

front of them.

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