The

Peachtree City Planning Commission has

recommended that the City Council deny a rezoning

request for the Katz property on the northwest

end of Peachtree City.

John

Wieland Homes had asked that the zoning of the

101-acre tract be changed to general residential

from general industrial. The company recently

reduced the number of homes proposed for the

property from 400 to 300.

City

staff had recommended the rezoning be approved

with 10 different conditions, one of which would

have provided a 20-acre school site to the Board

of Education on adjacent property that's in the

county.

But

in the end, the school issue helped cinch the

Planning Commission's recommendation to deny the

rezoning. Jerry Whitaker, the director of

facilities planning and land acquisition for the

Board of Education, said the relief of

overcrowding at local schools hinges on the

passage of a $65 million bond referendum in

November.

"If

the bond issue doesn't pass, we're looking at

double sessions," Whitaker said.

Whitaker

explained that the portable classrooms used to

handle the county's growth won't be a viable

solution for much longer because the students

still use indoor school facilities such as the

cafeteria and restrooms.

He

added that the school system could use the

20-acre school site, and there are plans to add

another school north of Peachtree City.

But

when the Planning Commission began to discuss the

rezoning proposal, several commission members

expressed hesitancy about whether the rezoning

would hurt the school system even though a school

site was included.

"I

just feel like our city and county are not ready

to service it," said commission member

Robert Ames.

Rich

Schumacher said he, too, hesitated to compound

the city and county's current problems by

approving an additional 300 homes in the city.

Commission

Chairman Wes Saunders was the only member to vote

in favor of the rezoning, which failed 3-1. The

matter will be taken up by the City Council at

its Sept. 20 meeting.

Dan

Fields of John Wieland Homes said the subdivision

would be marketed to empty nesters, young

professionals and some families with a starting

price range around $200,000 per unit. He also

said the proposed density of three units per acre

is consistent with the city's land use plan.

The

lengthy list of conditions recommended by the

city's Planning Department included allowing a

maximum of 350 homes to be placed on the 101-acre

tract and the additional 80-acre tract that lies

just outside the city limits. Attorney Doug

Dillard questioned whether the city could

actually enforce that guideline since the 80-acre

site is not under the city's jurisdiction.

Another

condition added at the meeting Monday night was

for banks to be constructed at the railroad

tracks to contain a potential derailment.

The

city also wanted the MacDuff Parkway to be

extended all the way through to the property's

northern end so later on the area could be easily

reached by emergency personnel once the land

north of the Katz property is developed.

The

city also would have required a traffic study and

a sound and vibration study to be performed, with

extra measures taken to reduce the sound and

vibration coming from the railroad tracks that

border the Katz property to the east.

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