The status of the Wal-Mart/Home

Depot retail project on Ga. Highway 54 west near the Planterra Ridge subdivision

will be discussed at Thursday night's Peachtree City Council meeting.

The project has been re-evaluated

deadline of the original assessment had passed. The latest evaluation

indicates the project will still pass the muster of the city's traffic

ordinance, according to a memo issued to council in advance of the council

meeting.

In that memo, city engineer

Troy Besseche said one new mitigation project will be added to the slate

of traffic improvements RAM Development must fund to meet the traffic

ordinance. That project will involve adding a right turn lane for eastbound

traffic turning onto Huddleston Drive. The lane will begin 200 feet west

of the entrance to Planterra Ridge, Besseche said.

Because The Avenue at Peachtree

City shopping center had opened nearby since the original traffic assessment

was conducted for Wal-Mart/Home Depot, there was potential for the project

to fail the second assessment, Besseche noted.

Councilman Dan Tennant had

requested the matter be put on the agenda, and the discussion was postponed

from the previous council meeting.

The traffic ordinance requires

traffic estimates to be supplied for developments in the Hwy. 54 west

corridor.

Those estimates are used to

determine whether the development in question would degrade the level

of traffic service in the area. If so, the developer must fund traffic

improvements to maintain the current level of service unless it is determined

that none of the proposed improvements would keep the level of service.

Concerned about traffic in

the area, council has approved a list of short-term road improvement projects

in the area. Some of those projects are also on the master list of projects

RAM is responsible for regarding the Wal-Mart/Home Depot site. RAM has

pledged to reimburse the city for those costs in the event the city goes

ahead with the projects, so long as all the permits are received for the

retail center.

Back

to News Home Page |