Peachtree City

Mayor Steve Brown hopes to conduct several workshops in the near future

to discuss his idea to create a sports and entertainment authority to

run the city's tennis center and amphitheater.

"This

is just to set up workshops to discuss it with various groups," Brown

said, adding that he anticipates taking no action to create such an authority.

Brown made

waves several weeks ago by recommending that the City Council take that

action, but several council members suggested it would be wise to study

the issue before rushing.

So now Brown

wants council to meet with the Peachtree City Development Authority, the

Peachtree City Recreation Commission and the Fayette County Chamber of

Commerce on the issue. The Development Authority currently operates the

tennis center and amphitheater for the city.

When the matter

was discussed at the last council meeting, officials from the Recreation

Commission complained that they weren't in the loop on how such an authority

would affect their duty of overseeing the operations of the recreation

department.

In other business,

council is expected to consider approval of an update to the city's Land

Use Plan. The Planning Commission has been working on this along with

city staff for several months.

The update

includes mostly housekeeping changes such as changing the land use designations

for parks and recreation areas from open space to recreation. Other changes

involve reclassifying the land use for completed subdivisions whose final

design mirrors a medium density or cluster layout.

One significant

land use change was for undeveloped property located at the former entrance

to the Wynnmeade subdivision. That land is currently the subject of a

rezoning application from Piedmont Properties, which is requesting it

be rezoned from residential to general commercial.

The current

land use designation for that property is commercial, but officials have

recommended returning to its previous residential land use designation:

single-family, medium density. The commercial designation for that property

was approved the last time the city updated the land use plan with the

idea that it could be used with a limited use commercial zoning, not a

general commercial zoning.

Jim Williams,

the city's director of developmental services, told the Planning Commission

that the change is necessary to prevent a type of "strip commercial

use" on the property. Williams noted that the city plans to build

a cart path bridge in the area that could connect to that property.

That tract

has always been planned and zoned for residential use, Williams said.

Also on the

west side of Peachtree City, Williams recommended changing the land use

for the Line Creek Baptist Church site from community service to commercial.

He said that the church, which is adjacent to the Home Depot/Wal-Mart

sites that are now under construction, will likely be sold in the near

future to RAM Development, which will turn the property into an outparcel

of the Home Depot/Wal-Mart site.