A rezoning

proposal for a 124-home subdivision on the southern edge of Peachtree

City on Ga. Highway 74 was denied unanimously by the City Council Thursday

night.

Several council

members said the 125-acre site should remain zoned for general industrial,

particularly because members of the city and county development authorities

were worried about losing that property from the industrial park.

The potential

impact the subdivision might have on adding more children to the school

system was also a factor since schools serving that area already house

students in trailers.

"I'm very

concerned about overcrowding schools," said councilman Dan Tennant.

"The people

I know don't like to have their kids in trailers," said councilman

Steve Rapson.

Developer Marvin

Isenberg said the school board plans to build new schools in the area

that would more than accommodate the students generated by the subdivision.

He added that the school board has not protested the rezoning.

While the plan

also included two commercial outparcels off the highway totalling over

six acres, the developer also committed to realign Rockaway Road so it

would intersect with Hwy. 74 at the current traffic light for Holly Grove

Road.

The Planning

Commission had recommended approving the rezoning, and city staff supported

it also. City Planner David Rast said while the last land use plan update

didn't have any recommendations for the property, it was previously planned

for a single-family medium-density project.

But Rapson

said the commercial outparcels were "in stark contrast to the land

use plan recommendations."

"Part

of the reason Peachtree City is still a wonderful place to live is because

of following the land use plan," Rapson said.

Rapson pointed

to the Wilshire Pavilion retail center across the highway and noted it

has not been fully developed yet, with three outparcels not developed.

The commercial parcels for the proposed subdivision would cause a lot

of traffic to cross the highway, he added.

Tennant said

he didn't support the rezoning because it allowed a higher density than

Wilshire Estates, the subdivision directly across the highway from the

proposed subdivision.