The Peachtree

City Planning Commission met Monday night and, despite having a very light

agenda before them, got a lot accomplished.

The landscape

plan for Mucklow's Fine Jewelry on Crosstown Court, where the old McDonald's

used to be, was approved. The representative from Lorber and Associates

told the commission that the landscape will be very artsy and would look

like something in a residential area. He also informed the commission

that they would like to take over the water meter for that parcel from

the city so that more maintenance could be done with the landscape. The

landscape plan will be installed within the next two to three weeks as

Mucklow's plans to open their doors near the first of September.

After the landscape

plan for Mucklow's was approved, the commission discussed some ordinance

revisions in a workshop format. The most interesting item concerned gasoline

canopies in commercial parking lots.

City planner

David Rast felt that the restriction of gas canopies is an important issue

because area Krogers and Publixes have started placing gas canopies in

their parking lots and he isn't sure that that is something the commission

or the city would like to see. While he suggested that a task force could

look into the issue of all free standing developments in parking lots,

he also recommended a quick measure of inserting a statement restricting

gasoline sales into an ordinance. It appears that the commission will

try to get this done quickly and are having the city attorney look into

the proper procedure to get this done as soon as possible.

Another ordinance

Rast wanted the commission to look at was public notification requirements

for rezonings. Currently, Peachtree City's ordinance exceeds state requirements.

In addition to placing a sign of a public hearing near the location up

for rezoning and a legal ad being placed in a local newspaper, a copy

of the notice is sent by certified mail to all property owners adjacent

to the property as well as first class mail notifying all property owners

within 200 feet of the property. The commission will look at the issue

in future meetings but are leaning towards doing away with the certified

mail aspect because it is very time consuming for city staff.

The commission

will also look into drafting a lighting ordinance. Currently, lighting

issues are looked at on a case by case basis as they come before the commission

but because there is no ordinance some developments have added lighting

and the city has no recourse against them. The commission discussed asking

the City Council to form a task force to look into this issue. This task

force will also look into non-conforming uses as it pertains to redevelopment.

The Peachtree

City Planning Commission will meet again Monday, Aug. 11, at 7 p.m. and

there should be updates on the formation of the task force and the addition

of a statement restricting gasoline sales in commercial parking lots.