The Fayette County Commission

has won a legal battle with Pathway Communities, which wanted court approval

for a 500-home subdivision on 364 acres north of Peachtree City on the

Fayette-Coweta county line.

Superior Court Judge Johnnie

L. Caldwell has ruled the zoning imposed by the county commission, which

would allow 98 lots, was appropriate in part because of the affect the

property would have on public health, safety and welfare because the property

would be served by an at-grade crossing over the CSX railroad tracks.

Caldwell also ruled that Pathway

failed to prove the zoning was financially detrimental to the development

of the property. Caldwell's order also pointed out that 103 acres of the

parcel would be undevelopable because it is in the flood plain. The land

is adjacent to Peachtree City in what has become known as the West Village

area, a reference to a now-discarded annexation proposal.

Prior to the lawsuit, the commission

had rezoned the property from agricultural-reserve to R-70, which requires

a minimum size of two-acre lots after Pathway officials asked the county

to rezone the property for R-40 zoning, which would have allowed minimum

lot sizes of one acre each.

Pathway had also contended

that the county's zoning ordinance and comprehensive growth plan was unconstitutionally

exclusionary of affordable housing, but Caldwell ruled that was not the

case.

After the trial, Caldwell had

attorneys for both sides prepare orders in their favor. Caldwell chose

to adopt the order written by county attorney Phil Grant as his final

judgment in the case because it "most closely and most accurately

reflects both the testimony offered to this court and the law of this

state as it applies to the evidence before this court," Caldwell

wrote.

During the two-day trial before

Caldwell in April, Pathway attorneys presented witnesses contending that

it would be financially difficult to develop the property under the R-70

zoning because of unique challenges to the property's location. The subdivision

will require an at-grade crossing over the CSX railroad tracks to reach

Ga. Highway 74, and that would be expensive, developers argued.

Grant said Fayette County did

not have a zoning classification to allow 500 units on the 364-acre parcel.

Pathway officials indicated in the suit that they planned to have the

development served by Peachtree City's sewer system because of a previous

agreement which grants the company access to 500 tap-ins to the system.

Peachtree City's sewer system

was once owned by a predecessor of Pathway Communities.

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