If you are

a member of World Gym in Peachtree City or a fan of the Taco Mac restaurants,

you have reason to rejoice. Eventually.

Cobb and Associates

came before the Peachtree City Planning Commission on Monday evening for

a workshop discussing a possible multi-building retail and commercial

development to be known as Westpark Promenade. The center, which will

be 3.6 acres, will be located between Southern Community Bank and the

Hampton Inn. It will feature a two-story World Gym with 28,000 total square

feet, a 5,000-square-foot Taco Mac and four 1,500-square-foot retail shops.

Taco Mac is

a popular restaurant chain that started in the Virginia Highlands area

of Atlanta in 1979 and has grown exponentially since then. The restaurant

is best known for its buffalo wings and extensive selection of bottled

and draft beer. The plan for the property will contain 39,000 square feet

of retail and commercial space and parking for 162 vehicles.

That is where

the red flags came up.

In the past

several meetings, members of the Planning Commission have been very outspoken

about their dislike of lots of parking spaces. Chairman Dennis Payton

told the developers proposing the Target at Kedron that he finds many

developers plan parking for the two weeks before Christmas and then the

majority of spaces go unused for the rest of the year. Dar Thompson, owner

of the World Gym, felt that the proposed number of parking spaces wasn't

excessive, though, considering the number of members he has and expects

to have by the time the doors to the new building are ready to open.

"We have

expanded five times in the past five years," said Thompson, who expects

to have 4,000 members some time in the near future. He also cited the

parking problems that the Gold's Gym on Ga. Highway 74 has experienced

because they have a lot of members and not enough parking spaces for peak

times during the day. Commission member Wes Saunders agreed with Thompson,

stating that he had seen the parking problems there and did not think

the parking projections for the proposed development were too farfetched.

Payton suggested a form of pervious parking that allowed for more spaces

but did not add to runoff problems.

As it stands

on the initial plan, the only entrance to the development is off Commerce

Drive. This caused the commission to mention the problems they had with

how cars would be driving around the parking lot. They also had concerns

with the screening of the backs of the retail shop. City planner David

Rast cited his concerns near the end of the meeting, echoing the previous

concerns about parking, screening of the parking lot from Hwy. 74 and

landscaping in front of the stores.

Cobb and Associates

will now go back and try to incorporate the Planning Commission's suggestions

into a workable plan. They will then come back before the commission and

try to get their conceptual site plan approved. If approved, they can

start building the development and eventually, people will be able to

work out in a new gym and then have dinner at Taco Mac.