and By MICHAEL

BOYLAN

[email protected]

More than 600 Peachtree City

residents have signed a petition against plans for a 265,000-square foot

addition to Kedron Village Center and have hired an attorney who specializes

in zoning matters to fight the project, which they say threatens the quality

of life for the whole city.

Tim Wedemyer, chairman of the

opposition group calling itself "The Committee for the Responsible

Development of Kedron Shopping Center," said they will consider filing

a lawsuit if the city and developer ignore their concerns.

The Peachtree City Planning

Commission is scheduled to act on the conceptual site plan for Kedron

Phase II and III at its Monday meeting, 7 p.m. in City Hall.

Anyone interested in attending

the meeting is advised to get there early. At previous meetings where

this issue came before the commission, parking at the City Hall complex

and seats inside were scarce.

Wedemyer said the group isn't

necessarily opposed to the Target store, a "big-box" retailer

that otherwise would be outlawed under a 2000 city ordinance. But because

the long-range master plan for Kedron was approved years ago, there isn't

much that can be done to stop it out right, city officials have said.

Instead, the opposition lies

is the size and scope of the entire project, which Wedemyer said will

be the largest retail center in the city when complete, with more than

400,000 square feet and 1,652 parking spaces.

"We all knew a shopping

center was going to be there, but what is being proposed is signficlantly

larger than anything else and is going to stress the infrastructure of

Peachtree City," he said.

In comparison, The Avenue is

168,000 square feet with 725 parking spaces, while the Home Depot and

Wal-Mart development covers 360,000 square feet and has room for 1,516

cars.

"This proposed center

on this property is significantly larger than anything else that has ever

been proposed on this property," said Wedemyer, agreeing that he

and most of his neighbors were aware that a Phase II of the center would

be built eventually, but not this large.

The only previous proposals

for the remainder of the shopping center property called for 185,000 square-feet

of retail space, Wedemyer claimed.

Traffic studies conducted by

the developer, and confirmed by the city's own independent analysis,

said Wedemyer, indicate the Target and adjacent new stores will generate

at least 4,000 new car trips per day on Georgia Parkway, a connector route

Ga. Highway 74 North and Peachtree Parkway that provides exclusive access

to hundreds of homes. Peachtree Parkway alone will see an increase of

nearly 3,000 daily car trips, officials predict.

"And there are those who

believe the traffic study is conservative," Wedemyer said.

The neighborbhood group has

come up with two suggestions to at least improve the traffic concerns:

Make Newgate Road, now a deadend cul-de-sac off Georgia Parkway, the main

entrance into the complex instead of Regents Park, and allow one-way in,

one-way out northbound access directly off Hwy. 74.

There are other items on Monday's

agenda, including the conceptual site plan for the Westpark Promenade

development, which is supposed to feature a new World Gym and a Taco Mac.