An offer to fund the relocation

of Rockaway Road so it intersects with Ga. Highway 74 at Holly Grove Church

Road wasn't enough to convince a majority of the Peachtree City Council

to grant developer Bob Adams an exemption to the city's multi-family

moratorium last week.

Adams had sought the exemption

for the wedge of land known as the "Stephens Tract" at the very

tip of Peachtree City's southern border to build a community of single-family

homes and attached townhomes or cluster homes to market to seniors and

empty nesters.

Under the city ordinance, the

attached homes are considered multifamily. Adams said he needs the extra

density to make a profit on the project, since much of the acreage is

wetlands and unbuildable.

The Tyrone developer has built

hundreds of such homes in Peachtree City through the years for the same

market, retirees who don't burden the school system, he told the

council. Some of his new-home subdivisions like Village on the Green went

up on property originally zoned for apartments, preventing the possibility

of denser multifamily housing in the city, he said.

But even though several councilmen

praised Adams for his work and said they knew him personally, they could

not be swayed.

"This is nothing about

Bob Adams," said Murray Weed. "I live in a Bob Adams home!"

But Weed continued, "There

is no such thing as being a 'little' pregnant, and there's

no such thing as lifting a 'little' moratorium."

Adams said if he could present

drawings of his project to the city for consideration, councilmen might

better share his vision for the property. But procedure in such matters

calls for getting a waiver to the moratorium before any plans can be submitted,

essentially to prevent unnecessary waste of City Hall time.

"If we can find a way

to look at this plan, that's all I want," said Mayor Steve Brown,

who's support for Adams' project was mostly hinged on the Rockaway

deal.

Weed, who is employed as city

attorney in Hapeville, said allowing Adams or any developer to circumvent

the process opens the potential for them to establish "vested rights,"

the claim that they have contributed too much time and effort to a project

to have it halted.

"This is all pie-in-the-sky,

it's all speculative," said Weed.

"Would you deny that your

property has value to you now?" Weed asked Adams.

"It's not too valuable,

no," said Adams.

"It's valuable only

if it's zoned multifamily?" Weed asked.

"To me, yes," replied

Adams.

"Then why did you buy

it?" continued Weed, with Adams explaining that his purchase was

pending the outcome of the council's decision.

"I'm handicapped

here," Adams implored, pointing out that as it is zoned now, for

industrial usage, the land can't even accommodate regular detached

homes.

"I thought the city would

be reasonable and that attached homes would not be seen as multifamily,"

he said.

But there were other issues

as well about Adams' plan, notably from the Airport Authority which

generally opposes any plans to build residences in the approaches to Falcon

Field.

The Stephens Tract is about

two miles south of the airport.

Councilman Annie McMenamin,

considering one of the final items of business in her last council meeting,

expressed discomfort about the type of housing proposed and all the things

that would surround it.

"I have the greatest respect

for Bob Adams, but it's not the right fit," she said. "I

just couldn't imagine putting seniors in that area" beneath

the airport's runway approach.

As for the Rockaway Road realignment,

"That's no consideration," she said.

"That's why I'm

asking for just the chance to present the plans," Adams said again.

But again, Councilman Steve

Rapson took the time to explain the reasons why that couldn't happen.

"There's no point in having staff go work with you if we're

just going to vote against it."

Then Rapson added, "And

I'm never going to consider lifting a moratorium just to get a road

built."

Weed made the motion to deny

the exemption request, and McMenamin seconded. It passed 4-1, with Brown

against.

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