Construction will begin within

a few weeks on three commercial structures already approved along Ga.

Highway 54 West, now that the Peachtree City Council has given its formal

endorsement to a new set of design guidelines for the future of the corridor.

After a series of meetings

with the city's Planning Commission that stirred little interest,

City Planner David Rast was happy to see a room full of curious residents

when the council held a workshop session to discuss the proposal on Jan.

15.

Immediately afterward, the

council voted to approve the 30-page document as long as it was understood

that any the guidelines could not be applied elsewhere in town without

going back before the council for approval.

A Tires Plus retail outlet

and a Washington Mutual branch office will flank a third building housing

several unnamed "upscale" eateries planned for the graded land

along the north side of Hwy. 54, from the Chevron convenience store to

McDuff Parkway.

And more projects are waiting

in the wings, said Doug McMurrain, project coordinator for RAM Development,

which built Home Depot and Wal-Mart and owns most of the commercial parcels

north of the highway.

A number of private owners

hold rights to the land south of Hwy. 54, but none of them expressed serious

opposition to having he guidelines imposed on future use of their property,

Rast said.

Likewise, there was little

criticism from residents about establishing an "overlay" district

for about 1,000 acres west of Hwy. 74 and north of Clover Reach to the

city limits above Wynnmeade.

The district "overlays"

the existing zoning for the area but provides much more detailed regulations

about what development can look like, right down to the shade of brick

used for accents to the type of lighting and color of awnings.

Rast described the purpose

of the guidelines as filling the gap left when Peachtree City Development

Corporation, now known as Pathway Communities, backed away from wholesale

development of large sections of the city 10 years ago.

For years, PCDC was trusted

to conceive of development and enforce design concepts as it best saw

fit, with council approval.

But no such "father figure"

has existed for about a decade, and as the city nears build-out, individual

land owners have had freedom to develop or redevelop their property however

they liked, as long as the plans were within city ordinances.

Rast told the crowd that the

guidelines are intended to help steer development along the heavily traveled

highway toward something more efficient, attractive and appropriate than

what is there now: A hodgepodge that includes automotive businesses, big-box

retailers, a storage facility, the entrance to the city's Tennis

Center, the Days Inn motel and a church.

The plan was developed over

a period of about two years with the help of a voluntary citizen's

advisory group, made up largely of residents of the Planterra Ridge and

Wynnmeade sections of town who were recognized at the meeting last week

as well.

RAM has a contract pending

to buy about seven more acres from Line Creek Baptist Church, which is

relocating to Coweta County.

A church secretary said the

church continues to wait for the state Department of Transportation to

complete final right of way negotiations before the deal can be signed.

Commercial redevelopment along

the highway is proposed to coincide with the four-lane expansion of the

strip of highway, from Hwy. 74 across the county line.

Another widening project got

under way on the Coweta County side last week, with the DOT clearing right

of way for Hwy 34 from Fisher Road to Thomas Crossroads.