and J. FRANK LYNCH

[email protected]

Are Fayette's municipalities staging a land grab?

That's the question the County Commission ponders almost monthly

with annexation requests coming rapid-fire from Fayetteville. Now it appears

an unlikely challenger, Peachtree City Mayor Steve Brown, is advancing

from the west and wants more land to call home.

Annexation has gobbled up more than 700 acres of undeveloped land in

the county since 2000, said county senior planner Pete Frissina.

Fayetteville leads the charge with 460 acres annexed, while Tyrone has

annexed 175 acres and Peachtree City 80 acres, said Frissina.

Last week, Brown asked a developer who wants to build a subdivision in

the unincorporated county on Spear Road and Ebenezer Road to hold off

on his proposal until he could determine if the land would be better served

annexed into Peachtree City.

Even though Peachtree City has a moratorium on annexations, Brown is

pursuing the matter this week. As of Tuesday afternoon, it was still on

the agenda for Thursday's 7 p.m. council meeting.

"This isn't your normal annexation request," said Brown

over the weekend. "It's actually decreasing the density that

the city already has zoned in that area."

Indeed, estate lot zoning in the vicinity of Camp Creek Estates inside

Peachtree City are minimum three acres. Platinum Ridge, the proposed subdivision,

would be a minimum of five acres.

Developer Rod Wright wanted 48 acres of the more than 200 acres de-annexed

from Peachtree City into the county, so all the property could be in one

jurisdiction. One of the tracts, owned by Pathway Communities, straddles

Camp Creek, which serves as a natural eastern city limits for the city.

A representative appearing for Wright at the Jan. 5 Peachtree City Council

meeting said the primary concern for the proposed 36-home subdivision

involved fire and police response, as well as sewerage disposal.

Peachtree City homes are generally tied into the city's sewer system,

while in the unincorporated county homeowners rely on septic.

Concerns for the Camp Creek watershed, which flows into the Flint River,

are also worth considering, Brown said.

"It makes sense for one jurisdiction to manage the conservation

of Camp Creek," said Brown, calling the waterway one of the "most

polluted tributaries in the Flint River basin."

Brown and Dunn have battled over the annexation issue before.

"It doesn't surprise me because I understand Brown is working

with the developers on the West Village project," Dunn said, referring

to a 900-acre tract of land wedged between Peachtree City, Tyrone and

Coweta County.

Countered Brown, "Greg Dunn battles you on annexations because usually

they involve a rezoning for higher density, and with the county it's

always a density issue."

Brown, who seemed genuinely puzzled that Dunn would oppose the annexation

based on density, admitted the benefit to the city will be financial:

Building permit fees, impact fees and ultimately, property taxes and services.

"The taxes are the same, whether it's in the city or county,"

Brown said. "But if somebody is going to be paying taxes for services

on a $700,000 house, they might as well get something for it."

Years ago, when annexation laws were established, Dunn said people used

common sense in using them to bring property in municipalities because

of services they could provide and the county could not. But the laws

didn't take into account the high growth the Atlanta region was going

to experience, and the eagerness of many municipalities to grow their

tax base.

"Today, the services offered by the cities and the county are the

same, with the exception of sewer," Dunn said.

In looking over nearly five years of annexation requests, the commission

chairman said you can usually find a common thread.

"No developer will want to annex into the city without increasing

density," he said.

The county regularly looks closely at annexation requests, and objects

to them, but their hands are tied because the state law favors municipalities.

"Until the state law changes, all we can do is object and watch,"

Dunn said.

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