The lawsuit brought against

Peachtree City by a developer wanting to bring a Target and other stores

to Kedron Village finally gets its day in court Feb. 24.

A hearing is scheduled in Fayette

Superior Court in three weeks to consider two of the three points raised

in Faison Inc.'s challenge to Peachtree City's "Big Box"

ordinance, which places strict limits on where retailers the size of the

proposed Target store can locate in the city.

Faison and property owner Pathway

Communities, formerly the developer of Peachtree City, filed the suit

against the city last fall, claiming a vested right to build nearly 265,000

square feet onto the present Kroger center at Kedron and extend an access

road from Regents Park connecting the commercial center to Georgia Park.

City attorney Ted Meeker doesn't

dispute Faison's claim to extend Regents Park, which was included

in the original proposals for the area drawn up in the early 1990s. But

he does dismiss their "vested rights" claims to erect the Target

despite the city's ordinance banning "big box" retailers

outside of certain zones.

Faison claims as evidence a

letter written to another proposed developer in 2000 by then-mayor Bob

Lenox promising that the ordinance wouldn't apply to Kedron Village.

Meeker said the letter is worthless.

"The mayor and city staff

cannot promise anything on behalf of the city," Meeker said.

Further, Meeker dismissed Faison's

contention that the ordinance doesn't apply to Target because the

Minneapolis-based retailer will actually own its building. The city ordinance

specifically forbids "leases" to large retailers, a moot point,

Meeker said.

Several hundred homeowners

in that area have protested the plan since it first went public in August.

If built as originally designed, the project would become the largest

shopping center in the city, easily outpacing The Avenue or Braelinn Village,

city officials admit.

Tim Wedemyer, an officer with

the Lake Kedron Homeowners' Association, said his group filed a "motion

to intervene" in the case in late December, essentially signing on

as co-plaintiffs with the city and forcing them to take some action in

the case.

Wedemyer said their main concern

remains that part of the plan that expands the Regents Park-Georgia Park

intersection so that it becomes a major access point for the Target and

other stores.

"There are thousands of

citizens in Peachtree City who are looking at this case and who expect

the city to defend their laws and regulations in regards to the 'big

box' ordinance," he said. "We don't know that the

city is not going to defend it, but these citizens have the right to know

they're interests are taking care of."

If a judge can't rule

on the case based on the first two points, Meeker said Faison indicated

in a letter sent to the city in November that they will amend their original

complaint and challenge the constitutionality of the ordinance itself.

"We intend to get the

entranceway and tenant-owners questions settled on the 24th," said

Meeker. "After those are settled, we will get together and see if

we can agree on the other" to avoid the constitutionality issue.