The Peachtree City Council

Thursday night upheld an October recommendation from the Planning Commission,

voting 5-0 to reject plans for a Target store at Kedron Village.

The unanimous denial of Target

came after about an hour of orderly, timed debate from three camps: The

city, nearby homeowners and the developer.

But it sets up a legal challenge

to the constitutionality of the city's ordinance against "big

box" retailers like Target, which the developer has vowed to pursue.

The first court date is Monday.

A second round of hearings

in the developer's lawsuit against the city was already scheduled

for next week by Fayette County Superior Court Judge Christopher Edwards.

The lead plaintiff, the Faison

Co. of Charlotte, N.C., had argued that plans for Kedron Village have

always included at least one "big box" store, as shown on plans

for that end of town started years before the ordinance was put in place.

City attorneys don't necessarily

disagree to Faison's claim of "vested rights" to build

something at Kedron, but take issue with the size and scope of the rest

of the project: An additional 145,000-square feet of stores, restaurants

and offices in addition to the 125,000 square foot Target store. That

would make the shopping center the city's largest, easily outstripping

The Avenue, and require additional parking for more than 1,100 cars.

Members of the Lake Kedron

Homeowners Association have cried that enormity of the retail center would

dwarf their neighborhood, and an extension of Regents Park to provide

direct access to Target would bring unwanted traffic into their neighorhood.

Thursday night, the highway

access issue was really a secondary point.

"If you don't let

us use our property in the way we're entitled to, we intend to have

the courts determine our vested rights," declared George Rosensweig,

lead attorney for Faison. Pathway Communities, which owns the land and

is the private development company that originally built Peachtree City,

is siding with Faison.

Peachtree City's law,

adopted in 2000, says large chain stores of more than 32,000 cannot locate

anywhere in town outside a zone around the intersection of Ga. highways

54 and 74.

The city established the ordinance

after community uproar from the decision to allow the nearby Wal-Mart

and Home Depot.

A constitutional challenge

to the big box ban could have far-reaching implications. In the three

years since Peachtree City adopted its law, dozens of communities across

the nation have worked to establish similar ordinances.

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