[email protected]

Homeowners from the St. Simon's

Cove subdivision are opposing the latest plan for the Target store

at the Kedron Village retail center

because it puts an entrance to the development directly across from the

entrance to their subdivision on Georgian Park.

A vote on the site plan for

the store and 12 other buildings on the plan was tabled by the city

council Thursday night. Several council members

said they weren't comfortable evaluating the site plan because a

newly tweaked version had been submitted to them just prior to the council

meeting.

George Rosenzweig, an attorney for developer Faison Corporation, said

the changes to the plan were minimal and he wished council would vote

on the matter instead of tabling it.

He also said it wasn't right to "derail" approval of

the site plan "because of someone who wasn't a participant

in the lawsuit," referring to the suit between the city, Faison

and the Lake Kedron Homeowners Association over the site plan for the

retail stores that was later settled.

That remark drew jeers from

several homeowners from St. Simon's

Cove who were in the audience.

John Turner, who lives in

St. Simon's Cove, later said homeowners

there were never made aware of the details of the lawsuit's settlement

before it was finalized.

"This is a regional development," Turner argued. "It

is not just a Kroger with a few mom and pop shops. ... We're talking

about thousands of cars."

Councilwoman Judi-ann Rutherford said the ultimate solution to the problem

was impossible: creating a cut-through off Ga. Highway 74 for the new

commercial development. That idea has already been shot down by the Georgia

Department of Transportation, she said.

Rutherford also noted that

St. Simon's Cove residents had a chance

to get involved in the changes to the site plan, "but you chose

not to use it because you didn't think it would affect you."

Rutherford was the lone vote against tabling the matter.

The St. Simon's Cove Homeowners Association has submitted a list

of "needs" to the city regarding the site plan and other restrictions

for the area.

Included on that list are:

- Creating a 100-foot

buffer at the rear of the development;

- Restricting service

vehicle access to using Georgian Park only from the Peachtree Parkway

entrance instead of the entrance at Ga. Highway

74;

- Provide landscaping on both sides of the intersection at the

entrance to St. Simon's Cove "to minimize noise and light pollution."

- Install traffic calming

devices on the western portion of Georgian Park;

- Forbid U-turns at the intersection which accesses St. Simon's

Cove and Lifeboat Medical offices and the intersection which accesses

Georgian Park condominiums and Newgate Road.