Peachtree City's outside display ordinances and temporary use permit

restrictions are tough. How tough are they? They are so tough that until

Monday night, when the Peachtree City Planning Commission gave a verbal O.K.

to representatives from Cousins Properties, several outdoor events scheduled

to take place by the gazebo at The Avenue would not be able to take place.

Angie Leccese, vice president of retail marketing for Cousins Properties,

gave a presentation to the Planning Commission Monday, describing what the

proposed events were. Her hope and the hope of city planner David Rast was

that the commission would see that these events were not what the ordinances

were trying to prevent and that they could then work to create guidelines

to allow these events to occur.

Mission accomplished.

Among the events mentioned in the presentation were a European Market at

The Avenue, scheduled to be held Saturday, Nov. 20. The market will feature

between 28-32 10x10 white tents, each with a vendor that has a demonstration

component, such as a flower vendor with a floral display class. There will

also be strolling entertainment. The European Market will also take place

at the other Avenue locations in Georgia and if it is successful it is hoped

to be a quarterly event.

Other events that were discussed were a Farmer's Market, that if it

was popular would run for two hours, one Saturday every month; Art in the

Avenue, with art from local students; Taste of the Avenue, with sampling

from the restaurants in the Avenue and a celebrity chef; an antique car show,

a summer movie series and a summer concert series. None of those are set

in stone, but it was important for Cousins properties to let the commission

know what types of events they were planning and to show that they don't

go against the reason the ordinances were established in the first place.

Members of the commission were very supportive of the ideas and gave their

verbal endorsement of the European Market to take place this November.