The Peachtree City Council can meet in executive session to discuss the

site plan for the Kedron Target and other retail stores, but not with representatives

of the development company or a nearby homeowner's association present,

a judge ruled Friday afternoon.

Fayette Superior Court Judge Christopher C. Edwards enjoined the meeting

after a court hearing to resolve a suit filed by The Citizen challenging

the meeting, which was to take place at 6 a.m. Monday morning.

Georgia law allows cities to conduct closed session meetings to keep attorney-client

communications intact. But in his ruling in favor of the newspaper, Edwards

said having representatives of Faison Corporation, Peachtree City Holdings

and the Kedron Hills Homeowners Association waives that attorney-client privilege.

Therefore, Edwards said, a meeting with outside parties must be held in

public under the Georgia Open Meetings Act.

"There is no doubt that democracy is difficult," Judge Edwards

said in issuing his ruling.

Laurel Henderson, an attorney representing Peachtree City, argued that a

face-to-face meeting between all the parties was deemed necessary because

the negotiations using attorneys as go-betweens hadn't been fruitful.

"I know you want to hash it out, but I don't think the statute

authorizes that," Judge Edwards said.

Henderson said the city council wouldn't vote on anything brought up

in the closed session and she added that the council did not ask for the

meeting. She didn't elaborate on whether the meeting was sought by Faison,

the homeowner's association, or both.

"The city is trying to act in the public interest," Henderson

said.

Henderson unsuccessfully argued that Georgia's statutes on mediation

allow for such negotiations to be conducted in private. She also said the

state's open meetings law makes it hard for a city to conduct its legal

business.

Judge Edwards is also presiding over the pending suit over the Target plan.

The judge added that there are other ways for the city to continue its negotiations

with Faison Development and the homeowner's association.

After the hearing, Peachtree City Manager Bernie McMullen said the council

would still meet at 6 a.m. Monday to discuss the matter with its own attorneys

in closed session.

The Target store, at 125,000 sq. ft., will be part of a third phase retail

expansion of the Kedron Village shopping center. The development has been

dragged out in court with the nearby Kedron Hills neighborhood taking part

in the legal fray to protect the interest of those homeowners.

Another nearby subdivision, St. Simons Cove, has taken umbrage at some of

the "solutions" that were devised during lawsuit negotiations to

meet the needs of Kedron Hills homeowners. St. Simons Cove homeowners protested

the changes to the Target plan at a city council meeting, but they were not

involved in the original lawsuit, which began when developer Faison Corporation

complained the city failed to vote properly on its plan for the expansion.

The suit is still pending as the parties have tried to work under a consent

order that everyone agreed to earlier this year.