The Peachtree City Council's plan to use a secret meeting with attorneys

for a shopping center developer and a homeowner's association to negotiate

design changes for the new Kedron Target store was closed down Friday after

a legal challenge from The Citizen.

Fayette Superior Court Judge Christopher Edwards ruled that the law allowing

government agencies to hold closed (secret) meetings for litigation purposes

is to preserve the secrecy of attorney-client communications, known as privilege.

would no longer be protecting its attorney-client privilege and therefore

could not meet in closed session and still comply with the Georgia Open Meetings

law, Edwards ruled.

Edwards granted The Citizen's request for a temporary restraining order

to keep the council from meeting in private with anyone other than attorneys

who represent Peachtree City, elected officials of Peachtree City or "employees

of Peachtree City who have an attorney-client relationship to Peachtree City's

attorneys due to their employment by Peachtree City."

Although city officials originally planned to hold the meeting with council

and its legal representatives only, the Monday meeting slated for 6 a.m.

was ultimately cancelled.

Laurel Henderson, an attorney representing Peachtree City, argued in a court

hearing Friday that the secret meeting with the city council and the outside

attorneys was needed since negotiations back and forth through the attorneys

hadn't proven fruitful.

A "face-to-face meeting," it was hoped, would help settle the

outstanding issues, Henderson told the court. She also argued that another

Georgia law controlled the matter, one that requires negotiations on mediations

to be conducted in secret.

Not allowing a secret meeting between all parties unfairly handcuffed the

city in its ability to handle the legal matter, Henderson said.

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

said in ruling against the city.

The negotiations are to help settle issues raised in a lawsuit filed against

the city by developer Faison Corporation. The Kedron Hills Homeowners Association

was allowed to also join the lawsuit to protect the interests of its residents.

During Friday's hearing, Judge Edwards denied a motion from Faison

attorney George Rosenzweig to join the lawsuit filed by The Citizen over

the secret meetings.

Rosenzweig argued he needed to protect his client's interest, but Edwards

noted that Faison isn't subject to Georgia's open meetings law

since it is a private entity, not a government agency.

Edwards is also presiding over the lawsuit about the Target plan, which

would also add more retail stores to the Kedron Village retail center in

a third expansion of the shopping area. The Target store will be 125,000

sq. ft.

The initial concessions on the development plans drew criticism from residents

in St. Simons Cove, another nearby subdivision that was not party to the

lawsuit. They have complained to the council and produced a list of changes

they'd like to see made to the plan.

The lawsuit between Faison and Peachtree City is still pending as the parties

try to reach concessions under a consent order agreed to earlier this year.