Peachtree City Mayor Steve Brown, who as a private citizen opposed locating a Wal-Mart in Peachtree City off Ga. Highway 54 West, was the only council member in favor of rezoning a three-acre site from office use to commercial use to accommodate the wishes of the national drugstore chain Walgreens.

The chief difference in the two cases, other than the ultimate size of the stores, is that Wal-Mart had chosen a site already zoned for general commercial. In the case of Walgreens, because a rezoning was necessary, it required approval of the full City Council, which turned down the rezoning 4-1 Thursday night.

Monday afternoon, Brown defended his vote against denying the rezoning in an interview with The Citizen.

Brown said the store's impact on traffic would be "negligible," a different opinion than Councilman Murray Weed, who said the right-in, right-out entrance on Hwy. 54 would be "a deathtrap." Weed said speeding vehicles would rear-end cars that slowed down to turn into the site just after passing the traffic light.

Brown said the traffic pattern is something that could have been revisited for the site, but he didn't suggest that at Thursday's council meeting because it was clear that the rest of the council didn't support the rezoning.

Brown said his backing of the rezoning proposal came from two main factors. One, he wanted to help the church since it had contributed to the community for 30 years and ran out of room to grow. Two, the limited use commercial zoning would allow for the site to be developed with better buffering and architectural standards.

The buffer along The Highlands subdivision could have been 55 feet instead of 10 feet, Brown said. Because of the proposed berm, topped with planted trees, adjacent homeowners would be more than appropriately screened, Brown said.

"They wouldn't have even known it was there," Brown said of the Walgreens store.

Brown said he found a Walgreens building in Roswell that would have been architecturally acceptable here, but he didn't push the issue before council because it was clear that other council members wouldn't support the rezoning.

Brown said he was also distressed that he couldn't "open a dialogue" with residents in The Highlands so they could see how the development could have looked.

In Thursday night's meeting, most citizen supporters of the church were church members who espoused the numerous ways in which Christ Our Shepherd gives