Through the magic of Photoshop, the Peachtree City Planning Commission got to look at several different color schemes Thursday for the original Kedron Village shopping center.

Then reality took hold as a Kroger official laid out two choices: proceed with the current black paint job, or go back to the hemlock green color the complex initially had.

Kroger, the largest tenant in the shopping center, is undergoing an interior renovation and now has approval from the commission to go with a black paint scheme. The project had been well underway about a month ago when city officials placed a stop work order on it since the color was not part of the palette approved for the shopping center.

The commission had hoped to consider a variety of choices, but Kroger decided there wasn’t enough time before its grand opening to change to a third different exterior color.

Planning Commissioner Patrick Staples said he thought between the black and hemlock green that the black was “superior” though he had hoped to look at several different options.

“I do think had we collaborated we could have come out with a better solution,” Staples said.

Commission Chairman Marty Mullin said he still liked the black color instead of the green.

“I’m against the hemlock green quite simply because we need to improve that,” Mullin said.

Staples said he was concerned about the precedent that would be set by approving a color that was not in the initial plan for the shopping center, but said he wouldn’t hold up the project by voting against it.

Commissioner Theo Scott said he was concerned about the black color fading over time, and City Planner David Rast said that could be addressed by code enforcement.

Rast noted that the Kedron Village paint crews were doing the job properly including a priming of the surface and applying several coats of paint, steps that haven’t always been taken when other shopping centers in town were repainted.

The commission voted 3-0 to approve the color change to black. Two of the five commissioners were not present at the meeting.