An annexation request for a 4.3 acre tract on the east side of Peachtree City could be the first steps in pulling in the area surrounding the Publix shopping center.
At its last meeting of the year, the Peachtree City council gave the go-ahead to begin the first steps in the annexation application process to a local business, Foot Pain, LLC, whose owner wants the 4.398-acre Peachtree Professional Center tract on SR 54 E near Sumner Road drawn into the city limits. The recently completed 46,000-square-foot building and parking area is currently within the unincorporated county and is zoned Community-Commercial and designated as COM Commercial on the county’s land use map. Owner Chuck Ogletree wants to be able tap into the city’s sewer system, since he’s currently on septic.
“We can complete what we’re doing on the septic, but we would prefer to have access to the sewer system and we felt it was advantageous to ask for the annexation,” he said. “I think it’s an asset to the city, too. We’re a known entity and we will be there whether
annexed or not. We will add to the city’s tax digest and not being a drain on city services.”
In 2004, the city repealed its moratorium on annexations and initiated a two-step process for review and consideration of annexation requests. The first step is to present the information to the council, which then decides if the process can move forward.
Residents in the surrounding Sumner Road area weren’t completely convinced.
Resident Iris Salzman said that she had no objection to the building. At one time the owners wanted access to Sumner Road, but that wasn’t given when the building was initially erected. With the annexation request, Salzman was concerned the city might consider that now. She was concerned about the safety of residents with the increase in traffic if the access was granted and with the fact that trees would be taken down and not be replaced.
“That was the natural buffer between
Sumner Road and the parking lot,” she said.
Additionally, her husband, Al Salzman was concerned that if the property was hooked up to the city’s sewer system, that would mean residents in the area would be forced to be hooked into it.
Mayor Don Haddix noted that the city could not force residents to hook up.
“When the economy recovers, we are going to see people seeking annexation,” he said. “Peachtree City has tighter requirements and I’d love to see that entire triangle brought in so we could deal with it. We’d have better landscaping, signs under Peachtree City requirements and the area would conform to Peachtree City, not the county.”
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