By Robert Howard | The City of Peachtree Corners is considering approving a request for rezoning and variances from creek setback requirements for a project called “Twin Lakes” at their next City Council meeting on March 15 at City Hall at 7 p.m.
Conceptual drawing of Twin Lakes proposal. Click to enlarge.
This project would allow construction of a wine and spirits store and a gas station on the east side of Peachtree Parkway at Engineering Drive with a signaled intersection and roadway connecting to Technology Parkway. The project would also build an exclusive gated apartment complex on the south side of Technology Park Lake with 295 units designed for millennials.
Let me urge the City Council to deny the wine and spirits store and the gas station creek setback variance because of the permanent loss of a city natural resource required for the filling and piping of 500 feet of a tributary of Crooked Creek. Additional damage to the creek would result from the construction of the roadway between Peachtree Parkway and Technology Parkway along the creek.
This action would set a precedent for the city, as the first approval of piping a significant part of a city stream. The stated benefits are the construction of approximately 2,000 feet of a proposed multi-use trail for Technology Park and a small public access dock on Technology Park Lake. Additional benefits from the wine and spirits and the RaceTrac gas and convenience stores would largely accrue to Johns Creek commuters on Georgia Highway 141, or Peachtree Parkway.
The second part of the project is a 295 unit apartment complex to be located on the south side of Technology Park Lake. Although millennial housing is needed in Technology Park, the project is proposed to be an exclusive gated community. Such a development would preclude development of a walking path around Technology Park Lake, the largest and most feasible public access lake in Peachtree Corners.
In addition, this apartment complex would be the first project to use the new city Trails and Open Space (T&O) zoning, whereby a developer may acquire density credits for donating land or easements for trail or open space use. This is an excellent tool to obtain access for public uses but could allow full 13 density credits/acre for restricted development lands such as floodplains, gas easements, sewer easements and lake. Future use in this manner could cause unnecessarily increased populations and densities in Peachtree Corners.
I urge the City Council to condition the zoning approval for the apartment complex to require construction of a walking trail along the property lake front. Additionally, they should provide future public access to this trail should the remainder of a public trail circling the lake or linking the multiuse trail to Technology Parkway South along the southern bank of the lake be approved by the Council for construction.
Secondly, I urge the Council to only allow 113 density credits for proposed T&O rezoning because of the significant proportion of the proposed T&O lands having developmental restrictions. The 113 density credits are sufficient to construct the proposed apartment complex.
My concern is that we are giving the same number of credits to lands that have significant developmental restrictions (creek, lake, floodplain, gas easement, sewer easement) as we give for fully developable lands. I don’t want to see too much additional density, just higher quality developments that add to a higher quality of life for Peachtree Corners.
(Editor’s Note: If a developer donates land or provides public easement, they will get density credits that can be used to add density to another development. They can develop a density credit bank and can sell those credits to other developers. If you have R13 zoning, if approved, you can put 26 units on the land if you use 13 density credits. The more you accumulate, the higher density you can expect to be allowed.–eeb)
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