As background, in a 3-2 vote Council abandoned parts of Line Creek drive
and Circle to enable a larger development on the site. They also allowed
planning for development that requires Special Exceptions to build Big
Boxes and more footage than our Big Box Ordinance allows outright. As in
39,000 and 42,000 square feet when the cap is 32,000 per building and
175,000 total feet when the cap is 150,000. So the site is big and dense
for its actually size.
So why allow extras when Peachtree City has many years worth of empty
retail space? How can it make sense?
If not the total reason a big reason is the budget. As we all know the
economy is way down, thus our city income is way down as well. So,
building footage increases the Tax Digest and collects some one time
fees plus adds property tax collection, thus helping the budget in the
short term.
The problem with this is that without increasing the consumer base,
meaning more people spending money in Peachtree City, there are no
increases in sales. So we end up with more empty retail space because
businesses cannot operate unless they make enough profit. As well
infrastructure and service costs to Peachtree City increase while there
is no gain to our largest revenue source, sales tax, thus those short
term budget gains turn into long term losses.
Put the simplest way, we gain some short term money at a long term loss
by adding empty buildings to Peachtree City.
Please remember, the Shoppes at the Piazzas, next door to this site, is
currently under construction and adding a lot of new space as well.
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