Peachtree City shrunk by about 800 acres over the weekend.
On Friday, the Georgia Court of Appeals ruled null and void the May 2007 annexation of two large tracts located in the city's northwestern reaches.
The land in question is owned by John Wieland Homes and Brent West Village. The two developers received city council permission three years ago to extend MacDuff Parkway and develop over 1,000 residential units on just under 800 acres of newly-annexed land in what was to be the final major residential development in the now mature 51-year-old city.
Some of the housing units were age-restricted, designated for seniors only.
After the city council approved the plan, Peachtree City resident and attorney David Worley challenged the validity of the rezoning and annexation in court.
After losing in Superior Court, Worley appealed. The State Appellate Court has released a 3-0 summary judgment in his favor. The court also issued an injunction against the city for any actions flowing from the void annexation -- effectively killing the MacDuff Parkway extension and any work planned on the site.
"As a taxpayer of Peachtree City, I did not think the original annexation was in the best interest of the city," Worley explained in a telephone interview Monday.
"When I saw that it wasn't done correctly, I challenged it in court."
While Worley's original complaint included six counts dealing with both the annexation and rezoning process, his successful appeal centered on the one count challenging the legality of the annexation itself.
Worley claimed that the original annexation created an unincorporated "island" of county land surrounded on all sides by municipalities. The city contended that the land in question was already an "island" because it was bordered by Peachtree City, Tyrone and unincorporated Coweta County. The city claimed that the annexation did not create an island, but merely shrunk an existing one.
In his decision, Georgia Appeals Court Judge A. Harris Adams wrote, "We conclude that the original tract of land in this case was not a preexisting unincorporated island, and therefore, the May 3, 2007 annexation created an unincorporated island, which was prohibited by [Georgia Code]."
Thus, the court said that the city overstepped its authority by annexing the Wieland and Scarborough land, because doing so closed off the remaining unincorporated land's border with unincorporated tracts across the county line in Coweta.
Mayor Don Haddix said Monday that "The ball is now in the developers' court."
"Our perspective on this whole issue has to be reevaluated," Haddix said.
"I don't think the city will appeal to the state Supreme Court, but we don't know where the developers stand."
The developers have ten days to announce whether or not they will challenge the appellate court's ruling.
No current member of the Peachtree City council was involved in the original annexation.
After Worley brought his original legal challenge, the city annexed the alleged unincorporated island, known as the 14 acre Hardy and Kidd Tracts, on November 6, 2008. That incorporation was not addressed in this decision and therefore legally remains part of Peachtree City.
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