By DAVE HAMRICK
dhamrick@thecitizennews.com

The Village, a 110-acre mixed-use development planned for Ga. Highway 54 at Tiger Trail, has been delayed again.

Developers Bob Rolader and Brent Scarbrough will have to go through yet another month of Planning Commission scrutiny of their plan before taking it to City Council for final approval.

Rolader last week asked the commission to rule on his rezoning request, but commissioners said they want to see a traffic study first.

“I think we have a super effort here to revitalize downtown Fayetteville,” said Rolader. “We think it's a great project,” he said, adding that City Council endorsed the overall concept almost a year ago.

“We've done lots and lots of work on this project,” he added.

Commission member Allan Feldman agreed that the plan has been through the ringer. “This is a dog we can't even recognize anymore it's been beaten so much,” he said. But he is concerned that plans for three traffic lights and a central parkway in The Village, designed to move traffic off Hwy. 54, might not be enough to mitigate the additional traffic the development will bring, he said.

“I would like to see some expert put his signature on a statement that this is going to be viable,” he said.

Commissioners voted unanimously to table the request until the March round of meetings.

By the time the rezoning request reaches City Council, there's at least a chance that the zoning category the developers have asked for will actually exist.

The Planning Commission voted 4-1 to recommend creation of the PCD (planned community district) zoning category, designed to allow developers greater flexibility in arranging mixed uses on large acreage, with increased city control over the finished product.

Commission member Joe Bruschetti voted against creating the new category, without comment.

With plans for 203 homes, plus a retail square, offices, a hotel and parks on their 110-acre site, Rolader and Scarbrough have applied for the new category.

City Council will have first reading of the ordinance creating PCD zoning March 6, with plans to vote on the proposal March 20.

The rezoning application for The Village will be on the agenda for a Planning Commission work session March 14, with plans to vote March 28.

If the commission takes a vote then, the proposal goes to City Council April 3 for first reading and April 17 for a vote.

City officials have high hopes for the project. The city actually hired and paid a consultant to master-plan the tract, one of only two 100-plus-acre parcels left in the city limits, in hopes of coming up with a plan that would bring more residents into the downtown area, plus contribute to a pedestrian environment and an upscale atmosphere.

With tree-lined streets, garages that face onto rear alleyways rather than onto streets, parks scattered throughout, plans to save large areas of mature trees and “neo-traditional” homes that will sell for a minimum of $175,000, Rolader said he believes the plan will accomplish the city's aims.