By DAVE HAMRICK
dhamrick@thecitizennews.com

A Superior Court hearing is set for March 17 to determine whether developer P.K. Dixon's lawsuit against the city of Fayetteville will continue.

The court will hear the city's request that the case be dismissed without a trial.

Dixon filed suit in August 1998 after withdrawing his request for annexation and rezoning to allow a 150-home subdivision, a nature preserve and industrial park on his 370-acre tract at the south end of Burch Road, off Ga. Highway 54 on the west side of town.

Dixon's plan to extend the cul de sac at the end of Burch Road to gain access to his property brought neighborhood opposition and a recommendation from the Planning Commission that the City Council deny his request.

After a series of negotiations between city officials and Dixon, no alternative method of access could be found. Dixon withdrew his request and filed suit claiming that when developers built the Burch Road cul de sac, they closed off an old country road that connected his property with Hwy. 54.

Fayetteville's motion for summary judgment contends that there is “no genuine issue to be tried.”

“Burch Road has never extended onto petitioner's property,” the city's motion says.

Access onto Dixon's property before the cul de sac was built in 1992 “has been blocked by trees, gates and locks over at least the last 14 years,” says the city's motion.

The motion asks that the court declare summary judgment dismissing the suit and that the court “find that there exists no public road over [Dixon's] or [the city's] property.”