By DAVE HAMRICK
dhamrick@TheCitizenNews.com

Ga. Highway 85 is simply too congested to withstand the additional traffic that would come from The Village, a proposed mixed use development in the heart of Fayetteville, according to the city Planning Commission.

The group last week voted unanimously, with one abstention, to recommend that City Council throw away a year of planning and deny Argonne Properties' request for planned community development zoning to allow the 110-acre development. The City Council Monday voted to begin its discussions of the plan again in April, with first reading April 3 and action expected April 17.

Discussions also will be conducted at work sessions March 29 and April 12.

Council is expected to vote on the rezoning request April 3 after discussing it again at a Wednesday, March 29 work session.

“Great project, wrong place,” said Planning Commission member Allan Feldman as the group discussed the project last week.

Using a plan drawn last spring by a city-paid consultant, the company proposes to build 203 homes, plus 117,900 square feet of offices, a neighborhood shopping area, a hotel and several parks. The retail portion would include a 150-child day care facility, 25,100 square feet of restaurants, 135,400 square feet of neighborhood shopping and a 5,400-sq. ft. bank.

Some city leaders have touted the plan as a way to give the city's downtown revitalization efforts a shot in the arm. “The survival of downtown Fayetteville is to bring people to live in downtown Fayetteville,” said commission Chairman Myron Coxe, who can vote only in case of a tie.

The plan, said developer Bob Rolader, is designed to create an environment where people can live, work and shop without having to drive anywhere, or short distances at worst.

A variety of home sizes and styles are included, with tree-lined streets and garages facing onto back alleys, all aimed at encouraging walking, according to its designers, Atlanta-based architects Cooper Carry. Upwardly mobile professionals could live in the homes and have their offices in the complex on-site, proponents say.

But no one is promising that there won't be additional traffic.

At the insistence of the Planning Commission in previous meetings, Rolader brought a traffic study to last week's meeting, prepared by transportation consultant Martin Bretherton. The study predicted that cars would enter and exit buildings in the development 624 times during peak morning drive times, and 1,672 times during evening peak times. Total daily trips in and out of locations in The Village would be 16,761, the study predicts, averaging about 700 per hour.

But many of those trips would be internal, said Bretherton. After adjusting for internal trips, the development would generate 9,368 new trips per day in the city, the study said, divided between Ga. highways 54 and 85 as well as Tiger Trail and Hood Avenue.

That's too much, said Planning Commission member Segis “Al” Lipscomb. “I've got real concerns,” said Lipscomb, adding that traffic on 85 already is at levels that a 1993 study projected for 2010.

Commission member Feldman said city leaders have hoped for years to see a bypass built around Fayetteville, but it hasn't happened.

Walter Rekuc of Eagle Real Estate Advisors, working with the developers, pointed out that the city charges impact fees to developers for road improvements. “The purpose of the impact fee is to take that money and spend it at the sites that may have an impact,” he said.

He also cautioned the city that putting in a bypass may not be the best solution to traffic problems. “A lot of cities asked for these bypasses and ended up a dry gulch after the project was done,” he said.

Lipscomb said her problem is with the existing traffic on Hwy. 85. Commissioners said Hwy. 54 is not nearly as much of a problem.

She made her motion to recommend denial “based solely on the existing traffic.”

Commission member Sarah Murphy abstained, saying The Village has been under discussion for a year and she only joined the commission last week.