Those who thought the old days of inept representation were a thing of the past here in Tyrone must have been terribly disappointed at the Tyrone Town Council meeting last Thursday.

The subject was 60 acres of property located between Ga. Highway 74 and the railroad tracks bordering Tyrone Road. Ringed by commercial properties, the old comprehensive plan earmarked this property as commercial development. However, In the infinite wisdom of our city fathers the plan has been changed to 3-acre residential lots. Property owners protested the designation of their land for something that could never be built there as an unconstitutional taking of their land.

An awesome and impressive compromise was proposed by a developer named Callaway. He proposed 20 of the 60 acres be developed commercially, leaving 31 acres as park area or green space and donating six acres to the Tyrone Town Hall and Library. The plan incorporates a 60-foot landscape buffer along Hwy. 74, an architectural treatment that would be the envy of the county, a first-rate supermarket, restaurants and shops. What could be better for our town?

Homemakers and business people alike stepped up to the voice their approval of the project. They spoke of their desire for a full-service supermarket, restaurants, employment opportunities for teenagers and seniors, opportunities with civic-minded stores (like Publix)and the advantages of a larger tax base. Tyrone does have the highest tax rate of any in the county. A petition was presented to substantiate the support for just such a development. It seems to be a no—brainer.

Unfortunately, the Tyrone Town Council was oblivious to the grassroots support of the project by the public. There was the typical grousing about traffic in Tyrone, an on-going gripe but never addressed by the town unless a developer makes a proposal.

In fact, this developer had a professional traffic consultant that was recommended by the town conduct a study with improvements recommended and the developer agreed to pay for those improvements. It seems our council members act as self-appointed traffic experts as well and determined that professional reports and hard data weren't needed — they could make the determinations themselves. So why even ask for the traffic reports?

But traffic is not the only area of expertise of our Town Council. It seems they can make the determination that a supermarket in Tyrone would not have sufficient patronization and would become vacant and a tax write-off for the store owners. Never mind that Publix conducted a four-month study and is a billion-dollar supermarket chain that's been doing business for 50 years.

Then there is this mindless hand-wringing over the size of the store. The Town Council also knows that a glorified convenience store would be better suited for our area instead of a full-service store with a deli, bakery, pharmacy, etc. All this is based on a newspaper article which magically appeared in their in—boxes that actually addresses the retro—fitting of inner-city stores, not communities such as ours — apples and oranges.

Forget the four-month study by Publix and their determination of where their store would best operate. The council believes the store would best be suited up the road on another piece of property that attained zoning through a nasty legal battle. In fact, one commissioner argued passionately that the property farther up on Hwy. 74 is the correct place for the supermarket and stated that that property owner was entitled to his zoning and approved site plan while simultaneously denying other property owners in the room similar rights.

So in the end, the packed room heard from one council member that it was okay to drive to Peachtree City and Fayetteville for groceries and provide those communities with our tax dollars; he had made the drive and it wasn't so far. Another indicated that a grocery store would be coming in time but not on this piece of property. He didn't mention traffic concerns, public service costs or restrictions on the size of the store — nor the concern that the store would be vacant in time - all concerns voiced in opposition to Mr. Callaway's proposal.

“Even if it's a Piggly—Wiggly,” he said. One wonders what he means. Is he talking about a town council that will come after this one that's willing to do the heavy lifting and make the courageous and far-sighted decisions that this town council clearly cannot.

The proposal was soundly defeated; not even one council member could stand up and represent those in favor of the development by being present and speaking out at the meeting or by petition. Not one member was courageous enough to say, I'll vote with the people. Is this the process by which they were elected?

In an unusual turn of events, the town attorney suggests the vote be rescinded and return the plan to the planning commission. Could it be that the Town Council suddenly has realized how ludicrous and indefensible its arguments would appear in a more objective setting? We can only hope so. Maybe it occurred to the council just how unhappy their constituents would be to see their tax dollars spent in fighting a development which the people wanted in the first place.

I'm tired of hearing what Tyrone cannot be — I want to see what it can be.

Beth Johnson

Tyrone

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