By JOHN THOMPSON
jthompson@thecitizennews.com

Legal eagles in Tyrone are sharpening their pencils after learning Monday that developer John Callaway is suing the city.

Callaway filed the suit after Tyrone officials refused his land use map amendment request for a shopping center in the town. Niether council nor the town Planning Commission has ruled on a proposed rezoning of the property. The land use map amendment would have paved the way for a zoning change.

Callaway wanted to develop 29 acres on a 60-acre tract as a 118,000-sq. ft. shopping center with a village feel.

“Nothing in Fayette County holds a candle to this development,” he told the Tyrone Town Council in April.

He told the council the shopping center would be similar to a development on St. Simons Island and claimed the proposal was the “best ever submitted to you.”

He pointed out that nearly 50 percent of the tract would be undeveloped and the site had already been approved by Publix as a location for a new store.

Nearby property already is zoned commercial and Callaway contends the best use of the site is commercial.

Town manager Barry Amos received a copy of the suit Monday morning and turned it over to the town's legal team.

In another development, the Tyrone Planning Commission will study the proposal this Thursday at 7 p.m.

Amos said the council sent the proposed changing of the land use amendment back to the Planning Commission for further study.

In their discussions denying the developer's request, Councilman Ronnie Cannon said the development would create traffic problems on Hwy. 74 and the level of services provided to Tyrone residents would be decreased.

“We need to stand by our plan. Somebody needs to stick to the standards that have already been set,” he said.

Councilman Paul Letourneau said he didn't see how a population of 3,800 could support a 52,000-sq. ft. grocery store and didn't want a vacant building to fill if Publix should decide it couldn't make a go of it in the town.

The council unanimously denied Callaway's petition to amend the land use map from residential conservation to limited use conditional.