By MONROE ROARK
mroark@thecitizennews.com

Just hours before a controversial, high-density rezoning request was to be considered by the Fayetteville City Council Monday night, the applicants made a formal request to have the application withdrawn.

Bob Adams Homes had planned to put 48 homes on 19.3 acres on Ga. Highway 54 west, across from Du Roc Cafe and next to Burch Road Office Park, but nearby residents joined city staff and the Planning and Zoning Commission in pushing for denial of the request.

A letter from Beverly Holder of Bob Adams Homes was introduced at the council meeting, dated that same day. It simply stated that the application for rezoning from C-3 commercial and R-40 residential to R-15 planned unit development would not be pursued further. The council voted to accept the withdrawal and took no further action.

There was no reason stated at the meeting for the applicants' decision, and city officials were not aware of what their motivation might be.

“That's all there is,” said City Manager Joe Morton as he gestured at the letter. “You know what I know.”

No one representing Bob Adams Homes or the property owners was present at the meeting.

Holder appeared at the City Council's workshop last week to plead her case for the application in the face of denial recommendations from city staff as well as the Planning Commission.

City staff has maintained that the proposal does not conform to the land use plan, which calls for low-density residential development on the outskirts of the city. Also, six of the 19.3 acres are now zoned commercial and the land use plan calls for office uses on that portion.

During Planning Commission meetings, residents argued that putting a residential entrance so close to the traffic light at Burch Road would be dangerous, adding that other homes in the area are on much larger lots than Adams Homes proposed.