Tyrone retail plans axed

By JOHN THOMPSON
jthompson@TheCitizenNews.com

Tyrone shoppers looking for a major grocery store will still be heading to Peachtree City after last week’s votes by the Town Council.

The council rejected two proposals by developer John Callaway to build shopping centers at Ga. Highway 74 and Tyrone Road.

The first measure the town rejected was for a “village” style shopping center on a 53-acre tract. The center would be anchored by a 53,000-sq. ft. Publix grocery store, along with other retail stores, including five out parcels.

Callaway’s attorney, George Rosenzweig, said the property is ideal for limited-use commercial and is identified on the town’s land use map as town center. If the town chose not to approve the shopping center, the attorney said it’s “a planning prescription for sprawl.”

But the town’s residents disagreed. Ginger Blackstone said she would favor an office building on the site, while William Curry said traffic and crime would be a major problem if the center was approved.

“Go to Fayetteville and look at the Pavilion. Their crime rate is up,” she said.

The town’s staff asked the council to deny Callaway’s request.
“The scale of the project is too big,” said Town Manager Barry Amos.

Councilman Paul LeTourneau repeated his assessment that a Publix would be too big for the small town and said he doesn’t want to be responsible for a vacant store.

The council decided to designate the property for office and industrial uses on the town’s land use map.

Callaway’s second proposal was for a shopping center on 22 acres directly across from his first request.

Rosenzweig said many of his same statements applied to this parcel. He asked the council to consider the property owners and their rights when making a decision.

Jaquelyn Davis, whose family purchased the property in 1954, said the property was originally earmarked commercial, but got changed to residential in the early ‘90s.

“There was never a legitimate reason to change it. The property’s been taken hostage,” she said.

Davis’ sister, Brenda Matthews, said the property was a simple farm that was spilt when Hwy.74 was widened.

“We were never notified when the property was changed,” she said.

Although the council sympathized with the sisters, they still said there were problems with placing commercial interests at the intersection and zoned and mapped the property as office-institutional.

Callaway left the meeting quietly after the dual rejection. The first parcel is still mired in a lawsuit between Callaway and the town and there was no indication whether he would pursue litigation on the second tract.