Wednesday, October 4, 2000
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Wednesday, October 4, 2000 |
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Starr's Mill retail center sent back for review By DAVE HAMRICK Starr's Mill LLC will go back before the Fayette County Planning Commission Nov. 2 with its plan for a shopping center and other uses across from Starr's Mill High School. The group has already unanimously voted against the project once, recommending that the County Commission deny it. But the County Commission last week refused to act on the proposal because the plans submitted to the commission were substantially different from those previously reviewed by the Planning Commission. Planning Commission and zoning staff both recommended denial of the company's original request for C-C (community commercial) zoning for 80 acres on Ga. Highway 74 just south of Peachtree City. The land is on the south side of Hwy. 74, directly across from its intersection with Redwine Road. Drawings submitted last week to the County Commission called for a combination of C-C and O-I (office-institutional) zoning for about 26 acres where the company wants to build a shopping center and offices. A church in the original plan was eliminated altogether and the company offered to donate that land to the county as open space, along with land designated for soccer fields. Starr's Mill LLC, a Macon company, originally proposed a 55,000-sq. ft. grocery store, plus about 117,000 square feet of other shops and restaurants on 26 acres. The plan was to sell 15.2 acres for a church, build about 51,000 square feet of offices on 2.8 acres and use 25 acres for soccer fields. The remainder would be used for parking, buffers and a drain field for a septic system that would serve the project. The request was to change the zoning of the church, shopping center and office areas to C-C and leave the soccer fields in their current A-R (agricultural-residential) zoning category. During the earlier Planning Commission meeting, Carl Westmoreland, representing the company, told the group that the firm wanted to change its plan, but planning commissioners said they must deal with the plan as submitted and unanimously recommended denial. Residents who stood in opposition to the plan are not impressed by the firm's offer to donate the open space... they're against putting a shopping center in that location, period. Westmoreland said although the county land use plan calls for low-density residential development for the property, the area has changed in recent years and there's a need for more shopping space. Developing the land as a residential subdivision, he argued, would increase overcrowding in the school system. "I'm not sure whether it's reasonable to expect this property to develop in lots of two to five acres," he said. As currently zoned, the property could hold fewer than 15 homes. If it were rezoned for a subdivision of two-acre lots, it could hold about 35 homes. Resident Pamela Kemp cited statistics showing that crime follows commercial development, and also questioned the idea of putting such a large commercial project on a septic system. "We have adequate shopping for the population," she said. "There is no reason to rezone this property." In rebuttal, Westmoreland said his project is the best use of the property. "It would have no impact on the schools, would provide a lot of tax revenue and it's a piece of property that's got no other reasonable, viable use," he said. Planning commissioners said the proposal is not in keeping with the county land use plan, which calls for low-density residential development in the area. At the request of the County Commission, the Planning Commission recently conducted a thorough study of the land use plan for the Starr's Mill area, commission member Fred Bowen reminded his colleagues. "There was absolutely no doubt in our minds that that is a residential area," he said. "It's not the place for any commercial activity." If the Planning Commission acts on the revised request Nov. 2, the County Commission won't consider it again until Dec. 14. The commission's regular zoning meeting the fourth Thursday in November is cancelled due to Thanksgiving.
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