Wednesday, April 25, 2001
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Wednesday, April 25, 2001 |
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County commission to decide zoning future of 2nd oldest house By MONROE ROARK and DAVE HAMRICK
County commissioners are expected to take another look tomorrow night at the land surrounding Fayette County's second oldest home. A rezoning request for the historic May/Peeples house at the northeast corner of Ga. Highway 74 and Redwine Road was tabled at the commission's March 22 meeting. The Planning Commission rejected the request for C-H) commercial-highway) zoning, but approved office-institutional zoning with conditions. That vote came after several dozen local residents expressed their opposition to the proposed commercial development. The applicants have argued that recent rezonings in the surrounding area, including a 21-acre grocery store/shopping center complex to be located directly across the highway, make the house unlivable and the current zoning impractical. The house also sits right in front of the three schools that make up the Starr's Mill complex, which the applicants believe bolsters their argument. After reluctantly approving the rezoning of the shopping center a few months ago, commissioners approved changes in the land use plan last month that according to staff and planning commissioners, this request does not fit. But Donna O'Kelley, daughter of owner/applicant Charles Pailer III and real estate agent for the proposed devlopment, says that the property has been on the market for nearly two years and no one has shown any interest in buying it as office space, which is what the land use plan now suggests. Pailer wants to market the land for about 40,000 square feet of retail stores, and place a septic drain field in the required landscaped buffer between the stores and the school complex. Tentative plans call for a restaurant in the Peeples home itself. Opponents argued that if the proposed septic system failed, the sewage would drain onto school property and there would be no space for a backup system. Some also said that a commercial development next to the school would compromise the safety of the children. In other zoning business Thursday: Commissioners will consider a request by the Landrum Family Limited Partnersihp to rezone 6.18 acres on Ga. Highway 85 just south of Price Road for a self-storage facility. Current zoning is A-R (agricultural-residential), and the request is for C-H. This item was also tabled last month. The Planning Commission is recommending approval. Robert H. Brooks, owner of the Hooters restaurant chain, has requested rezoning from A-R to PUD-PRD for the addition of 60 single-family residential lots to the Whitewater Creek community. The Planning Commission and staff recommend approval. Also under consideration relating to that request is a proposal to add 60 lots and 16.84 of open space to the existing Whitewater Creek planned unit development. Planning commissioners and staff approved that also. Clayton Carmack and Mukut Gupta have requested rezoning of 40.55 acres fronting on Old Senoia Road for an 18-lot subdivision. Staff recommended denial, and the Planning Commission recommended approval with conditions. A request is pending for rezoning for O-I for 8 acres on Ga. Highway 54 West for a medical office. Staff and planning commissioners recommended approval. Another request for O-I rezoning is for 0.63 acres at Hwy. 54 East and Plantation Drive, for an insurance/financial planning office. That was also recommended for approval.
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