Wednesday, May 9, 2001
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Wednesday, May 9, 2001 |
| School board wrong
to seek F'ville annexation
Spot zoning! Spot zoning was my first thought when I read that the Fayette County Board of Education was petitioning the city of Fayetteville to annex and rezone the 94.2 acres on Lester Road to build a new school. The property is currently zoned Agricultural-Residential (minimum 5-acre tracts) in the county. The Board of Education has requested that all the property south of Lester Road be rezoned R-70 (minimum 2-acre lots) and that the property north of Lester Road be rezoned R-P (residential-professional). With the exception of two churches, Lester Road is totally residential. The churches did not need a rezoning because they can be built in any zoning category. Likewise, I thought that a school could be built in any zoning category. Fayetteville's zoning ordinance states that buildings operated on a nonprofit basis for public community purposes are permitted in all residential districts. Isn't a school operated for public community purposes? Requesting and receiving residential-professional zoning on Lester Road breaks the county land use plan and opens that area up to all types of professional offices. The city believes that residential and professional can be compatibly mixed. But some of the uses that are permitted are orphanages, lodges, day car facilities, art studios, mortuaries, cemeteries, nursing homes, convalescent, assisted living and care homes. Most of these uses produce a lot of traffic and are more compatible with commercial. The county previously denied a rezoning for Office-Institutional on the corner of Lester Road and Huiet Road because it did not adhere to the land use plan. That rezoning was less than 1,000 feet from this rezoning. The Board of Education has stated that they are determined to do this building program right. How can the board do a project right when the first step they take is to apply for spot rezoning that will destroy the county's land use plan? Do this building program right. Withdraw your application and build this school in the county. Nancy Charnock Fayette
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