Friday, June 8, 2001
Friday, June 8, 2001 |
|
Judge to Tyrone: rezone land for commercial use By JOHN
MUNFORD
The Tyrone Town Council has been ordered to rezone more than 74 acres bordering Ga. Highway 74 and Tyrone Road for unrestricted commercial use. That order, from Fayette Superior Court Judge Johnnie L. Caldwell Jr., paves the way for a retail shopping center that could be anchored by a Publix grocery store. Caldwell's ruling was the result of a lawsuit filed by the property owners and Callaway Land Company, the developer. If the council fails to "promptly comply" with the order to approve the rezoning and the variances requested by Callaway, the plaintiffs will be subject to recoup penalties, sanctions and damage awards, Caldwell wrote in the order dated May 31. Tyrone Town Manager Barry Amos said Wednesday that the council was scheduled to discuss the matter in executive session at its regular meeting Thursday night. After the executive session a statement would likely be released, he indicated. The order actually covered two separate parcels of land located west of Hwy. 74 a 15-acre tract north of Tyrone Road which was zoned office-institutional, and a 69-acre tract south of Tyrone Road which was zoned agricultural-residential. The two separate lawsuits were merged into one before final arguments were heard in the case. The litigation began after the council declined to rezone the properties to limited use commercial last year. Caldwell noted that a Tyrone city representative suggested to Callaway officials that the company should seek a limited use commercial rezoning for the property even though no property in Tyrone has that designation. In the lengthy order, Caldwell went into detail explaining almost point by point how he based his decision in the case. The property was bordered by the existing downtown district, a convenience store and at least one office development in addition to the railroad tracks, he noted. Also, the plaintiffs marketed the properties with their respective zonings and found no takers, he noted. Attorneys representing Tyrone had argued that the development would harm the public health, safety and welfare, but Caldwell indicated that argument wasn't supported well. The city's arguments against the rezoning "do not rise to the level of making it even fairly debatable that the existing zoning is reasonably related to the public health, safety and welfare," Caldwell wrote. The property's central location between Hwy. 74 and Tyrone "renders the property a natural commercial node," Caldwell wrote. Caldwell also ordered the city to approve all the variances Callaway requested with its rezoning application.
|