Sunday, July 8, 2001
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Sunday, July 8, 2001 |
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City considers
restaurant plans By MONROE ROARK
Two new proposed Fayetteville restaurants are moving forward with their development plans now that a long-awaited agreement appears to be near between the city and a major developer. Chuck E. Cheese and Sonny's Bar-B-Q will have their development plans heard at the July meeting of the Fayetteville Planning and Zoning Commission. Both are to be in the Fayette Retail Center on Ga. Highway 85 north near Banks Road and Ga. Highway 314. The commission's monthly work session is scheduled for this Tuesday, with the regular voting meeting set for July 24. A development agreement between the city and JDN, or the 85/314 Partners, was tabled at Thursday night's City Council meeting. It is for the property between the two highways and south of Banks Road. Included on this site are the current Eckerd and Applebee's as well as a proposed Walgreen's store. The agreement provides for improvements to Banks Road and the two highways by the developers in exchange for impact fee credits and reimbursements. The developers also agreed to adhere to the 1997 Zoning Ordinance with a few exceptions for a period of five years, according to city staff. The original site plan approval for the tract took place during the time the 1997 Zoning Ordinance went into effect, and thus the ordinance didn't technically apply to that plan. The developers are also responsible for a connector road between Ga. highways 85 and 314 that is not eligible for impact fee credits. A number of proposed developments have been held up due to the lack of a development agreement. Last summer's attempt to build a Hooters restaurant on the site was vehemently opposed by members of the community on moral grounds, but the application actually was stopped because the promised road improvement had not been made by JDN and no development agreement was in place for the site. After some council discussion, it was decided that a portion of the site would be required to meet the current zoning ordinance instead of the old one, with a three-year time frame for future development instead of five years. Anything done after the three-year window is expired would be subject to the city's zoning ordinance at that time. Council members will tweak the agreement a bit more before giving it their final approval. After a motion to approve the agreement failed 3-2 Thursday night, it was determined that tabling the measure for two weeks would not significantly delay Chuck E. Cheese and Sonny's Bar-B-Q, because the development agreement could still be approved before the development plans for the restaurants came up for a Planning and Zoning Commission vote.
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