Wednesday, July 11, 2001
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Wednesday, July 11, 2001 |
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Tyrone appeals local court's commercial rezoning order to Ga. Supreme Court By JOHN
MUNFORD
The Tyrone Town Council is appealing a court order that would force it to rezone more than 74 acres bordering Ga. Highway 74 and Tyrone Road for unrestricted commercial use. Callaway Land Company plans to build a shopping center on the property that could include a Publix grocery store. Callaway and the current property owners initiated the original suit against Tyrone after the Town Council refused to grant a commercial rezoning for the property. Attorneys representing Tyrone have filed an appeal with the Georgia Supreme Court stating that Superior Court Judge Johnnie L. Caldwell Jr. committed several reversible errors in his May 31 order. In addition to ordering that the Town Council rezone the property to C-2 Commercial, Caldwell also ordered that the town allow all variances and special exceptions requested by the developer. In the application for a discretionary appeal, lawyers for the town argue that the court cannot force the town to adopt a particular rezoning, but the court should remand the matter back to Tyrone so another rezoning may be considered. The attorneys also argue that Caldwell should not have concluded that the property owners proved that the existing zoning classifications caused them to suffer a significant detriment. Caldwell also erred in granting the variances and special exceptions, according to the appeal application. The property's central location between Hwy. 74 and Tyrone "renders the property a natural commercial node," Caldwell wrote in the order. If the town council fails to "promptly comply" with the order, the property owners and Callaway will be subject to recoup penalties, sanctions and damage awards, Caldwell wrote. The order covered two separate parcels of land 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. The property is bordered by the existing downtown district, a convenience store and at least one office development in addition to the railroad tracks, Caldwell said in the order. Also, the plaintiffs marketed the properties with their respective zonings and found no takers, he wrote. 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 town'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.
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