Wednesday, July 25, 2001
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Wednesday, July 25, 2001 |
| Commission
to decide fate of historic Fayette home
By DAVE HAMRICK
The controversial request to turn one of Fayette's oldest homes into a shopping center will be the first order of business to face the county's newest commissioner tomorrow night. Charles Pailer's request was tabled from the April 26 meeting so that it could be heard by a full Board of Commissioners. At that time, an election campaign was underway to replace Commissioner Harold Bost, who had resigned citing personal concerns. Peter Pfeifer has been elected to replace Bost, and will sit in on his first meeting Thursday at 7 p.m. at the County Administrative Complex. Pailer is asking the commission to change the zoning of five acres at Ga. Highway 74 and Redwine Road from its agricultural-residential category to C-H, an intense commercial category. The house and acreage are the only property left between the two highways and the massive and expansive Starr's Mill complex of three schools. 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. The county's Planning Commission has recommended that the zoning instead be changed to O-I (office-institutional), a much less intense category, but Pailer's representatives argue that the five-acre parcel can only be marketed under commercial zoning. Neighborhood opposition to the commercial proposal has been fierce. About 25 residents attended the March 1 Planning Commission meeting to make it clear they're opposed to the project, and presented a petition bearing more than 100 signatures of neighbors who agree with them. The septic system that would serve the shopping center would drain onto land that overlooks the Starr's Mill school complex, and any failure of the system would dump sewage onto the school grounds, argued David Kuzusko, who lives nearby. And there would be no space for a backup system if the first one failed, he said. "This dense type of development will not enhance this area," said Chip Gertsun. A designated spokesman for several of the neighbors present, Gertsun is an officer in the Peeples Elementary School PTO. Having a commercial development next to the schools would compromise the safety of the children, Gertsun argued, bringing a strong rebuttal from an indignant Douglas Dillard, lawyer for Pailer. "The safety of these children ... 500 of them as they gather at Mr. Pailer's back door ... what is wrong with this picture," Dillard said. Pailer's request tests a new land use plan for the area around the home. Commissioners approved the land use plan changes March 8, and the request does not fit the intent of the plan, according to the county Planning Commission and zoning staff. Pailer's daughter Donna O'Kelley, real estate agent for the proposed development, told the Planning Commission earlier that construction of the school complex followed by approval of a 21.8-acre grocery shopping center, Plantation Centre, on the south side of Hwy. 74 directly across from her father's property have made it impossible to sell the property under its current A-R zoning. Also, she said, the home has been on the market since mid-1999 and no one has shown interest in buying it as office space, as the land use plan suggests. "We did not ask for all of this to come," O'Kelley told the Planning Commission. When she was growing up living in the historic home, O'Kelley said, the area was way out in the country. Now, with the school next door and the shopping center coming, the home will be unlivable, she said. Planning commissioners said that, although the shopping center across the road was approved by the County Commission, there are 5.8 acres of land zoned for offices between the center and Pailer's land, providing a step-down. Panel members expressed sympathy with Pailer's plight. "This could happen to any of us," said commissioner Jim Graw. "We have no control over where [schools] go." But the group said they believe offices are needed between the shopping center on 74 and surrounding neighborhoods. "I would rather see O&I because you can control the types of businesses going in there," said Graw.
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