Wednesday, August 1, 2001
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Wednesday, August 1, 2001 |
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Residents four, developers zero By DAVE
HAMRICK
Fayette County commissioners turned down all four rezoning requests on their agenda last week, including the controversial request for commercial zoning for the historic Peeples house at Ga. Highway 74 and Redwine Road. The group did grant a rezoning in Peeples house owner Charlie "Lou" Pailer's case, but not the one Pailer was asking for. Commissioners changed the zoning of the house and five acres from agricultural-residential (A-R) to office-institutional (O-I). Pailer had originally asked for highway commercial (C-H), but had amended that request prior to Thursday's meeting, asking for community commercial (C-C), a category that allows less intense types of retail development. Pailer said he has lived in the house since 1980, and enjoyed the rural atmosphere around the home until that was ruined by development of the mammoth Starr's Mill school complex, which surrounds the home on three sides. The county's recent approval of a shopping center across the street will make the home even less desirable as a residence, he said. "I'll be looking right in the front door of that Kroger," he said. When he bought the house, he added, the advertisement "said historic plantation surrounded by countryside, not by a school." He has tried to market the property for offices without success, he said, and a commercial and office appraiser testified that after studying the situation, she's convinced there's no market for offices in that area. A couple dozen residents stood to show their opposition to the rezoning, and six spoke against it, saying they represented hundreds of homeowners in their neighborhood associations. All were sympathetic to Pailer's plight, but said they fear commercial development on the corner in front of the school will present a danger to their children. Donna O'Kelly, Pailer's daughter and real estate agent, said her own son will attend school at the complex. "If that kid would be in danger, I would not recommend" the rezoning, she said. Commissioner Herb Frady argued in favor of Pailer's request. "He's entitled to some use of his property," he said. "Mr. Pailer lived on that property a long time. Some of your subdivisions were not there, the school was not there ... he made it his home, and he's been impacted probably more than this store will impact your property," he told the opponents. But four other commissioners said the rezoning is simply not in the best interests of the county. "We do have to do what we feel is best for the largest number of people," said Commissioner Linda Wells. Commissioners also turned down the Carmack family's request for a rezoning so developer Mukut Gupta could put 18 homes on 40.5 acres on Old Senoia Road and Sarah Banister's request for a similar rezoning 20 homes on 42.3 acres on New Hope Road. In both cases, developers had previously asked for rezonings to allow one-acre lots, had been turned down and had returned with the request for two-acre lots. Commissioners said the property should remain zoned for minimum five-acre lots, to prevent a domino effect with surrounding acreage. Also turned down was Fayette Youth Protection Home's request to change the conditions on its C-C zoning for five acres of its Ga. Highway 279 property. Conditions placed on the zoning allow only a nonprofit youth home on the land. The home's board wants to sell five acres, including the old Kenwood School, to Aston Peart for a day care center. Residents said they don't want a commercial operation near their homes, adding that the commercial zoning was approved by in the '80s only so that the youth home could operate there, fitting in with other residences. Commissioners Greg Dunn and Herb Frady voted in favor of the rezoning. Linda Wells, A.G. VanLandingham and Peter Pfeifer voted "no."
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