Friday, March 29, 2002
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Friday, March 29, 2002 |
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County objects to Union City annexation
By JANET
McGREGOR
For the first time in the history of Union City annexations, Fulton County has objected to a request. Multi Spec, Inc., developing for the first time in the Union City area, asked to have 73.8 acres annexed into Union City in December. The property is located between Dodson and Koweta Roads near Ga. Highway 92. Multi Spec hopes to annex and have the land, currently zoned AG1 by Fulton County, rezoned to RMD1, which would allow the builder to put four homes per acre, if ultimately approved by the Union City Council. Fulton County objected based on density and stated they would withdraw their objections to the annexation if the lots touching the county were one house per acre. Bussey says this has him a little confused: "There are a number of communities in the area that have density higher than one acre per lot." The acreage will abut Union City property which is currently zoned RMD1 with four homes per acre. It also touches Fairburn on one side. Fairburn did not submit an objection to the annexation. The City Council considered their options during the March council meeting. Mayor Moore voiced his surprise at the first-ever annexation objection, saying, "I have a suspicion they [Fulton County] have gotten us confused with north Fulton." Assistant City Attorney Dennis Davenport was called upon a number of times to explain possible responses and legal ramifications. He explained that the city could listen to the county and work with the property owner to reach an agreement that satisfied all parties, agree entirely with the county and not let land be annexed, recognize it could be a land use issue and disagree with the solution by county necessitating formal mediation or take the position that county does not have bone fide land use objection and continue as if the county has not objected. Developer Charles Bussey and his attorney Russell Ross offered to work with the County and the City under the first alternative. Citing that he did not want Bussey wasting his time with negotiations if the council was not willing to entertain consideration of he rezoning, Mayor Moore polled the council to see if they were open to "embracing the concept without committing to agree to the annexation and rezoning." All agreed they were open-minded regarding the issue and agreed to allow Bussey time to work with Fulton County. Bussey says he is in the midst of negotiations with Fulton County and "I am hopeful that we will work out an agreement." Bussey noted that his original concept called for a minimum of 20-foot buffers on the property. He has approached Fulton County with a plan to extend the buffers to 50-70 feet. Multi Spec has been developing property in the south metro area since 1979, primarily in Clayton, Henry, South Fulton and Coweta counties. If Bussey and Multi Spec are able to reach an agreement with the planning department of Fulton County, the issue will need to receive approval by the Fulton County Board of Commissioners. The request will then be brought to the Union City Council for approval.
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