Friday, August 16, 2002

Land planning group passes first hurdle

By JOHN THOMPSON
jthompson@TheCitizenNews.com

After a successful business career in Atlanta, Steve Nygren bolted the big city and headed for the serenity of South Fulton County.

Now, with development on the area's doorstep, Nygren and a group of residents want to make sure the development is master-planned and does not overrun the area's rural qualities.

Nygren is president of the Chattahoochee Hill Country Alliance. Each member of the group ponies up $2 an acre for each acre he owns in the county to help fund the new organization.

"It's a group of concerned land owners who know growth is coming and wants to make sure it's master-planned," Nygren said.

Nygren started the successful Peasant restaurant chain in Atlanta and now operates a bed and breakfast near Palmetto.

The group wants to make sure that many of the historic roads and vistas are preserved in South Fulton.

Last week, the Fulton County Board of Commissioners adopted the concept plan for the Chattahoochee Hill Country Alliance (CHCA) project.

The Planning Division will hold a meeting on Wednesday to discuss the specifics of creating a CHCA Overlay District to the South Fulton 2015 Land Use and Comprehensive Plan.

The meeting will be held from 6 p.m.-8 p.m. at the South Fulton Service Center, 5600 Stonewall Tell Road, College Park.

County planners will also discuss revisions for the Sandtown, Cascade, and Old National Overlay Districts.

The goal of the CHCA is to develop South Fulton based upon sustainable development principles, including the conservation of green space and the protection of natural and cultural resources. The concept plan concentrates future development into three dense, multi-use "villages," leaving the rest as woods and fields.

The CHCA is a community-driven initiative, the first project of its size to be spearheaded by Fulton County landowners. The area under consideration consists of approximately 40,000 acres, involving 1,250 landowners, across much of South Fulton County west of Cascade-Palmetto Highway and east of the Chattahoochee River.

For more information, contact Geneasa Elias, Environment Division, at 404/730-8189.