Wednesday, September 4, 2002

It has been recently been brought to my attention that there are some major annexing and rezoning issues occurring in the city of Fayetteville that will impact the quality of life to South Fayetteville and South Fayette County residents.

Those of us who became aware of the proposed changes are not only alarmed by them, but are concerned about the lack of information on the city rezoning boards that were placed along Ga. Highway 92 South and Jimmie Mayfield Boulevard.

The boards inform residents that there is a meeting on Sept. 19 at City Council. Nowhere on the boards does it state that there are public hearings on the rezoning requests.

Voting on some proposals will be conducted this Thursday, Sept. 5 and voting on the remainder of proposals will be done at the Sept. 19 meeting. This gives Fayetteville residents very little time to address their concerns since we were basically unaware of when the "public hearings" were to be conducted.

The Planning and Zoning Committee of Fayetteville is reviewing a proposed cut-through road called the 92 Connector from South Jeff Davis which will intersect Hwy. 92 South at the light slightly north of Kingswood and Chanticleer subdivisions.

This will create a major intersection on a road that is already congested in the morning and the late afternoons. It is an area that continues to have accidents occurring quite frequently at the light.

In addition, the developer of the property bordering that stretch of road now wants to change his previous residential zoning to C-3, which we understand to be a "fairly big box" as stated by the Fayetteville City Planner during the City Council workshop meeting on Aug. 29.

Also, the land at Hwys. 85 and 92 across from Ingles and behind GTOs is currently deemed "county" property. The owners are asking to annex this large tract of land into the city limits and are asking the city to then change the zoning so that a Publix store and commercial/retail shopping areas can be built there. As well, they want to include a very crowded housing complex, 69 houses on 24 acres of property.

The city zoning committee would like us to think that their proposed Hwy. 92 Connector is to relieve the traffic congestion at the top of South Jeff Davis. After speaking with several residents who use South Jeff Davis, they agree that they would not use the proposed 92 Connector to go north on Ga. Highway 85 in the morning. They pointed out that they would prefer to get above the congestion at Hwy. 54 and 85, not get back further south in the line-up on Hwy. 85.

The Planning and Zoning board is applying a Band-Aid fix to what they see as a traffic nightmare, not really correcting the problem. Their proposed 92 Connector appears to only direct traffic to the retail areas, not relieve congested roadways.

Personally I do not wish to see more property annexed to the city for retail use. We do not need three major grocery stores on one corner. One is sure to lose to competitors and thus we'll have yet another vacant store in Fayetteville. I don't want property that is currently zoned for residential changed to commercial and backing onto our communities.

I feel that any additional development along Hwy. 92 South, without first improving the existing transportation infrastructure, would be irresponsible on the part of our [city] elected officials. I feel that any changes in commercial and residential zoning along this highway corridor will exacerbate existing traffic congestion, burden our already over-populated schools, further increase the rapidly rising crime rate in Fayetteville, and possibly lower the value of our homes in the surrounding neighborhoods.

I urge citizens to please attend the next three Fayetteville City Council meetings. They are scheduled for Sept. 5, 12 and 19. Make your own judgement and voice your concerns.

Denise Fair

Fayetteville

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