Wednesday, January 15, 2003

Let's focus on maintaining, and even improving the quality of life in Fayetteville and all of Fayette County. Of particular interest now is the Southside Plan currently scheduled for change at the Jan. 16 [Fayetteville] City Council meeting.

Urban Collage, the city's consultant, has recommended that the commercial property on the corners of Ga. Highway 92 and Jimmy Mayfield Boulevard be limited to 12 buildings of 35,000 square feet each. This is certainly a fair concession for the developer, Mr. Rolader, since some of this property was not zoned commercial.

Furthermore, the town homes planned for next to Kingswood [subdivision] represent several steps from the R-40 zoned subdivision.

Both of these developments threaten to affect the values of the hundreds of homes in the surrounding area, which together are worth much more than $200 million. These are all investments, too!

Another grave concern is the traffic generated by this development, already a major problem during rush hour. The traffic on highways 85 and 92 are predicted by Urban Collage to double. Although retail stores bring in much sales tax, these stores will also bring in more traffic from other counties at least six days a week throughout the day and evening. Out-of-county consumers will be needed to support new stores since two city consultants have already stated Fayetteville has too much retail already.

Why does Fayetteville attract mostly retail businesses at the same time that many of our workers have to commute to their jobs in Atlanta? What about enticing a headquarters office building or two? Picture a high quality of lifestyle, including cultural arts, parks, our quality housing, and other amenities that could attract a corporate office. The employees would be happy with a much shorter commute to work and more quality [time] available in their lives.

Let's continue to make Fayetteville better, not just a bigger retail center for the whole south of Atlanta!

Jerry and Sharon Shockey

Fayette County