Wednesday, November 19, 2003

Design standards relaxed in vicinity of hospital By JOHN THOMPSON jthompson@TheCitizenNews.com A small item on last Thursday’s County Commission meeting could set off a big struggle for development around Fayette Community Hospital. The County Commission voted 3-2 to eliminate some of the architectural standards for a very narrow portion of the Ga. Highway 54 overlay district. Planning Director Kathy Zeitler asked the board to create an area of “hospital influence” that would be exempt from some of the stringent guidelines in the overlay district. She said the overlay requires any development to have a residential character, but multi-story office buildings that could locate near the hospital would not want to develop with a pitched roof. The area exempt from the overlay would stretch from the west side of Sandy Creek Road to the east side of Tyrone Road, and only on the north side of Ga. Highway 54. With the construction of the hospital addition underway, speculation is rampant that medical office buildings may soon be surrounding the hospital. Commission Chairman Greg Dunn, who opposed the change, along with Commissioner Herb Frady, said the change made no sense, since an office would probably need sewer and want to be annexed into the city. “Not necessarily,” said Commission Linda Wells, who said the change would keep the county in the running for future development. “I just think the character of 54 will be changed forever,” Dunn said.   What do you think of this story? Click here to send a message to the editor. Back to News Home Page | Back to the top of the page