Wednesday, January 21, 2004
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Wednesday, January 21, 2004 |
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Mayor Steele gets to boast at request of ARC By JOHN MUNFORD The Atlanta Regional Commission is touting several projects in Fayetteville as success stories. Fayetteville Mayor Ken Steele spoke at a recent ARC conference designed at creating quality communities. He spoke of the city’s efforts to attract quality residential and mixed-use projects, citing the mixed use Villages at LaFayette Park and the renovated Jeff Davis Intown condominiums as examples. The condos are being redeveloped from 30-year-old apartments on Jeff Davis Drive, and it took a few concessions to make the project workable for developers, Steele said. Among the concessions: changing a city ordinance to allow a density of 16 units per acre. Previously, the highest density allowed was eight units per acre. The result was a 700 percent increase in property values, according to Steele. “It provides affordable intown living,” he said. The Villages at LaFayette Park came about when the city contacted the owner of a 110-acre tract bordering downtown and Fayette Community High School, Steele said. Officials saw the site as one of the largest undeveloped tracts in the city limits and wanted to encourage quality development there, the mayor noted. The Villages design, which features village squares at street intersections, netted 22 acres of open space along with 233 residential units (including 45 lofts) and a 135,000-square-foot retail area. One of the businesses reportedly locating to the site is an as-yet unnamed hotel. Steele also previewed two other development projects: the Southside master plan that’s just beginning to take shape with McDonald’s and Wendy’s restaurants as outparcels along Ga. Highway 85 South and the Village Green passive park plan which has hit a few snags in negotiations with property owners. Fayetteville also has future plans to join all its community centers with bike and pedestrian paths, Steele noted. The Southside Master Plan in particular is surrounded with pedestrian paths. “It’s an integral part of our long-term vision for our community,” Steele said.
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