Wednesday, June 2, 2004

Despite residents’ opposition, F’ville intends to annex

I had a lesson and exercise in frustration last night along with a crowd of concerned Fayette County residents at the Fayetteville City Zoning and Planning meeting.

The city wants to annex 108 acres of property bordered by Old Senoia Road, Redwine Road, and Hawn Road so that the property can be zoned to a R40 Planned Unit Development. This would allow someone to build 94 to 96 new homes.

My first question was why does the city feel it necessary to annex the property? The county can and should decide on any decisions in zoning. The county commissioners voted unanimously against the proposal.

The reason the city wants the property is so they can build houses on [smaller] lots. They say the reason being is so the developer will have green space locations within the development.

Well, if you build according to the current code, I guarantee you there will be much more green space.

They say it would be a dream to develop the property as AR. I say it would be just as easy, maybe just not as profitable to a developer.

Another question I asked was how does this benefit the citizens in the area? The board said that it would provide a sewer system to the development. Wow, that sure helps the residents nearby.

I asked about the traffic on Redwine Road, since the only accessible entry and exit is located on Redwine, and what was going to done to address the extra load. We were told that traffic was a problem everywhere and that was not a reason to affect the board’s decision, nor was school crowding concerns. Now that’s a revelation.

I presented signed petitions with 351 names from area residents in opposition to the annexation and rezoning. There was not a single member of the board that even looked at the petitions.

Neither myself nor any of the other residents while getting these documents signed found a single person that was for annexing this property, but that did not matter in the least to the board. It was obvious during the entire meeting that their minds were made up before we ever entered the building.

If the overwhelming majority of the citizens were against it, why would they ignore them, and vote against their wishes? While I was sitting there it seemed ridiculous. Here I was listening to the community protesting, and hearing the board tell them our concerns were not valid, and telling us what they wanted. That is preposterous!

Five board members forcing their will on the community, because they know what is best for us. We can see their wise decisions like the strip mine across from Lakemont, and the Pavilion.

The next meeting is scheduled for June 17 at 7 p.m. at City Hall.

James Baker
Fayetteville, Ga.

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