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County denies annex request

By BEN NELMS
bnelms@TheCitizenNews.com

Fayette County commissioners rejected April 6 the idea of having the city of Fayetteville annex property southeast of the city to be rezoned from A-R Agricultural-Residential to R-30 Residential. The request by property owners, including the donation of land to be used as a park and the construction of the proposed “Southside Connector Road,” did not meet the approval of commissioners due to what they described as density issues concerning the number of lots that would result.

At question were the parcels, totaling 82 acres, situated west of Country Squire Drive in unincorporated Fayette County and owned by James W. Burch and Henry G. Thrailkill, Jr. The property lies between South Jeff Davis Drive and Jimmie Mayfield Boulevard. A letter of intent submitted by property owners to the City of Fayetteville proposed the rezoning of 49.25 acres to accommodate 100 residential lots separated by a 32.34-acre city-owned park with spring-fed lakes and the construction, at the developers expense, of a “Southside Connector Road.”

The property is currently zoned A-R by the county. The 49.25 acres could accommodate approximately 45 lots if developed in the county as a normal one-acre subdivision. The property would accommodate approximately 21 lots if developed under the county’s Conservation Subdivision Zoning, according to county director of zoning Aaron Wheeler in a report to commissioners.

Representing the city of Fayetteville at the meeting, Mayor Kenneth Steele said the request to develop the property came from from long-time residents who wanted to leave a legacy for the community. Steele said the proposal was a perfect example of in-fill annexation. He noted the positive results of having a 32-acre city park and the savings to taxpayers by having the developer construct a road connecting Jimmie Mayfield and South Jeff Davis.

After further discussion, a motion to return the proposal to the city with no objection failed by a 3-2 vote. Commissioners A. G. VanLandingham and Herb Frady voted in favor of the motion while Peter Pfeifer and Linda Wells voted against it. Chairman Greg Dunn cast the tie-breaking vote.

Prior to the vote, Wells said the problem with the proposal was the increased density that rezoning would bring, suggesting that many area residents would not opt for nor have an expectation of increased density in unincorporated areas.

“If you live in the city you anticipate density, if you live in the county you really don’t want to anticipate annexation and the slow encroachment,” said Wells.

From the density standpoint, said Dunn, the number of lots the city would allow is greater than what the county would allow. But regardless of the county’s action, the property will be annexed, he said.

“I understand that this property is going to be annexed into the City of Fayetteville,” he said. “I’m not objecting because I want to try to prevent this from happening. I going to object so that, hopefully, the city of Fayetteville will sit down with us and try to find ways to reduce the density, at least somewhat. We’ve done that on a couple of the other annexations recently. Everybody knows that (the city) is going to annex this and perhaps this process will allow us to cut down on the density somewhat and if it doesn’t, we’ve registered our concern.”