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City flips on traffic light

By BEN NELMS
bnelms@TheCitizenNews.com

A March vote by Fayetteville’s Planning & Zoning Commission to link approval of a revised development request by Piedmont Fayette Hospital to the installation of a traffic light at the Ga. Highway 54 entrance was reversed Tuesday.

The commission’s March 22 vote linked approval of development plans for a temporary trailer at the hospital during its expansion to a requirement that the hospital gain approval and provide an installation schedule for a traffic light at the intersection on Hwy. 54. Mayor Kenneth Steele and city manager Joe Morton met with board members the following day in an effort to have planning commissioners withdraw the condition.

At the Tuesday meeting, board Chair Sarah Murphy said the commission had been asked to reconsider their March 22 vote based on evidence that progress is being made for getting the traffic light. She said the local Georgia Department of Transportation office has obtained approval from Atlanta. Cost estimates for the project are underway, she said. After a brief discussion, the board voted 3-0 to approve the revised development plan with conditions relating to landscaping and screening. Commissioners Derryll Anderson, Jim Crain and Bill Talley voted in favor of the motion. Commissioner Allan Feldman abstained.

The initial issue involved a request by the hospital to place an 1,100-square-foot trailer adjacent to a portion of the facility while a new expansion area under construction is being completed. The trailer would need to be used for approximately 18 months to two years, the hospital’s Facilities Development and Support Services Vice President Tracey Coker told board members March 8. The discussion on grassing and landscaping around the trailer and other issues relating to the request turned to the need for a traffic light on the Hwy. 54 side of the facility. Feldman cited the historic need for a traffic light at the Hwy. 54 entrance, the number of traffic accidents at the intersection and concerns that the number of vehicles on the roadway makes accessing the hospital from SR 54 increasingly difficult, especially for some older residents.

In their conversation with commissioners March 23, Morton and Steele took the position that the requirement linking the traffic light to the landscaping and other considerations relating to the approval of the temporary trailer was one that was outside the scope of the commission’s authority. With the city having taken the role as facilitator for the project, we will get the job done, Morton said.