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By 3-to-2, Wieland gets half-acre lots in Tyrone

By LEE WILLIAMS
lwilliams@TheCitizenNews.com

The Tyrone Planning Commission said, “No.” The citizens said, “No.”

But on Thursday, the Tyrone Town Council, which has the ultimate say, said, “Yes,” to a proposal from John Wieland Homes to build a 155-home subdivision on Ga. Highway 74 South and Kirkley Road.

Wieland requested a land use map change from 1.1 (Conservation) to 1.1, 1.4 (Multi-Family) and 6 (Parks and Recreation Conservation), and a rezoning from AR (Agricultural Residential) to DR-15 (Multi-Family) to make room for Tyrone II, which will feature minimum half-acre lots, the smallest in Tyrone.

The subdivision will be built using a spin-off to the conservation subdivision plan adopted by the town. A total of 117.4 acres of land will be used to develop Tyrone II. The remaining 99.6 acres will be set aside for green space, officials said.

John Wieland Homes South Region President Scott Auer indicated the subdivision will be developed to ensure the town’s character is preserved.

Tyrone II will feature 2,800-square-foot and above single family homes ranging from $300,000 to $450,000. The minimum lot size would be a half-acre, but many homes would be larger than the minimum, he said. A recreational area would be included in the subdivision, which will be built adjacent to Wieland’s upscale single-family Southampton development.

“There are many features to this plan that have been considered to make it an environmentally friendly plan: One that works to protect the rural character of the land while allowing for smart growth,” Auer told the council.

More than 50 people both young and old who attended the 7 p.m. meeting at Town Hall opposed the plan. Some residents circulated fliers that read, “Alert! Alert! Alert! John Wieland is at it again!” to garner opposition for the plan.

Some circulated fliers featuring quotes taken from Tyrone Mayor Sheryl Lee’s campaign literature that read, “We have a choice of continuing our long held vision for low-density residential development or embark on a new vision of Tyrone. I believe it is my responsibility to the community as your mayor to continue with the existing vision for Tyrone.

“It is more critical now than ever before to continue to protect the rural character of our town,” the flier said.

Bill Curlee of Crestwood Road was the first to express his viewpoint.

“I think if you agree with this half-acre then you are letting the citizens of Tyrone down,” Curlee said.

Curlee said schools would be “overloaded,” the fire department and the police department will need more people, and traffic on Hwy. 74 would get worse.

“I strongly recommend disapproval of this,” he said.

After listening to at least eight people who voiced opposition to the proposal, each drawing a thunderous applause from the audience, the council voted 3-2 in favor of the project. Council members Lisa Richardson and Lyn Redwood said they could not support the proposal and voted, “No.”

“Tyrone went on record saying we would not use sewer to increase density,” Redwood said, prompting a standing ovation.

Council members Paul Letourneau, Michael Smola and Mayor Lee who cast the deciding vote, said, “Yes,” to the proposal.

It was the fourth time the proposal had been brought before the council since 2003, Town Manager Barry Amos indicated.

The three “Yes” votes sparked an outcry from Carrie Klarl of unincorporated Fayette County and another unidentified resident who accused Lee of having her “palms greased,” by the developer. A charge Lee vigorously denied at the meeting.

“No one expects that land to stay AR, but he could have developed that land under the current land use map and that’s what the Planning Commission recommended and that’s what everybody is asking for,” Klarl said. “And it’s just a shame that you won’t listen to your Planning Commission or your citizens.”

Clara White of Tyrone echoed Klarl’s sentiments, but she directed her comments to Lee after drawing the mayor’s attention to her aforementioned campaign platform of “low-density residential development.”

“You’ve abandoned us. It was your vote tonight,” White said, as the volume of her voice increased sharply. “Your vote did it. Yours and two others and I know whose they are and I’ll never forget. That was wrong. Morally wrong.”

Tyrone II, which will be built on a 217-acre swap of land bordered by Ga. Highway 74 South, Kirkley Road, Mann Road and Davidson Mineral Products, a rock quarry, will take about five years to complete, Auer said adding it was contingent upon sales.

Wieland agreed to donate a swap of land to build a Sandy Creek Road extension through Tyrone, but council agreed to kill that portion of the deal Thursday.

Southampton residents receive public sewer from Fairburn. Tyrone II residents also but the deal between Tyrone and Fairburn is still in the works.

“We are working with the town to do a modified sewer agreement because we had a sewer agreement when we put in Southampton and we believe we had some excess capacity, so we are going to try to a do modified sewer agreement,” Auer said. “We are planning on doing public sewer, but we have to work on an agreement with the town. It should not affect the Tyrone-Fairburn relationship.”