By DAVE HAMRICK
Staff Writer

Residents will probably have a chance to comment on the plan that Fayette County's government uses to make zoning decisions during a series of workshop meetings next month.

The county Planning and Zoning Commission will discuss its strategy for complete review of the land use plan Thursday, Aug. 20 at 7 p.m. at the County Administrative Complex.

The Board of Commissioners recently directed the Planning Commission to review five aspects of the plan:

The hospital area. The group will discuss the location and scale of future commercial, office and residential development.

The Fayette Pavilion area, with discussion centering on the location and scale of future development.

Environmental concerns. The group will discuss water quality including pollution, septic systems and erosion control, and flooding including storm water management, flood plains and open space, and erosion/sediment control.

Southern Fayette County. The group will study development around Lake Horton, review current agricultural/estate districts, and study the areas around Ga. Highway 85, the 85 Connector, Ga. Highway 74 and Starr's Mill.

Text of the land use plan. The planning department will study the plan's categories, density ranges and formulas with input from the Planning Commission and private citizens.

Review of the plan is expected to take as long as a year.

Planning Commission members last week decided to discuss in detail how the process will be approached during next week's regular workshop meeting. One suggestion was to start with a series of weekly workshop meetings, some during the day and some at night, to gather public comment, then name ad hoc committees to review each area of concern.