Fayette County planners will continue their discussion of how to make Ga. Highway 85 north a "scenic gateway into Fayette" during their workshop meeting tomorrow night.

The Planning and Zoning Commission also will discuss a master plan for communications towers (see related story) and a minor change in its restrictions on animal clinics in office/institutional zoning districts during its regular monthly workshop at 7 p.m. at the County Administrative Complex.

Special building design restrictions for Hwy. 85 from Fayetteville north to the county line have been on the commission's plate for several months. The group sent its recommendations to the County Commission, but the governing body sent the Hwy. 85 overlay plan back to Planning Commission after a businessman asked for a chance to comment.

Julian Lee, part owner of about 20 acres of commercial property along the thoroughfare, told the group during its meeting two weeks ago that the proposed design standards are too restrictive.

The standards are intended to go hand-in-glove with a recently adopted land use plan for that area, which in turn is expected to work with zoning of property along the corridor to "establish and maintain a scenic gateway into Fayette County," according to planning officials.

A similar set of special requirements along Ga. Highway 54 between Fayetteville and Peachtree City is working well, officials say, and they want the same thing for 85 north.

Among restrictions are limits on the number of driveways allowed, architectural standards for buildings aimed at an office park appearance, plus rules stating that buildings front on interior roads or driveways rather than facing 85.

Facing the buildings away from the highway is among the least palatable of the restrictions, said Lee. "This is particularly fatal to retailers," he said.

He also suggested that applying the restrictions to properties 700 feet on either side of the highway is excessive. "Two hundred fifty feet is all that's needed," he said. Limits on the number of curb cuts is fine for small properties, he said, but "what about folks with 2,000 or 3,000 feet of road frontage?"