Fayetteville City Council has packed up the city's new comprehensive plan and sent it to the Atlanta Regional Commission for approval.

But city officials may have jumped the gun in accepting three rezoning applications this week.

The city's moratorium on rezonings, enacted almost a year ago to give its planning staff time to rewrite the comprehensive plan, was recently renewed until Oct. 12, but it's not over until it's over.

City Council must enact a resolution formally ending the moratorium before rezoning applications can be taken, said city attorney David Winkle. And he advised that the council not take that action until it has formally adopted the new land use plan and land use map as part of the comprehensive plan.

ARC approval might take months, but Winkle said the new plan must be in place, or else applicants might seek legal redress if a rezoning is rejected based on the new plan. The previous land use plan would govern such decisions, he said.

"The problem is we have applications coming in and we don't have any way of dealing with them," said Mayor Mike Wheat. "We've had some people that have been waiting for ten months and it's costing them money... and we're unanimous in supporting this land use map," he added.

Council members said they're comfortable going ahead and approving the land use plan at their next meeting Nov. 2, and then lifting the moratorium. ARC's suggestions are not binding, said Councilman Walt White. "I'm committed to this plan," he added.