Fayetteville officials, Concordia Partners and Piedmont Properties appear to be closing in on an agreement that will bring a 40,000-sq. ft. Barnes and Noble Shopping Center at Pine Trail Road and Ga. Highway 85.

Residents of the area continue to oppose the pact, saying the result will be a traffic nightmare, but city staff argue that the result will be improved traffic flow throughout the region.

"What we're endeavoring to do is improve the overall situation," city manager Mike Bryant told City Council last week. Bryant reported that negotiations aimed at developing a frontage road to tie Concordia's nine acres with Piedmont's 54 acres to the north are going well.

"Our hopes are that we can come to a conclusion of this matter," he said.

Council tabled Concordia's plan for a Barnes & Noble, Linens N Things, Chili's restaurant and other shops during its Feb. 1 meeting and directed staff to work with the companies for a compromise agreement in time for its next meeting, March 1.

Central to the agreement is Piedmont's promise to provide access through its property using a temporary road, and a traffic light at the Hwy. 85 median cut between Piedmont's property and the rear driveway to Home Depot across the road.

Bryant said this week, though, that the temporary road may not be necessary if Piedmont closes on the final acres of its parcel by April 1 as expected. If that happens, a permanent frontage road connecting the two projects can be built, and traffic will have easier access to Concordia's site from the north.

The plan only partially addresses Pine Trail Road residents' insistence that no access to the shopping center be allowed on their neighborhood street. City officials favor an exit from the center onto Pine Trail, but no entrance.

But residents say allowing any traffic from the center to use their road will clog the road and make it even more difficult for them go to and from their homes than it is now. Traffic using a driveway into Office Depot, across Pine Trail from the Concordia site, already makes driving a nightmare, they say. "If the City Council approves this plan it will set a precedent that will make future efforts to protect city streets unsuccessful," said resident Pat King during the Feb. 1 meeting.