New special standards for development along Ga. Highway 85 north are now the law.

"I'm very satisfied with it," said County Commission Chairman Harold Bost as the group considered the Hwy. 85 Overlay ordinance recommended by the county Planning Commission.

Julian Lee, owner of several parcels along the busy corridor between Fayetteville and Riverdale, wasn't quite so satisfied, saying that rules calling for placement of 50 percent of a shopping center's parking at the side or rear of the center will create an unsafe situation.

"How many of you, if your wife or daughter is going to the shopping center, will tell them to be sure and park in the back?" Lee asked rhetorically.

But zoning administrator Kathy Zeitler said most of the parcels along Hwy. 85 are small ones that are suitable to placing buildings creatively, so that there is actually no rear, but four easily accessible sides.

If there is a need for an exception for a large shopping center, she said, variances can be granted as long as the overall plan for the center meets the goal of the ordinance, which is to establish a visually attractive entrance to Fayette.