A dialogue has begun between Fayetteville residents and their government over the future of 110 acres in the heart of the city.

That dialogue will continue next Wednesday during the City Council's twice-monthly workshop.

"I see major problems," said resident Chris Burdette during a free exchange last week as council members got their first good look at proposed plans for the McElwaney property, an undeveloped tract bordered by Ga. Highway 54, Tiger Trail, Sharon Drive and Fayette County High School.

Burdette, a third generation Fayetteville resident, said the proposed plan to build more than 300 homes, plus offices, shops, a hotel and a park on the property could further clog the city with traffic and add to Fayette County's general growth pains.

Mayor Mike Wheat said those problems are going to exist in any case. "This property is going to develop," he said. "The challenge that we have as a community is to make what's built on that property as good as it can be within our standards."

Unlike many similar discussions in rapidly growing Fayette, this one involves developers only peripherally. The plan being offered was developed by city-hired and city-paid consultants, Cooper Carry, though developer Robert Rolader is considering buying the property and developing it according to the consultant's master plan.

Discussing the property during recent sweeping revisions to the city's land use plan, the city Planning Commission and the City Council balked at putting a single label on the tract, so large and so close to the city's sensitive Main Street district. Another tract, 200-plus acres south of town on Jimmy Mayfield Boulevard, raised similar concerns.

"On the very large tracts, we decided it would be a smart thing for us to hire some professionals," said Wheat.

Council decided to leave the property's designation as is, and to hire consultants to develop master plans for the two tracts, aimed at developing mixed uses that would serve the city's needs.

Cooper Carry representative Rich Flierl worked with a committee composed of city staff members, council members, planning commissioners, developers and a school board representatives to develop a master plan for the land.

He said the resultant plan is designed to take advantage of the land's large wooded sections, while still bringing vital residents and jobs into Fayetteville's downtown.

"This property is a five-minute walk from downtown," said Wheat. "It's going to be a very attractive project that continues to lead to the success of the Main Street program."

Flierl said a key element of the plan is that it encourages people to walk from place to place. "The street is for the people," he said.

Row houses, multistory and attached, will create an atmosphere similar to Charleston or Savannah in some sections, he said. Balconies will bring people onto the street scene at different levels, he added.

In other areas, village homes on small detached lots with gardens and balconies will continue that feeling, and larger park lots are so named because many of the houses will faces directly onto small parks, he said.

In the outer ring of development around a central square, houses will be on larger "estate lots, with bigger, broader porches... the traditional home of Georgia," he said.

A parkway will wind through the neighborhoods and bring traffic through the property, running from LaFayette Avenue in a semi-circle to Hwy. 54, he said.

Along 54, Flierl envisions class A offices at Sharon Drive, smaller offices farther east, then a small retail village with shops to serve the neighborhood, and a hotel/conference center at the corner of 54 and Tiger Trail.

In spite of the high density of the project, Flierl said, the plan would save most of the property's forested areas, providing walking trails through a large stand of hardwoods and using an old pecan orchard to give the hotel and conference center a parklike feel.

Among concerns expressed by residents of Sharon Drive, whose homes would be right next to the project, are traffic, drainage and foot traffic from the high school next door.

"Where is all this water going to go," said Mary Nama. "We cannot take an inch more water."

A resident who didn't identify himself said students from Fayette County High School currently cut through his neighborhood walking from school to businesses along Hwy. 54. With hiking trails present, there will probably be a lot of foot traffic, he said, suggesting that council put some thought into buffers.

City officials said those problems will require some thought, but added they believe they can be solved.

"The success of Main Street depends on people living downtown," said Wheat. "As averse as we are to density, the place for density is going to be downtown."