A concept plan that shows a 17-acre office/industrial park at the entrance to a 163-home subdivision on the west side of Ga. Highway 314 at New Hope Road is "too preliminary," said Bob Rolader, agent for S&R Properties.

Preliminary or not, Fayette County's Planning Commission will consider a change in the land use plan that would allow the office park during its May 6 meeting. Staff opposes the change, calling for residential development on that side of the highway.

The point is moot, insists Rolader. He said the company will ask the Fayetteville Planning Commission during its May meetings to endorse annexation and residential zoning for the 144-acre site. The firm hasn't even decided which residential zoning category to ask for, he added.

But the county Planning Commission last week looked over a concept plan for Argonne Forest, listing S&R as owner/developer, showing 163 homes on 137 acres on both sides of New Hope Road, with a 20-lot development zoned O-I (office institutional) at the front of the subdivision facing Hwy. 314.

The plan shows PUD (planned unit development) residential zoning for the subdivision.

Cottonwood Plantation subdivision, zoned R-40 (homes on one-acre lots), borders the property on the south, Brandon Hill subdivision, zoned R-40, on the west, and Black Rock Springs and Ansley Oaks subdivisions, both zoned R-40, on the north.

Planning Commission members expressed positive attitudes toward the concept plan if the property should remain in the county. "I would prefer to see some type of O-I go as a buffer between the residential and commercial," said commission chairman Bob Harbison, pointing out that the land is across Hwy. 314 from heavy commercial development in Fayette Pavilion phase three.

But Fayetteville officials have consistently called for residential development on the west side of 314.

In fact, the city refused to annex Pavilion phase three and provide sewerage for the development, calling for office development on that side of 314 as a buffer to residential development on the west side.

Despite existence of the concept plan, Rolader said the company is not actively considering office development on the property at this time. "We should know more in a week or two," he said.

The county Planning Commission will discuss its land use plan for the Ga. Highway 85/Hwy. 314 area during its regular meeting May 6 at 7 p.m. at the County Administrative Complex.

If S&R submits its annexation and rezoning request in time for the Fayetteville Planning Commission's May schedule, the group will discuss the plan in work session May 11 at 7 p.m. and can vote on the matter at 7:30 p.m. May 25. Both meetings are at City Hall.

County Planning Commission members last week also briefly discussed the future of 36 acres between Tyrone and Peachtree City, on Rockwood Road near Shamrock Industrial Boulevard.

The land is currently zoned A-R (agricultural-residential), and the county land use plan lists its future use as residential, although it's "in the middle of an industrial area," said planning director Chris Venice.

Commissioners said it sounds like the land use plan should be changed to reflect industrial use, but once again the point may be moot. The property is in Peachtree City's sites for annexation as part of its proposed Line Creek Village.