The Fayette Citizen-News Page
Wednesday, May 26, 1999
Residents: Highway 314 is no place for homes

By DAVE HAMRICK
Staff Writer

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Residents of Ga. Highway 314 north of Fayetteville didn't just go away following last week's county Planning Commission meeting... they went away mad.

"You're going to do what you want to and to h*** with us," barked one homeowner as the group filed out.

The residents, whose homes face Hwy. 314 form the west side between New Hope and Roberts roads, wanted the commission to recommend a change in the county land use plan, designating the area for future office or commercial development instead of its current residential designation.

"If we are retained as residential, we are going to be hurt substantially, financially," said Bob Chatham, the only Hwy. 314 resident who identified himself. "Everything around us has been zoned either commercial or O&I (office and institutional)," he added.

But Chatham added that he is concerned for his neighbors who live in Black Rock Springs, Ansley Oaks, Silver Springs and other subdivisions. If homes that face the highway are allowed to convert to offices, the neighborhoods just off the highway should be protected with buffers and strict design standards, he said.

Other residents were more direct. A woman who didn't identify herself said, "We needed [the recent widening of] 314 like we needed a hole in the head," she said. "They took our property."

"They took my property for the road, and I want it commercial," said another resident.

Commissioners said they expect many of the homes on 314 to become offices, but they're not ready to change the land use plan to reflect that expectation until they have time to develop special restrictions to protect the surrounding neighborhoods, as Chatham suggested.

"I don't really see that area as much different than [Ga. Highway] 54," said commission Chairman Bob Harbison. A separate "overlay" ordinance for that corridor allows office development next to neighborhoods as a buffer from the busy highway, but also imposes strict architectural standards to encourages offices that have a residential look.

The land use plan, a planning guide for future zoning decisions, lists the west side of 314 corridor as residential, and commissioners at one time favored keeping it that way, with office development on the east side providing a buffer between homes to the west and intense commercial development farther east.

But development of Fayette Pavilion's third phase, which is on the east side of 314, has changed all that. Now planners are pushing for offices on the west side of 314 with homes starting just off the highway.

Directly across from the Pavilion, developer Bob Rolader is seeking approval from the city of Fayetteville to put 163 homes on 127 acres along both sides of New Hope Road, with offices on 17 acres at the front of the property facing 314. Both county and city planners have expressed agreement with that basic plan, though some members of both bodies call for fewer homes in the residential part.

Members of the commission agreed to discuss the matter further at their next work session, June 17 at 7 p.m.


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