By DAVE HAMRICK
Staff Writer

Fayetteville's Planning Commission hopes to act on a new zoning category to govern office developments in the Fayette Community Hospital area during a special called meeting Tuesday, July 13.

If the commission votes to recommend approval, the new ordinance will go to City Council for first reading July 19, and council can act on it Aug. 2.

That won't be a minute too soon for H.E. Holbrook, who wants to move from his Sandy Creek Road home, right next to the hospital, and sell it for a dental laboratory. His annexation and rezoning request, submitted back in March, was halted in May to give city officials time to hammer out the ordinance.

Hayes Development Corp. also is waiting in the wings for approval of its plans for a medical office building on Ga. Highway 54, just to the east of the hospital.

The proposed new ordinance is designed to make sure development around the hospital is of high quality and includes the kinds of traffic-easing improvements that City Council members want. Interconnecting driveways that allow traffic to move between developments without getting back on Hwy. 54 are crucial, council members have said.

Originally, officials planned to enact a set of special design standards — a zoning overlay — but on the advice of consultants decided to design a zoning category that would accomplish the same purpose. Consultants Rich Flierl and Maurice Ungaro are writing the new zoning ordinance with rules for buffers, landscaping, architectural standards and other factors aimed at making the hospital area aesthetically and environmentally sound.

“This [area] is a strong incubator,” city manager Mike Bryant told City Council during a recent work session. “This is a job creator and will determine what the character of the community is going to be,” he added.

“It's something that supports the hospital and creates the appropriate environment for the hospital,” he told The Citizen. “We should not let it grow haphazardly.”

A third annexation and rezoning request for medical offices came to city planners recently, but owners withdrew the request last week after learning that the process of approving the new zoning category would slow down their plans.

City officials said owners of the 4.9-acre tract next to the Apex Medical Building, just west of the hospital, will work with Fayette County to develop the property.

If the new ordinance is approved according to schedule, Holbrook and Hayes can move forward with their annexation and rezoning requests right away.

Planning commissioners have a regular work session each second Tuesday, but don't conduct business. They have advertised the July 13 meeting as a special called business meeting for purposes of enacting the new ordinance.

Also on the agenda will be a proposed new regulation limiting yard sales to three per year, and a change to zoning ordinances prohibiting businesses offering psychic readings in the city.