By DAVE HAMRICK
Staff Writer

Principles of Southern Community Bank hope to have a place to hang their hats by March, but there are hurdles to leap at City Hall first.

A group headed by longtime Fayette banker Gary McGaha announced plans for the new locally owned bank last April, using a building site across the street and slightly north from McGaha's former Heritage Bank. McGaha, who will be president and CEO of Southern, left Heritage in February to pursue the new challenge.

The firm's plans for a two-story, 14,000-sq. ft. building on north Jeff Davis Drive at Jefferson Avenue are on the city Planning Commission's agenda for approval Tuesday, but the plans came under intense scrutiny from commission members during a work session last week.

The fate of six large trees, three oak and three pecan, on the 2.08-acre site was of particular concern. “What I'm tired of is [applicants] coming in here and saying, `We're putting the building here... we're taking down a 26-inch tree and we're putting in a two-inch tree,'” said commission member Allan Feldman.

He suggested that architects Cobb and Associates find a way to move the building to accommodate the trees, rather than the other way around.

But Wayne Leslie, a member of the bank's board of directors, said saving the large trees is not as simple as it may seem. “A lot of time has been spent trying to get the building on the site and save those trees,” he said, “and we haven't been able to accomplish that.”

In addition to topographical problems on the land itself, designers tried to place the building so it would have minimal impact on three residential neighborhoods next door to the east, off Jefferson Avenue, said Leslie.

Commission members expressed a willingness to reduce required buffers and be lenient on parking requirements in order to save as many trees as possible, and Leslie said this week that bank officials are trying to do their part.

“We started out saving one [of the trees], and now we're up to three,” said Leslie. “We hope we can save another one.”

He said the bank's landscaping plan provides for more than replacing the trees that would be lost, but he also understands the Planning Commission's desire to preserve the older trees. “We would certainly like to do that,” he added.

Parking presents another problem in the minds of some commissioners. Fayetteville's corridor ordinance requires that most of the parking be behind buildings, and commission members said they would like to see the bank's drive-through in the back as well.

But again, more traffic to the rear of the building, especially at night for the drive-through, might be more intrusive on neighbors, bank spokesmen said.

Commissioners told the architects to do their best to address the planning group's concerns. They will vote on development plans for the bank Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. at City Hall.