By DAVE HAMRICK
Staff Writer

Kenneth Steele, a soon-to-retire Delta Air Lines pilot and current city councilman, and Paul Oddo, “half CPA, half restaurateur and just a little bit of book publisher,” both want your vote for mayor of Fayetteville.

Steelae, a native of Glen Mills, Pa., has been a Fayetteville resident for 21 years. Oddo has lived in his the Fayetteville area since 1970, though his south Fayetteville home was annexed into the city limits about two years ago when a large portion of the family property was developed as a new Kroger shopping center.

Steele holds a BA in education and spent seven years in Southeast Asia as a lieutenant commander in the U.S. Navy before beginning work for Delta. He said he will retire in July after a 30-year career. He is married with three grown children.

Oddo holds a BBA in accounting and worked six years with Price Waterhouse and Mann Judd Landau before establishing his own firm, Paul C. Oddo Jr., P.C., now known as Oddo Brothers, CPA's, in 1979.

The two candidates offer different approaches to development and regulation, among other topics.

Steele: “I feel that I always represent the homeowners and the taxpayers,” said Steele, who has been a City Council member for five years and served on the city Planning and Zoning Commission for five years before that.

Although the city can't deny property owners the right to develop their land as zoned, Steele said, Fayetteville has developed ordinances designed to provide some control.

“We do not determine where commercial development is,” he said, “but we have forced by ordinance the big box retailers to locate between two state highways.” That plan has worked well, said Steele, because the only area that meets that requirement is between Ga. Highway 85 north and Ga. Highway 314.

“Now we have Fayette Pavilion in the best place it can be, bordered by two four-lane highways, with a landfill on the north and another shopping center to the south,” he said. “We did that so as not to impact our residential neighborhoods, and I strongly support that concept.”

Oddo: That concept is all wrong, said Oddo. “Traffic is a huge problem,” he said, “ and it has got to be addressed, not by forcing every bit of new commercial property into the area known as the Pavilion, but by dispersing some of this development around the city and not saturating one particular spot.”

Oddo said he is proud of his family's development of the Fayetteville Towne Center (Kroger) shopping center south of town, adding that he believes it has helped spread some of the traffic around a bit.

The new Lowe's super-store, under construction in the 85/314 corridor, originally sought city approval to locate on Ga. Highway 54 west, Oddo recalled. “Instead they forced it up there to add to the traffic problem,” he said

The law requiring large retail stores to locate between two state highways should be repealed, Oddo said, to encourage some of those big box retailers to move into some of Fayetteville's empty spaces, like the old Wal-Mart. “I would much rather have seen a change in [the law] and got rid of two empty buildings,” he said.

Steele: Changing the two-highway rule wouldn't attract new retailers to the old spaces, said Steele, adding that the city has little control over the situation. “It's private property,” he said.

“We have taken some initiatives, though,” he said. “We've grandfathered the older buildings.” Those who want to redevelop older properties are exempt from some of the city's more restrictive new development regulations.

Oddo: Those regulations also are a bone of contention with Oddo. “They write rules and regulations and they don't understand the impact on the other side of it,” he said. “They don't have to deal with it.”

As a business owner, Oddo said, he does have to deal with the regulations, and in some cases they're too restrictive. He recently went a round with city regulators in seeking approval to expand his restaurant, GTO's. The expansion was a simple one, he said, yet the process took longer than seven months. “That's ridiculous,” he said.

His accounting firm helps people deal with the Internal Revenue Service, and as mayor he would help local people deal with the city, he said. “I want to help people deal with the rules and regulations,” he said.

Steele: Rules and regulations are necessary, said Steele, to keep commercial development from overtaking the community. Zoning is already in place for a great deal of commercial development, he said, and although it would be legal for the city to change the zoning of some of that land, it wouldn't be practical. “The courts have ruled that we must reimburse them” for the difference in marketability between the old zoning and the new, he said.

“Instead, we increase the development standards to make the best possible project with the current zoning,” he said.

Some residents in recent years have pushed the city to put a liquor by the drink referendum on the ballot in hopes of attracting better restaurants to the city. Steele said he is not in favor of any action by the City Council. “If the voters initiate the referendum by petition, that's probably the purest form of democracy left in America,” he said.

“I support their right to petition. They have a direct voice,” he added.

Oddo: Oddo said he favors the City Council placing the liquor question on the ballot without a petition. “Peachtree City has shown that having liquor by the drink does not create a den of iniquity,” Oddo said.

When people want a drink, they're going to buy it, he added. “Instead of driving over to Peachtree City or Clayton County, we might as well have them here at home,” he said.

On another topic, Oddo said that, although Fayetteville has lowered its tax rate over the years, many residents are paying higher taxes because inflation has driven the value of their property up.

“Dollars paid — that's what you look at,” said Oddo. He said he believes that balancing commercial and residential development, along with making the city government more efficient, can reduce people's actual taxes.

Steele: Steele said the city already is holding the line on taxes, and although every individual case is different, for the most part lower tax rates have kept citizens from paying higher tax dollars, even with inflation.

“I would say that 90 to 95 percent of the city property taxes have, in fact, gone down,” he said.

Steele said he also feels that the City Council has recently reduced residential density in the city, through approval of a new land use plan.

Generally, the city should be developed more densely near downtown and less densely farther out, said Steele. He is opposed, he said, to annexing property in order to give allow developers higher density because of the availability of sewer service.

“We now have a two-acre zoning category for anyone that wants to be annexed” and whose property is zoned for two-acre development in the county, he said.

He said he also favors flexible subdivision plans that make use of more green space, as long as the overall density remains the same. “They may have a hundred acres, and after you take out for infrastructure they can get about 85 homes with one-acre zoning. Under [flexible planning] they still end up with 85 homes, but they might have them on 25 acres and the other 75 are deeded to a preservation trust or something like that,” he said.

Oddo: The city should be developed more densely than the county, said Oddo, “but it doesn't have to be super dense either.” Higher density residential development should be “balanced with zero density,” he said, meaning commercial development.

Oddo also called for more cooperation between the city and Fayette County, including possible consolidation of the city and county water systems. “I'm not against looking into it,” he said.

Reminded that a committee of county and city officials currently is currently working to foster greater cooperation, Oddo said, “I can do a better job. That's why I'm running for mayor.

If elected, Oddo said, he would encourage city staff to look for small ways to help senior citizens, including having their trash picked up without their having to take it to the street.

Steele: Steele said he also would like to see more emphasis on senior citizens, and called for community involvement in building a new senior services building, similar to the Fayette Play Park effort.

Fayetteville should develop more green spaces and recreation areas, he added. “We do not have the financial wherewithal to do it,” he said, but added he is hoping Gov. Roy Barnes' emphasis on green spaces will be bolstered by more state dollars.

He said if elected he also will push for more state and federal help for Fayette's transportation problems. A county transportation plan is in place, he said, and should be funded. “It's a regional problem, and it's going to take regional solutions, he said.ª

A committee representing the Georgia Association of Chiefs of Police, Georgia Sheriff's Association, Fire Chiefs Association of Georgia/Georgia State Fire Fighters Association, Emergency Medical Services, Emergency Management Agency of Georgia, 911 Advisory Committee, and Prosecuting Attorneys' Council, as well as other state agencies with public safety authority, participated in the selection process.

The awards ceremony will be Tuesday, Oct. 26, at 10 a.m. at the Georgia Public Safety Training Center in Forsyth.