By DAVE HAMRICK
Staff Writer

A new day care center is set to go on Ga. Highway 54 just west of downtown.

Magnolia Park Day Care, on East Lanier Avenue between Grady Avenue and Braxton Court, received Fayette Planning Commission approval last week for its development plans.

Commission members expressed concern about plans to have playgrounds both in the front and rear of the center, but developers said that's necessary to separate different age groups.

They promised to plant more trees and shrubs in the required buffer areas, and noted that the building will be below street level and barely visible. Also, developers promised to use green and brown colors for the playground equipment, as opposed to bright, highly visible colors.

Developers left it up to the commission to decide whether they should use all brick on the building's exterior, or a combination of brick and siding. City planner Maurice Ungara pointed out that the center is in the city's Main Street district, and most of the homes in the area have siding, not brick.

But commissioners said they like brick, and voted 3-1 for it. Commission member Segis Lipscomb voted against the motion. “Everything around town is becoming red brick,” she said. “We've got enough red brick.”

Commissioners also approved a preliminary plat for tract two, phase one of Highland Park subdivision off South Jeff Davis Drive.

Planned are 16 homes on 11.93 acres. The plat is for a portion of an already approved subdivision.

Jeff Betsill Homes received commission approval of a variance, letting the company off the hook for a surveying error that left a home in Pecan Ridge 8.5 feet closer to the street than city ordinances allow.

“It's really of no impact to anybody,” said acting Chairman Kevin Bittinger, after staff pointed out that the house is about the same distance from the street as other homes in the subdivision.