By DAVE HAMRICK
Staff Writer

Mayor Mike Wheat's last Fayetteville City Council meeting, set for Monday at 7 p.m., promises to be a barn burner.

Wheat declined to run for reelection Nov. 3 and will leave office after nine years as mayor. He will open the council's Jan. 3 meeting, but will then turn the gavel over to Mayor-elect Kenneth Steele following Steele's swearing in.

Council will meet only once in December, cancelling its third Monday meeting because it would interfere with the Christmas holiday.

Fourteen items are on the agenda for the Dec. 6 meeting. Council will discuss those items in work session tonight at 7 p.m.

Among topics the group will discuss:

” A new zoning category that would allow the intensive mixed use Village development on the 110-acre former McElwaney property, and Argonne Properties' request to attach the new zoning to the property in question.

Argonne's plan for the property includes about 200 homes on lots of varying sizes, plus a retail square, a hotel/conference center, two office complexes and a series of parks. City officials are hoping the development will help revitalize Fayetteville's downtown.

” A controversial proposed law prohibiting the parking of semi trucks in residential areas. The proposed law would exempt residents who already park their big rigs at home, but Councilman Walt White has proposed additional restrictions on those “grandfathered” residents.

” An ongoing discussion of the city's law prohibiting fences in front yards, and defining any yard facing a street as a front yard. Newton Galloway is appealing the city Planning Commission's denial of his request for an exception to the law.

Both his front yard and his back yard face streets, so he can't fence off his back yard. And the Planning Commission already is dealing with similar requests in other subdivisions throughout the city.

” A proposed new tree protection and landscape ordinance. A citizens' committee began studying the Planning Commission's proposed new tree protection law after developers warned that the law might be so restrictive that they can't build at all. Council agreed to appoint a committee and take more time to study the proposal, but in the meantime enacted a moratorium on new developments to prevent further destruction of trees.

If the new ordinance is enacted Monday, the moratorium probably will be allowed to expire. Otherwise, an additional item on Monday's agenda is extending the moratorium.

” A public hearing on suspension of beer and wine licenses throughout the city. The suspensions are being considered in the wake of a recent Police Department sting, in which every store in the city that sells alcohol was cited for selling to minors. (See related story