By DAVE HAMRICK
Staff Writer

The Village

• 203 homes of various sizes.

• Hotel/conference center.

• Retail square.

• Two office complexes.

• Neighborhood parks.

Fayetteville officials are hoping that the dawn of 2000 will bring closure to a project that is expected to set the tone for the city's future.

City Planning Commission members are continuing to study a proposed new zoning category tailor-made to encompass a development plan for the McElwaney property, a 110-acre tract on Ga. Highway 54 just west of downtown at Tiger Trail.

The overall plan, dubbed “The Village” and designed at the city's expense by urban planning consultants, already has received approval by the City Council. It envisions 200 homes of varying sizes and densities, plus a hotel/conference center, a retail square, two different styles of office complex and space for a park, all interlaced with small neighborhood parks and tree-lined streets.

With an ambience reminiscent of Savannah or Charleston, the project is expected to bring upscale residential growth to downtown Fayetteville, and help create the active, pedestrian-friendly downtown that city leaders have been working for through the Main Street program.

But none of the city's zoning categories quite fit that vision, and preparing a different rezoning application for each segment of the property would be unwieldy, according to chief planner Maurice Ungaro.

Planners have written a proposed new Planned Community Development ordinance that would allow the mix of uses envisioned for the McElwaney property under one zoning umbrella, and would make the details of the master plan a part of the zoning approval, so that the developer would be bound by those details.

Members of the Planning Commission have misgivings, though. “This is an ordinance written for a project,” commented commission member Allan Feldman when the proposal was introduced in October.

Feldman said he is concerned that the proposed ordinance doesn't directly limit the density of developments, leaving those decisions to city leaders. “You would wind up in a battle royal over this thing,” he said.

Approval of the zoning has been on the commission's agenda in November and December, tabled each time while a committee of commissioners works with the planning staff to tweak the proposed ordinance.

Those involved say they hope to have a final version to present at the commission's work session Jan. 11 and voting session Jan. 25. If the commission recommends passage of the new ordinance, and a rezoning for the property under that ordinance, the City Council could act in February.

That would leave only approval of site plans and issuance of work permits, and construction could begin on roads and other infrastructure in the spring.