Tyrone Planning Commission Sept. 28 voted to deny a request by Scarbrough & Rolader Development to rezone 45.6 acres along the west side Ga. Highway 74 on the town’s north side from AR (Agricultural Residential) to M-1 (Light Manufacturing). Representative Bob Rolader said the company wanted to relocate its headquarters to Tyrone. He proposed establishing a masonry facade office building near the highway with a small number of industrial buildings for electrical and plumbing businesses toward the rear portion of the property.

City consulting engineer Jonathan Lewis explained the positive and negative aspects of the request. On the positive side, the rezoning and subsequent development would have a beneficial fiscal impact. On the negative side, Lewis said the proposal was inconsistent with the Future Land Use Plans of Tyrone and Fayette County and would be inconsistent with the existing and planned adjacent uses. Lewis said the move would amount to spot zoning, adding that the property has only one access point and is not located at a median curb cut.

Rolader told commissioners the buildings not fronting Hwy. 74 would not be visible from the highway, adding that his company had letters of support from 10 neighbors. He said the site would not pose a problem with truck and other traffic since the businesses, like his own, conducted much of their work off-site. Rolader said his company had already gained curb cut approval from Georgia Dept. of Transportation.

“We want to relocate here from Fayetteville due to the proximity to I-85,” Rolader said. “I think we will have a good working relationship with Tyrone.”

Property owner Danny Campbell spoke in favor of the rezoning request. Campbell said the value of the property had been negatively affected after a tornado last year caused him to demolish the house and made it impossible to maintain the majority of his livestock. Mary Whitlock and David Nebergall spoke in opposition, citing the potential for declining property values in the vicinity of an industrial park area and, if approved, the deviation from the town’s current land use outlook.

In other business, the board gave its approval to a Planned Unit Development (PUD) revision and site plan for Nikko Japanese Restaurant. To be located on the southwest corner of Carriage Oaks Drive and Ga. Highway 74, the 7,000 square-foot upscale restaurant will be situated on 1.66 acres. Architect Ben Skaggs said exterior construction would include a stone base topped by brick extending 14-16 feet with EFIS, or synthetic stucco, accent strips at the roof line.