Fayetteville City Council Jan. 4 decided to continue with the Ga. Highway 54 Concept Plan and to extend the city’s participation in the task force charged with shaping the future of 2,060 acres in central Fayette County along Hwy. 54 from Fayetteville to Tyrone Road.

The concept plan north of Hwy. 54 includes areas east of Sandy Creek Road and extends to Tyrone Road on the west. The plan calls for future development efforts to include large areas of residential north of Hwy. 54, medical and other office use in proximity to Hwy. 54, limited commercial at Hwy. 54 and Tyrone Road and a potential institute of higher learning and proposed high school northeast of the Tyrone Road/Hwy. 54 intersection.

“The concept plan is not a consensual plan. It is a plan to be developed over time,” Mayor Kenneth Steele said, noting that the emerging plan would likely take 10-15 years to fully develop.

Steele cited the significant pressure on the city and Fayette County to develop the area. That pressure came because owners are ready to sell, Steele said.

The concept plan calling for medical and other office use along Hwy. 54 centers around the availability of highway access and sewer capacity. Whether in the county or city, the development of office areas would be basically the same but with a greater intensity if the corridor area was annexed into the city due to the availability of sewer, the plan said.

The approximate amount of office development would range from 1.7 million to 2.6 million square feet on approximately 400 acres. As a result, some of the area might eventually be annexed into the city.

“We are not actively seeking to expand the city limits,” Steele said. “We want to do what’s best for the city and the county.”

A large area north and east of Hwy. 54 and the office corridor area is targeted for residential development. The area is bordered on the north by the wetlands basin associated with Sandy Creek.

Residential density of one unit per one to two acres is forecast if the area remains in the unincorporated county. Density would potentially be doubled or quadrupled to one unit per half-acre if the area were eventually annexed into Fayetteville.

The northernmost area of the concept plan, situated north and west of the Sandy Creek basin, would maintain a residential density of one unit per two to three acres, the plan said. No annexation is anticipated in this area.

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