Tyrone planning comm denies downtown rezoning request

A move by the Tyrone Town Council to begin a new phase of commercial and residential development in the downtown area was met Thursday with a vote by the town’s planning commission that calls into question the Main Street District’s development plan adopted by the council in May 2006. Citing the lack of sewer and variables such as higher density and a significant increase in traffic that would accompany the proposed development, planning commissioners agreed with citizens and denied one of the rezoning requests. That move led Old Town Tyrone developer Burt Clark to request that the other be tabled.

More than 100 area residents packed the council chambers and waited through the long agenda for the public hearings on the Main Street proposals to be heard. Once they had their turn, nearly all who spoke did so in opposition to the development plans.

“This would be a great start to the visioning effort the Town of Tyrone has come up with,” project representative Randy Boyd told commissioners during the presentation. “We didn’t come up with this plan. This is Tyrone’s plan. We’re just trying to adhere to it and develop it.”

The phase one proposal is located on 32.7 acres along the east side of Palmetto-Tyrone Road between Senoia Road and Arrowood Road. Currently zoned C-2 Commercial, phase one was proposed to contain 49 lots on 19 of those acres and commercial and office space on the remaining 13 acres. The office-commercial buildings were expected to be two and three-story structures envisioned similar to the downtown Senoia area and to the new Serenbe community in south Fulton County. Phase one was denied by a 3-1 vote.

Phase two is currently zoned agricultural-residential and is situated across Palmetto-Tyrone Road in the heart of downtown. Phase two includes 21.9 acres and is proposed for 97 homes. Phase two was on the agenda following the public hearing on the phase one proposal.

Resident Tracy Young was one of many who took issue with the development proposals. Young cited other portions of the town’s vision for the area that he said stood at odds with the Old Town Tyrone proposal, including the idea of maintaining a low density environment. Young and many others taking the podium questioned whether approving the project would be feasible without first conducting a traffic and impact study and reaching a solution to adding significant density in the area without any current plan to address sewer needs.

Agreeing with residents, Commissioner Kevin Edwards made a motion to deny the phase one rezoning request, a move that would effectively prohibit the project at the commission level. A 3-1 vote followed the discussion. That action was followed by Clark’s request that the public hearing for phase two be tabled. The request will be heard again at the March 29 commission meeting.

After the vote, Clark told commissioners he would withdraw the development request if the council decides against it and would proceed with commercial development in the commercially zoned phase one area.

Tyrone council members adopted the Main Street District plan in May 2006. It is scheduled to be included in the town’s Comprehensive Plan due to take effect later this year.