An attempt to re-locate J93.3 from Ga. Highway 54 just outside Peachtree City to Tyrone continued on that path with Tyrone Planning Commission stating support for the idea at its March 13 work session. Commissioners considered reviewing the current table of uses for the C-2 zoning district with the potential for having a “radio studio” included. The issue will be discussed at a March 27 public hearing.

Planning commissioners discussed the request at length at the suggestion Mayor Don Rehwaldt after the proposal surfaced February at a town council meeting. Addressing the council, Legacy Theater owner Wayne Wilkins said J93.3 would be appropriate for the area because it is actually a radio studio rather than a radio station. At issue is the current exclusion of radio stations in the C-2 zoning district. Radio stations are permitted in the C-3 zoning district.

Wilkins and station manager Rick Davidson reiterated Thursday that the facility should be more appropriately considered a studio, adding that the only equipment that would be stationed on the roof of the building would be two or three small satellite dishes and a the accommodation for a digital link attached to a pole less than 20 feet in height. That equipment is only used as an emergency back-up. The satellite dishes, they said, would be hidden from view by the eight-foot facade walls on top of the building. The pole, they said in response to a question from the commission, could be positioned on the rear side of the building to keep it out of sight as much as possible.

As for the station’s transmission, that is accomplished by digital transmission to the station’s transmitter in Meriwether County.

The bulk of the commission's conversation concerned the ability to have the facility included as a permitted use in C-2. In general, the commission did not see a reason why it should not be included. Chairman Gordon Shenkle suggested a review of the table of uses for C-2, with the possibility of having it included as a permitted use. Though no vote was taken in the work session, all on the board referenced agreement with Shenkle’s proposal.

The matter will be addressed at the March 27 public hearing.

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