Call it a victory for north Fayette’s residents.

Last Thursday, the Fayette County Commission turned down two rezoning requests that were causing much consternation to residents who live near the intersection of Ga. highways 279 and 314.

For the first rezoning, owner Rendley Norris wanted his four-acre tract at the intersection rezoned from R-40 to Office-Institutional.

Norris explained that he wanted to put a real estate broker’s office on the site, and said that there was already a church on one of the corners, which was an institutional use. He also said that back in the 1980s, his property was shown as a office use on the future land use map.

But the public was not buying Norris’s argument.

“We are a residential area. This could be a snowball application,” said David Brill.

Commissioner Eric Maxwell agreed with the residents.

“This is spot zoning at its finest. This is slap-dab in the middle of a residential area,” he said.

Commissioner Robert Horgan agreed and said rezoning the property would be a “detriment to the community.”

The second petition came from resident Elizabeth Brown who wanted to sell her nearly three-acre tract at the intersection to Racetrac, so the company could build a convenience store and gas station at the site. Brown wanted the site zoned from R-40 to Commercial.

Racetrac officials pledged to be sensitive to the land area and said the average gas station generated nearly $415,000 a year in taxes to the local community.

But once again, the public or the commissioners were not buying the applicant’s assertions.

“This concerns me because of the public safety concerns in the area,” said Chairman Jack Smith.

Both motions were turned down unanimously and left hundreds of north Fayette residents happy as they departed the chambers.

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