The Senoia Planning Commission Tuesday night took a look at the future of the city. City administrator Richard Ferry said he needed some guidance from the planners for developers who may want to annex property into the city.

Specifically, Ferry wanted the planners to concentrate on the busy highway corridors that lead into the city. The first area examined was Ga. Highway 85, leading north from the city to the Fayette County border.

“Two years ago, we adopted a new comprehensive plan, but did not contemplate areas outside our current city limits,” Ferry said.

But annexations on Hwy.85 and Ga. Highway 16 have already occurred, and Ferry wanted to know what the planners’ vision was for the highway properties. When questioned about the viability of Hwy.85 going commercial, the planners were adamant the area should not be turned into a “hamburger alley.”

Instead, Planning Commission member suggested that Office-Institutional might be better suited for the area.

“I think offices that have buffers would provide a nice entrance to the city,” he said.

The city has already approved the annexation of the Newberry subdivision on Hwy.85 that will have a small commercial area, but the Planning Commission would not like to see any more commercial growth in that area.

However, on Ga. Highway 16 east headed towards Griffin, the commissioners are quite comfortable with that area going commercial. Two corners of the Hwy. 85 and Hwy.16 intersection are already developed, and another corner was just approved for a commercial zoning.

The final corridor the panel looked at was Hwy. 16 west, headed towards Newnan. The City Council recently approved a rezoning for a Tom Reese development that will feature more than 200 homes, and commission members said any future annexations in the area should be kept residential.

“This gives me some guidelines to tell developers,” said Ferry.

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