Back in the 1980s, Fayette County was looked upon as shining beacon in the Atlanta region and New Jersey rocker Bruce Springsteen topped the charts with “Glory Days.”

But fast forward two decades, and some people are beginning to wonder if the county’s glory days can be seen only in the rear view mirror.

Empty buildings, almost negligible growth, a declining school population and a perception of increased crime have contributed to the uneasy feeling expressed by some that Fayette may be a county periously close to a long downhill slope.

Drive through Fayetteville and Peachtree City, and a number of empty buildings attest to the county’s retail past. In Peachtree City, City Councilman Don Haddix has taken the task personally and conducted a survey of the city’s major shopping centers.

“Overall, 19.1 percent of the storefronts are vacant. The biggest vacancies are in the 54 West area, where 34.86 percent of the stores are vacant,” he said.

Just across the county line in Coweta County, more than 1 million square feet of commercial space is slated to be built within the next year or so, which will further increase the vacancy problems in the city.

Haddix is working to repurpose some of the spaces for uses such as medical research, so more jobs will be available for residents.

“The model was that we were a bedroom community, but all the research is showing that people want to live closer to their jobs,” he said.

Some of the major names that have left the city environs over the past few years include Fuddrucker’s Hamburgers, Buckhead Brewing Company and a dramatic turnover of businesses in the Braelinn Shopping Center.

Still, Haddix said Braelinn had only the third highest vacancy rate, behind the Hwy. 54 development and the Kedron Shopping Center.

A drive through the county’s biggest shopping center, the Fayette Pavilion in Fayetteville, also reveals a similar trend.

Goody’s and Friedman’s Jewelers have closed, and just across the street, Linens-N-Things is shutting its doors.

While a number of the closings represents corporate decisions, a study released earlier this year by the Atlanta Regional Commission seems to indicate that Fayette County is overbuilt on the commercial front.

The ARC study pulls data from the International Council of Shopping Centers that shows 20 feet of retail space per person is the national average. In the 20-county Atlanta region, the average is 49 square feet per person.

In Fayette County, there was 6.8 million square feet of retail space in the second quarter of 2007, or an average of 65.4 square feet of retail space per person.

The vacancy rate is 5.5 percent, which is 19 percent higher than the 2000 rate of 4.6 percent. The study says that Fayette’s population has grown 15.5 percent during the same period, while the retail growth has increased by 17.3 percent.

Neighboring Coweta has 7.5 million square feet of commercial space, which amounts to 67.3 square feet of commercial rate for every resident. Coweta’s vacancy rate stands at 3.5 percent.

Fayette’s office space also has the 12th highest vacancy rate in the 20-county region. In the fourth quarter of 2007, the county had 2.9 million square feet of office space with a 15.9 percent vacancy rate, according to the ARC.

In addition to the county’s glut of commercial space, the county’s residential growth had ground to a halt.

This year’s tax digest came in at $5.3 billion dollars for real property, which is just over $158 million more than the 2007 tax digest, for a growth rate of 3 percent, but that figure includes $15 million in reassessments.

But since 2003, the tax digest has regularly grown an average of $300 million, and as Fayette County Development Authority Director Matt Forshee pointed out, the county is highly reliant on its residential tax base.

“For many years, Fayette County has been a special place with higher priced homes. But in this economy, that can work for you or against you,” he said.

In nearby Spalding County, the tax base grew by 2.5 percent and in Coweta County, the tax digest grew by 6.72 percent to $4.6 billion.

In Senoia, the city’s tax base grew by 14 percent, spurred on by aggressive development in the city’s downtown area.

Published reports also indicate that Clayton County’s tax base grew 5.9 percent from $8.1 billion to $8.5 billion, while Fulton’s jumped 15.8 percent to $63 billion.

With the decrease in growth came a decrease in students for the county’s award-winning school system. In 2007, the county saw its enrollment drop 259 students from 22,367 to 22,108 when school ended in May. Enrollment figures so far this year indicate 21,828, which is 280 fewer students.

In adjacent Coweta County, public information officer Dean Jackson says he expects a population of more than 23,000 students when school opens August 6. The increase is approximately 500 more students, which has been Coweta’s traditional growth rate over the last few years.

Coweta’s school system has had a Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax for years that has helped build a number of new schools, along with an arts center.

Fayette voters have never passed a SPLOST for education, but will be faced with that option once again this fall. The money would be used for technology updates, along with refinancing existing debt.

One of the biggest factors leading to the county’s perceived decline is the crime rate. Recent headlines show numerous drug busts throughout the county, along with numerous minor crimes at the Fayette Pavilion.

This past weekend, the Fayetteville Police investigated seven incidents at the Pavilion, ranging from shoplifting to a drug offense.

In January, Fayetteville Police Chief Steve Heaton addressed the City Council about the concerns of crime at the shopping center.

The council members viewed data that showed Part I crimes (felonies) at the Pavilion in relation to overall crime in the city.

The Pavilion had 52.08 percent of citywide Part I crimes in 2003. In 2004, the percentage fell to 43.91 percent and increased to 47.57 percent in 2005. A significant decline in Pavilion crime occurred in 2006 when the percentage fell to 30.30. During 2007 the percentage fell again to 29.61.

“The numbers of criminal offenses at the Pavilion are low with the exception of larcenies,” Heaton said. “Larcenies are the predominate offenses at the Pavilion. This is not surprising considering it is the largest retail center in the area.”

But Fayetteville is not the only area where residents are worried about crime.

Late last month, Peachtree City’s Senior Adult Council petitioned the city to start up a local bus service in the city.

The bus service, called “The Trolley,” would have a route of nine stops. Among the proposed stops are four grocery stores, The Avenue shopping center, the Wal-Mart/Home Depot shopping center, The Gathering Place, the Wynnmeade subdivision and the city library.

Seniors said the service was needed because seniors don’t feel comfortable driving on the cart paths.

Still, optimism persists with some of the county’s movers and shakers.

Development Authority head Forshee said he’s noticed an uptick in the number of requests from international companies.

“That seems to be the way things are going. I’ve talked to a lot of people in this business who are getting more requests from the international community.”