Could Fayette County one day have an office park off Ga. Highway 74 north near the Fulton County line?

County planners think so, and the Fayette County Commission has adopted a plan that with the blessing of Tyrone officials would call for just that.

The undeveloped land in question stretches on the west side of the highway from about Kirkley Road to Thompson Road and would feature an access road to alleviate traffic on Hwy. 74, County Planning Director Pete Frisina recently told the county commission. Those three parcels, one of which is in the city limits of Tyrone, would be zoned for a business technology park that would feature light industrial and professional office uses along with commercial services designed particularly for the park, Frisina said.

Fairburn officials may be open to extending the access road into Fairburn as well, Frisina noted.

The east side of the highway in this area would be reserved for office use and would also feature an interparcel access road with limited curb cuts on the highway. There are several different property owners involved and to encourage the parcels to be developed together the county would allow the development to have “light commercial” uses such as a restaurant with no drive through and personal services such as beauty shops, dry cleaners and a small convenience store, Frisina said.

There would be no gasoline sales allowed, and the office component would be designed to be residential in character, Frisina said.

Also the county would limit the amount of commercial use on the property to perhaps 20 percent of the site for the light commercial uses, Frisina said.

Frisina said that the Fayette County Development Authority thinks such a project could be successfully marketed.

The commission voted 4-1 Jan. 22 to transmit the resolution to the Atlanta Regional Commission based on getting approval from Tyrone officials.

Commissioner Eric Maxwell voted against the plan, saying he felt the plan was not appropriate for that area, particularly given the commercial development that exists on the other side of the county line in Fairburn.

Maxwell called the commercial part of Fayette’s concept “absolutely ridiculous.”

“If this passes, you will not know the difference between Fayette County, Fairburn and Fulton County,” Maxwell said.

Frisina noted that the 2000 Census indicated that 63 percent of Fayette’s workforce drives outside of the county to their jobs. The office parks would allow people to live and work here, he said.