Wednesday, August 8, 2001
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Wednesday, August 8, 2001 |
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Planners OK plat, say residents' concerns to be addressed later By DAVE
HAMRICK
Approval of preliminary plats is usually a routine item for the Fayette County Planning Commission. But Jim Wilson said the devil is in the details, and expressed several concerns last week with plans for a 39-home Vickery Lane subdivision on County Line Road near his home. The 173.2-acre site of the subdivision is already zoned R-20, which allows subdivisions with lots as small as one acre. Developers Brent Scarbrough and Robert Rolader presented a preliminary plat showing locations of lots, which range in size from one to 17 acres, but Wilson said he and other neighbors want to know where detention ponds will be. "Our septic tanks will be against the backs of their lots," said Wilson. Although detention ponds slow down the overall drainage from a subdivision, the ponds must drain somewhere, Wilson said, adding he worries that a detention pond could dump drainage water directly onto his septic field. He complained that detailed information was not available on the preliminary plat, and county engineers couldn't answer his questions either. He also wants to know about whether there will be undisturbed buffers between his and his neighbors' two-acre lots and Vickery Lane's one-acre lots. County engineer Ron Salmons told The Citizen that such details aren't required for preliminary plats, because they require expensive engineering studies. Once the locations of lots are approved, then the studies are done and the information is available. In this case, the drawings should be available in a couple of weeks, he said. The Planning Commission unanimously approved the preliminary plat and asked Wilson and his neighbors to stay in touch with Salmons to get the details he wants. In other business, for the second time in as many months the Planning Commission recommended increasing the height of an existing communications tower. Fayette County commissioners agreed with the planning panel last month, and granted SprintCom Inc.'s request to add ten feet to a tower on McDonough Road to make room for its antenna and improve its service in that area. This time, SprintCom is asking for an increase in height on Ga. Highway 54 behind the Publix shopping center, from 150 feet to 160 feet. Lawyer Jim Ney, representing the company, said the addition will allow Sprint to put an antenna at the top of that tower, to cut down on dropped calls and poor reception along Hwy. 54 near Peachtree City. The Planning Commission voted unanimously to recommend approval. County commissioners will take up the request Thursday, Aug. 23 at 7 p.m. at the County Administrative Complex.
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