Plans for the new LongHorn Steakhouse were approved April 26 by the Fayetteville Planning and Zoning Commission. The new restaurant will be located at the former site of Johnny Carino’s restaurant on Ga. Highway 85 just south of the Fayette Pavilion. The old building will have to be removed to make way for the new 242-seat restaurant.

LongHorn project representative Brett Mashchak at the April work session told commissioners the company would like to demolish the current building and replace it with a 6,242 square-foot restaurant that would look like other LongHorns.

Mashchak said the new building would occupy a similar footprint as the current structure and would include a similar lot orientation on the 1.77-acre site, adding that parking accommodations would be configured in a similar fashion as was found with the previous restaurant. The proposal included 121 parking spaces for the 242-seat restaurant.

Also included in the proposal was an exterior of stone and EFIS (multi-layered synthetic stucco) with sawn timber around the windows and a flat roof. The property would also see a significant amount of new landscaping, Mashchak said.

City planning staff recommended approval of the proposal and planning commissioners were complimentary of the thoroughness of the proposal.

The proposed opening for the restaurant is contingent time needed to demolish the existing structure and construct the replacement steakhouse.