When opposition to the West Fayetteville Bypass (WFB) began calling it the Developer’s Parkway, I wanted to know who the developers were.
Granted, I was only familiar with the landowners along Phase I as they have been our friends and neighbors for generations. Needless to say I was surprised to find that I was one.
Our family has owned land at the corner of Tyrone Road and Ga. Highway 54 for approximately 100 years. That is not what you would call a speculative investment as many developers do.
I am convinced that if a family has owned land for generations and placed the ownership in a limited liability partnership or limited liability corporation to facilitate the transfer of ownership from one generation to the next, that some have misinterpreted that legal name as being a developer.
As for my participation on Fayetteville’s Downtown Development Authority (DDA), I encourage anyone interested to visit the city’s website. There you will find our mission statement, accomplishments, and a map of the boundaries for our authority. Our focus is downtown Fayetteville as the name implies. We fall far short of reaching the city limits.
In 2006 county and city of Fayetteville leaders recognized that there would be ongoing development pressure along the Hwy. 54 corridor around the hospital. They agreed to be proactive and work together to come up with a conceptual plan of what they would like to see happen. This was led by Commission Chairman Greg Dunn and Mayor Ken Steele.
It was only after they had developed a plan that it was shared with the landowners. Their stated desire in the meeting I attended was to ultimately have an area that appeared seamless in design rather than a piecemeal approach that we see in many of our neighboring counties. It was stated on more than one occasion that the city would not consider annexation unless the development was a quality product.
Let’s move forward to 2010-2011 and the product produced by Historical Concepts. This product took the work from 2006 and built on it to show what it could look like in a conceptual way.
Again, it was only after it was completed that it was shared with the landowners and Fayetteville’s DDA was not involved as we have no authority in that area. It is only a concept plan and does not mean that it will be developed in that way.
You can rest assured that when and if our land does sell that Commissioner Hearn will not share in any of the proceeds. He does not come from the side of the family that was the source of the ownership. Why should he benefit from the sale if he does not share in the tax obligation?
Addison Lester
Fayetteville, Ga.
[Lester is a member of the Fayette County Board of Elections.]
