Either build it or lose your rezoning
In a rare move for municipalities, Fayetteville officials Thursday night will vote on whether a zoning decision approved last year should revert back to its original designation.
The reason for the unusual vote is that no development has started on the project in 18 months.
In March, 2015, the city agreed to rezone a five-acre tract on the southside of Ga. Highway 54 east from C-3, highway commercial, to RMF-15, residential multi-family, to the owners of the Cobblestone Apartments who wanted to put 33 townhomes on the site.
The rezoning was controversial, especially with neighbors in the nearby Oakbrook subdivision.
“We have a nice little neighborhood right now. If this is built, our neighborhood would be overflow parking for them,” said Jim Anderson in a meeting about the proposal.
In her memo to the City Council, acting planning director Jahnee Prince outlined the reasons for the reversion of the zoning.
“Since the rezoning took place, staff has inquired multiple times as to the status of the approved project. In January, the property owner stated they were obtaining pricing for the site work construction of the buildings. Since then, no development plans have been submitted to the city for the project,” she wrote.
The city’s zoning ordinance has a section that deals with speculative zoning. The section states that if work hasn’t started in 12 month, the zoning will be revoked and reverted to its previous classification.
Prince also wrote the city learned the property had been sold in June 2016 and the new owners have no immediate plans for the property and do not object to the zoning being reverted.
The meeting starts at 6 p.m. at Fayetteville City Hall.
