A question posed by Fayetteville residents in August over a potential development moratorium on property clear-cut without a permit has been answered. The site which includes the recently-approved Dollar General store on Ga. Highway 54 West was not subject to a moratorium.
An Aug. 30 town hall meeting of the Fayetteville City Council came with an explanation of the approval of the Dollar General store proposal on Ga. Highway 54 East. One of the questions cited by neighbors concerned a possible development moratorium after the property was clear-cut in June 2014 without a required permit.
Though previously approved for construction in the commercially-zoned area, one resident asked about a potential for a three-year moratorium that might have been placed on more than 14 acres that was clear-cut in June 2014 prior to obtaining the needed city permit. The Dollar General site is situated within that acreage.
A July 18, 2014 letter from city building official Greg Taliercio to property owner 54 Development and Perry Knight said that penalties such as a three-year moratorium on development could be applied as a result of the non-permitted clear-cutting of timber.
City Manager Ray Gibson on Sept. 23 said penalties were considered but were not imposed.
“The penalties should have been enforced when the incident happened which was in June of 2014,” Gibson said.
“I was introduced to the matter when I started in October of 2014 and with the guidance of City Solicitor Ross Burris we decided to let the land owner try and clean up the site and plant some additional trees to buffer the property from the view of the community along Weatherly Drive and Knight Way.
“Once the land owners complied after review by the building and planning staff, the issue was resolved on the part of the city. There was a moment during all of this where the owner was not complying and the city was going to move forward to pass a resolution to enforce the 36-month development moratorium, but they moved forward to comply.”
Gibson said the information was passed to the group of residents attending the Aug. 30 town hall meeting who had asked to be notified about a moratorium decision.
Some among the 45 residents attending the Aug. 30 meeting voiced concerns about the approval of the store in their immediate neighborhood.
Pertaining to the recent Dollar General approval, neighboring residents were most concerned about the additional traffic that would be generated once the store is operational.
Others questioned whether another dollar store is needed in the city. Both city planners and council members explained that the highway commercial zoning in the area is appropriate for such a retail site, adding that the city cannot prohibit a business from establishing in an area zoned for those purposes.
“Legally, we can’t stop a business if its meets all the (zoning) requirements,” said Mayor Ed Johnson.
