Many of us in the north-central part of the county are wondering if someone is trying to pull the wool over our eyes. The city of Fayetteville has been doing some things that are quite upsetting.
The homeowners in our area have been willing to accept the Pinewood Studios plan, but we want the other promise kept, too.
Why shouldn’t we worry when Fayetteville is advertising one zoning category related to an annexation near us as low density residential and then pitching an entirely different zoning category in their city council meetings?
The city’s sign at the property for us to read says the annexation will change the zoning to R-70, which is low density residential and what we all wanted and expect.
However, the city staff people have been pitching a Planned Community District (PCD) zoning in their meetings that will allow retail stores, apartments and other negative uses in our beautiful rural setting.
So why do the signs on the property say one thing and the city staff is saying something different in the meetings? It’s easy to understand why we are getting very nervous.
I know the county commissioners, Fayetteville city council members and the existing homeowners all agreed the land above the creek line was going to be low density housing. The Pinewood facilities and the Rivers Elementary school sites were the only exceptions.
Fayetteville Mayor Greg Clifton and councilmen Mickey Edwards, Ed Johnson, and Paul Oddo have always been on our support list, and I hope they are not about to let us down by changing the zoning rules in the middle of the game.
Please keep the land above the creek low density residential like we all agreed in those planning sessions.
We want our elected officials and our developers to be men and women of honor and keep their word on those sites. Give us something we will all be proud of and don’t pull the wool over our eyes.
Steve Smithfield
Fayette County, Ga.
