The

county's first mediation over an annexation dispute came

to a successful resolution this week as Coweta County and

the city of Senoia agreed to settle their differences.

For the

last two months, the city and county have been in

negotiations over a 55-acre site on Rockaway Road that

Senoia officials asked to annex.

Annexation

requests by municipalities are now governed by House Bill

489, which require the governments to try and come to an

agreement on how to prevent service duplication and work

more effectively with each other. The county and cities

agreed to a mediation process on annexations that goes

into effect if number of homes or businesses on the

property in question is to be increased by more than 25

percent.

The

Rockaway Road property is currently zoned Rural Reserve

in the county, which calls for a 1.6-acre minimum lot

size. The city wants to zone it residential, which has a

one-acre minimum lot size, a 60 percent increase.

County

planner Robert Tolleson and Senoia public works director

Leonard Thompson hammered out an agreement this week that

has left both government agencies happy.

Tolleson

told the Coweta County Board of Commissioners the

agreement is what the county was looking for and features

specific requests for the property.

Among the

requests were:

� All development on the property will

be single-family housing.

� A soil analysis is to be completed

on the property.

� A 40-foot buffer will be planted

between the annexed property and the county property.

� Lots that border the county property

will have lot sizes of 1.6 acres instead of the city's

one-acre sites.

� Any lots that border the county

property will have a depth of 350 feet.

� Preliminary and final plats will be

submitted to the county planner for approval.

� The county planner will inspect the

buffer.

Commissioner

Vernon "Mutt" Hunter, who represents Senoia,

said he is happy with Tolleson's recommendations and

thanked the planner for giving the commissioners enough

information to approve the annexation.

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