Requests for annexation

into Fayetteville from potential office

developments near Fayette Community Hospital

continue to roll in, but city planners are taking

it slow.

The latest request comes

from Larry and Donna Mayfield, who want to sell

their 4.9 acres next to the Apex Medical

Building, just west of the hospital, to Dr.

Gerald Goldklang for use as yet another medical

office building.

City officials already

have tabled similar requests from Hayes

Development Corp. and Fayette Dental Aesthetics

while they study the idea of writing special

design standards for the Ga. Highway 54 hospital

area.

"Around other

hospitals around the metro area they have a

hodgepodge of development," said chief

planner Jahnee Prince. "The look ought to

match the quality of what's out there."

But consultants have

suggested developing a new zoning category for

use in the area, instead of using the

"overlay" concept, Prince said.

An overlay, a special

set of standards for a particular area,

"would necessitate drawing boundaries,"

Prince pointed out. "We decided what we

needed was a new zoning district that we could

use out there, and we could apply it where it

makes sense and not where it doesn't," she

added.

"That way, market

forces can decide which projects want to be

brought into the city in the hospital area, and

that can change over time," she said.

Consultants Rich Flierl

and Maurice Ungaro are writing an ordinance

creating the new district, along with Prince. The

hospital zoning category will include a set of

rules for buffers, landscaping, architectural

standards, signage and other factors, including

plans for providing interconnecting driveways for

different parcels.

City Council members in

recent months have been adamant about the

inter-parcel access, saying the connecting

driveways will reduce traffic on Hwy. 54, a major

concern.

Prince said she hopes to

have a draft ordinance from the consultants by

next week or the next. The city Planning

Commission will then refine the document and send

it to City Council for consideration.

Planning Commission

members last week said that when the Goldklang

annexation request comes up for a formal vote

Tuesday, they are inclined to table it until the

new ordinance is in place, as they have done with

the Hayes and Fayette Dental Aesthetics requests.

The group meets at 7:30

p.m. at City Hall.

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