Owners

of 20 acres on the southeast corner of Beauregard

Boulevard and Grady Avenue in Fayetteville

withdrew their plans for a 100-home senior

subdivision in the face of strong opposition

earlier this year.

Now

they are back before the city Planning Commission

with plans for just over half as many homes, 54,

in a "neotraditional" neighborhood they

are calling Apple Orchard.

The

commission will vote next week on Charles and

Mary Alice Odom's request to change the land's

zoning from R-30 (requiring three-quarter-acre

lots) to R-THC, which would allow town houses.

The meeting will be Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. at City

Hall.

The

Odoms propose 54 single family homes, a minimum

size of 2,100 square feet, starting from

$170,000.

Lots

would average 11,700 square feet, about a fourth

of an acre. A park is planned at the center of

the site.

Sandwiched

between commercial property to the east along Ga.

Highway 85 and neighborhoods with larger lots to

the west across Beauregard, the property is the

ideal place for a "step down"

neighborhood, a transition from the commercial to

the less dense residential areas, according to

Dan Odom, son of the applicants.

"We

want to create a Main Street look," he told

the Planning Commission during a work session

last week.

Commission

member Allan Feldman, known for his conservative

approach to zoning, said he likes the plan.

"I'm trying to find something I don't like

about this project," he said.

But

some members of the commission weren't entirely

convinced. "The problem I have is the

density," said member Segis Lipscomb.

"I think it's zoned properly as it is,"

added commission member Myron Coxe. "It's

[zoned] according to the land use plan."

But

Feldman argued that the proposed density is the

same as in Nancy Lane, a neighborhood just south

of the site, and the commercial property next

door to the east makes a zoning change

appropriate. "R-30 on this property right

next to C-2 [commercial] is really asking too

much," he said.

Mary

Alice Odom said her family has held onto the

property for decades while land all around was

developed, including commercial projects along

Grady Avenue, and she just wants the right to

earn a profit on the land. "It's our

turn," she said.

"I

feel very strongly that we should have been

allowed to put some offices up on Grady,"

she added. "We were there before any of the

neighbors that we have now."

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