Fayetteville's

new Medical Office zoning category, designed to

encourage a campus-like setting for offices in

the Fayette Community Hospital area, is now in

place.

Council

unanimously approved the addition to its zoning

ordinances during its regular business meeting

Monday night.

Approval

came quickly in government time: council members

directed staff to develop a master plan for

offices in the hospital area just last May.

Shortly after that, consultants recommended that

the city enact a new zoning category rather than

a master plan, and the new ordinance was written,

presented to the Planning Commission, revised and

sent on to City Council, then approved in three

months.

But

to Mr. and Mrs. H.E. Holbrook, the process was

excruciatingly slow.

"We

signed the contract on the house in

February," Holbrook said following the

council action Monday. "It's been a long,

hard struggle for us."

But

with passage of the new ordinance, Holbrook was

able to finalize the sale of his home on Sandy

Creek Road just off Ga. Highway 54 to John

DeLash.

DeLash

wants to use the house as an office for his

Fayette Dental Aesthetics dental laboratory, and

following approval of the MO zoning, council

promptly approved DeLash's request for annexation

into the city of the house and 1.44 acres.

Council

also unanimously approved placing the house in

the new MO zoning category.

Among

requirements of the new zoning category,

developments must be linked with common driveways

or frontage roads and must dedicate easements for

a walking/bicycle trail that will wind through

the area. The concept is designed to reduce

traffic on Hwy. 54 and Sandy Creek Road.

Two

other candidates for the zoning were on the

council agenda as well, but one applicant asked

that the item be tabled and the other submitted a

letter of withdrawal.

Dr.

Gerald Goldklang has decided not to seek

annexation into Fayetteville for his proposed

medical office on 4.9 acres on Ga. Highway 54

just west of the hospital. Instead, he will take

his project to the Fayette County Planning

Commission tomorrow night, seeking O-I

(office-institutional) zoning.

"Fayette

County's O-I guidelines meet his needs better

than the city's new MO guidelines," said

Aubrey Massey, Realtor for the project.

Council

Monday accepted Goldklang's letter of withdrawal,

and voted unanimously to table developer Randy

Hayes' request for annexation and rezoning of

four acres on the east side of the hospital until

its Nov. 1 meeting.

Hayes

wants to build a two-story medical office

building and a bank on the site, and his plans

have been delayed along with the Goldklang and

Holbrook requests while council considered its

new zoning category. He asked for the further

delay to continue working out a joint access

agreement with Fayette Community Hospital,

something council has insisted on in previous

discussions.

In

addition to the new zoning category, council also

approved several changes to its zoning

ordinances, mostly minor corrections in language.

Among

the changes, council approved a provision

requiring that psychics locate on property zoned

C-3 commercial and have a minimum of 1,500 square

feet in their offices.

Also

added to the ordinance was a definition of yard

sales and garage sales, to distinguish them from

neighborhood businesses. The idea is to

discourage ongoing or too-frequent yard sales.