Tyrone's

search for a town hall site could be completed within six

months.

That's the

opinion from Town Councilman Paul Letourneau following a

joint Monday night meeting between the town's council and

Planning Commission.

The meeting

was called to try and clear up the process of identifying

a potential new site and also to determine what elements

will compose the new municipal complex.

Planning

Commission Chairman Tom Williams asked for the meeting

after developer John Callaway had approached the

commission about a potential 60-acre commercial

development that would front on Ga. Highway 74.

As part of

his proposal, Callaway offered to donate part of the

property to the town to be used for a municipal complex.

During

Monday night's meeting, Atlanta architect and town

planner Paul Muldawer outlined a possible option.

Muldawer is

an authority on "traditional neighborhood

developments" and asked the town officials to think

about incorporating that concept in its planning for a

town center.

Traditional

neighborhoods refer to developments and planning that

were in vogue during the 1920s. Developments consist of

small lots with zero lot lines and often have mixed use

zoning.

Muldawer

said many cities have buildings that have retail or

commercial development on the bottom floor with

residences above the businesses.

He pointed

to such cities and developments, like Seaside, Fla. and

Celebration, Fla., that have embraced this concept and

have found the rewards to be great.

"These

developments have seen property values increase 25

percent a year," he said.

With the

Atlanta region trying to find alternative transportation

plans, Muldawer said traditional neighborhoods emphasize

a pedestrian scale and focus on having services within a

five minute-walk of residences.

While some

of the town's leaders agreed with parts of the

architect's presentation, many had problems with the

concept of smaller lot sizes or mixing residential with

commercial in the same area.

"The

people of Tyrone like what we have now," said

Councilman Paul Letourneau.

He added

that he would like to see some sort of commercial

development around the proposed town center, but would

have difficulty integrating residences into the concept.

Councilman

Ronnie Cannon agreed with Letourneau and also fired a

shot at developers.

"I'm

not going to let a developer tell me where city hall is

going to be," he said.

The

consensus of the leaders is that a town center

development should be in the same vicinity as the current

town hall.

Planning

Commission member Dan Flaherty also suggested that

council members and commission members suggest a list of

elements they would like to see in a town center

development to the city's staff, and consider having more

joint meetings to work out the details. )