If

your pet gets sick or is hit by a car at night or

on the weekend, what do you do?

Currently,

unless your veterinarian is willing to meet you

at the office, your only choice is to drive to

the south side's only after-hours animal hospital

in Riverdale.

But

that situation will change soon if Dr. David

Selleck and Dr. Mike Younker are successful in

their rezoning bid before the Fayette County

Commission tomorrow.

The

veterinarians currently operate an animal

emergency clinic in Riverdale, and they propose

to move the facility to 1.57 acres on Ga. Highway

54 east, just west of Banks Road.

"We

feel that this is long overdue in Fayette

County," said Selleck in presenting the plan

to the Fayette County Planning Commission

recently.

The

Planning Commission voted unanimously to

recommend approval of James Oliver's request to

change the zoning of the land from R-45 (a single

family subdivision category) to O-I

(office-institutional) so he can sell the

property to Selleck and Younker.

If

the County Commission approves tomorrow, the pair

plan to build approximately a 3,000-sq. ft.

office building, and promise to give it "a

residential type look. We want to be good

neighbors," said Younker.

Next

to a residential subdivision, the land also faces

busy Hwy. 54 and would be unsuitable as a home

site, the doctors said. There is other land

already zoned O-I in the county, Younker

admitted, but added the vets hope to keep the

cost of care at their facility within reach of

Fayette residents. "Land that's already

zoned O-I is so expensive that we would have to

charge what we feel is too much for emergency vet

care," he said.

There

would be a sign identifying the office, but

"nothing flashy," said Younker. Clients

will be coming to the clinic in emergencies, and

it won't have to advertise its presence very

heavily, he said. "We're not trying to

attract people from the road," he said.

The

clinic would cater only to small animals, and

would be staffed overnight and weekends with at

least one veterinarian and a crew of three to

six, said Younker.

It

would be collectively owned by as many of

Fayette's 21 veterinarians as are willing to

participate, the doctors said.

Although

the county's land use plan calls for residential

uses along that part of Hwy. 54, members of the

Planning Commission agreed with Oliver's real

estate agent that this parcel is not suited to

that use. "That road is going to be four

lanes one of these days, and she's absolutely

right... no one's going to build a house on the

property," said commissioner Jim Graw.

Commissioner

Al Gilbert said he would like the county Planning

Department to take a look at that part of the 54

corridor and consider whether the land use plan

should be changed.

The

County Commission will consider the request

during its regular twice-monthly business meeting

Thursday at 7 p.m. at the County Administrative

Complex.

Other

planning and zoning items on the agenda include:

� A proposed change in the

standards for telecommunications towers, to be

sure tower builders can't pile up dirt into a

mound and use that to increase the allowed height

of towers.

� Proposed amendments to the

county development regulations. The regulations

cover a variety of technical requirements for

developments, and county engineers have spent

about a year rewriting them, strengthening or

clarifying the language.

� Nancy Cooper's request for a

change in zoning from A-R

(agricultural-residential) to M-1 (industrial)

for her 6.18-acre tract on Ga. Highway 85 south,

just north of Price Road. Cooper wants to sell

the land to Richard Lawrimore as a new location

for his Atlantic Tape Company Inc., currently on

Ga. Highway 54 east of Fayetteville.

His

business has grown by leaps and bounds since it

moved to Fayette, he said, with sales jumping

from $2.5 million to over $9 million. Sales this

January jumped $83,000 compared to January 1999,

he added. He proposes a 40,000-sq. ft. building

on the property.

Planning

commissioners said Lawrimore's building plans are

beautiful, and they want to see his project built

in Fayette, but not at the spot requested. Land

around the property is zoned for commercial and

residential use, and industrial growth would be

out of place, they said.

They

unanimously voted to recommend denial.

� Johnie Williams' request to

rezone 5.8 acres on Hood Road from R-70 (a

subdivision category) to A-R to develop

agricultural uses. Williams has asked that he be

allowed to withdraw the request for now, so he

can come back later with a request to change the

zoning of his entire 78.42-acre site to

agricultural-residential.

<!--

-----------