The

Village, a 110-acre mixed-use development planned

for Ga. Highway 54 at Tiger Trail, has been

delayed again.

Developers

Bob Rolader and Brent Scarbrough will have to go

through yet another month of Planning Commission

scrutiny of their plan before taking it to City

Council for final approval.

Rolader

last week asked the commission to rule on his

rezoning request, but commissioners said they

want to see a traffic study first.

"I

think we have a super effort here to revitalize

downtown Fayetteville," said Rolader.

"We think it's a great project," he

said, adding that City Council endorsed the

overall concept almost a year ago.

"We've

done lots and lots of work on this project,"

he added.

Commission

member Allan Feldman agreed that the plan has

been through the ringer. "This is a dog we

can't even recognize anymore it's been beaten so

much," he said. But he is concerned that

plans for three traffic lights and a central

parkway in The Village, designed to move traffic

off Hwy. 54, might not be enough to mitigate the

additional traffic the development will bring, he

said.

"I

would like to see some expert put his signature

on a statement that this is going to be

viable," he said.

Commissioners

voted unanimously to table the request until the

March round of meetings.

By

the time the rezoning request reaches City

Council, there's at least a chance that the

zoning category the developers have asked for

will actually exist.

The

Planning Commission voted 4-1 to recommend

creation of the PCD (planned community district)

zoning category, designed to allow developers

greater flexibility in arranging mixed uses on

large acreage, with increased city control over

the finished product.

Commission

member Joe Bruschetti voted against creating the

new category, without comment.

With

plans for 203 homes, plus a retail square,

offices, a hotel and parks on their 110-acre

site, Rolader and Scarbrough have applied for the

new category.

City

Council will have first reading of the ordinance

creating PCD zoning March 6, with plans to vote

on the proposal March 20.

The

rezoning application for The Village will be on

the agenda for a Planning Commission work session

March 14, with plans to vote March 28.

If

the commission takes a vote then, the proposal

goes to City Council April 3 for first reading

and April 17 for a vote.

City

officials have high hopes for the project. The

city actually hired and paid a consultant to

master-plan the tract, one of only two

100-plus-acre parcels left in the city limits, in

hopes of coming up with a plan that would bring

more residents into the downtown area, plus

contribute to a pedestrian environment and an

upscale atmosphere.

With

tree-lined streets, garages that face onto rear

alleyways rather than onto streets, parks

scattered throughout, plans to save large areas

of mature trees and "neo-traditional"

homes that will sell for a minimum of $175,000,

Rolader said he believes the plan will accomplish

the city's aims.

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