Fayetteville

City Council members want more discussion on the

ambitious proposed Village project near the heart

of the city before voting to approve or deny the

plan.

City

staff and the Planning Commission pored over

plans for the mixed-use development for almost a

year before the commission recently voted to

recommend denial, and council members say they're

not ready to make the final decision quite yet.

The group Monday voted to put the project back

through its first- and second-reading process.

"As

we walk through this we really have to take our

time and make sure everyone is comfortable,"

said Mayor Kenneth Steele as the council

discussed the proposal Monday.

Developer

Argonne Properties Inc. is seeking a new zoning

category, PCD (planned community development

- enacted by council during Monday's meeting

- for a 110-acre tract at Ga. Highway 54 and

Tiger Trail, a block from the Courthouse Square.

Planned

are 203 homes, a neighborhood shopping square,

class A offices, a hotel/conference center, a day

care center and several neighborhood parks. Drawn

to focus future development efforts on the city's

downtown area.

Resident

Mike DeLowe, who addressed council during a

public hearing on the plan Monday, said that's a

mistake. "We're talking about increased

density and increased traffic in one of the

critical areas of the city," he said.

He

argued that new development downtown will bring

about empty buildings in Fayetteville's outlying

commercial developments the same way that those

outlying developments have emptied stores along

Ga. Highway 85 near downtown. "If you

revitalize downtown you might end up with

shopping center blight someplace else," he

said.

If

that's the case, said Councilman Al Hovey-King,

he would rather see downtown revitalized and

outlying areas blighted than the other way

around. "We have chosen to focus on

downtown... it does reflect the community more so

than the outlying areas," said Hovey-King.

Councilman

Walt White echoed that sentiment. "I believe

commercial is going to start coming back toward

town. I'm definitely not for going any farther

out," he said.

Argonne

president Bob Rolader said the company is in the

process of finishing up a detailed development

agreement for The Village and hopes to present a

first draft of that document at the council's

next work session, April 12.

Council

could approve the PCD zoning for the project

without having the development agreement in

place, but Mayor Steele said he hopes the group

will hold out for having all the documents in

place before moving forward. "I'd like to

see everything before we decide," he said.

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