Fayette

County's growth strategy in south Fayette County

is simple - growth is not encouraged -

and it's likely to stay that way.

Though

the project was on a back burner in favor of more

pressing matters the last couple of years, county

planners recently finished their study of land

use in the southern part of the county, at the

request of county commissioners.

The

Planning Department's conclusion is that the

current land use plan, which anticipates mostly

residential and agricultural uses on parcels of

five acres or more, doesn't need to be changed.

"I

don't really know if we want to encourage that

much development in the southern end at this

time," said senior planner Pete Frisina in a

presentation to the county Planning Commission

last week.

"I

don't want to say that the area is totally

undevelopable," he said, "but let's

just say that it has complications."

Those

complications are mostly environmental.

For

instance, wetlands cover about 10 percent of the

27,800 acres included in the study, and

additional land is in flood plain. Ground water

recharge areas cover 2,976 acres, also about 10

percent of the total.

Septic

tanks are a problem in all of those areas, and no

sewer service is available in unincorporated

Fayette. But of even more concern, said Planning

Commission member Al Gilbert, is the amount of

pavement that might come with development in the

ground water recharge areas. "A greater

concern I have is impervious surface," he

said.

The

more such an area is developed, the more the land

is covered by pavement and buildings so that

water runs off rather than seeping into the earth

to resupply the water table, he said.

Also,

about 33 percent of the soils are classified as

unsuitable or marginal for septic tanks. That

doesn't mean development is impossible, but

building lots should be much larger than in other

areas, said Frisina, so that somewhere on each

site enough suitable soils can be found.

County

leaders also had asked the planners to consider

whether there are enough stores in the area to

serve residents' needs, with an eye to possibly

increasing the commercial zoning in the area.

Frisina said that respondents to a recent survey

indicated they want to be within three miles of a

convenience store and seven miles of a grocery

store.

After

drawing three-mile and seven-mile circles around

the convenience and grocery stores serving the

area, Frisina said about 13 percent of residents

are slightly farther than three miles from

convenience stores and about the same percentage

have to drive more than seven miles for

groceries.

"I

don't think they're under-served in this area at

this point," he said.

Among

other facts gathered in the study of the area,

roughly one third of the roads - 27 out of

80 miles - are dirt.

Also,

Fayette's two major waterways, the Flint River

(forming the county's eastern border) and Line

Creek (the western border), converge in the

southern portion of the county. And all of their

tributaries are compressed there as well, adding

to the problems of wetlands and poor soils.

Because

the northern part of Fayette has been growing

much more rapidly than the south, Frisina said,

the county has concentrated its efforts to

provide paved roads and water service in the

north as well. The southern part is served by

only one water line, he said.

After

Frisina's presentation, county attorney Bill

McNally summed it up with a quip: "He's

telling you all this to recommend that you do

nothing."

The

Planning Commission will vote on that

recommendation, possibly in June, after members

have some time to go over the information in the

study.

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