Legal

eagles in Tyrone are sharpening their pencils

after learning Monday that developer John

Callaway is suing the city.

Callaway

filed the suit after Tyrone officials refused his

land use map amendment request for a shopping

center in the town. Niether council nor the town

Planning Commission has ruled on a proposed

rezoning of the property. The land use map

amendment would have paved the way for a zoning

change.

Callaway

wanted to develop 29 acres on a 60-acre tract as

a 118,000-sq. ft. shopping center with a village

feel.

"Nothing

in Fayette County holds a candle to this

development," he told the Tyrone Town

Council in April.

He

told the council the shopping center would be

similar to a development on St. Simons Island and

claimed the proposal was the "best ever

submitted to you."

He

pointed out that nearly 50 percent of the tract

would be undeveloped and the site had already

been approved by Publix as a location for a new

store.

Nearby

property already is zoned commercial and Callaway

contends the best use of the site is commercial.

Town

manager Barry Amos received a copy of the suit

Monday morning and turned it over to the town's

legal team.

In

another development, the Tyrone Planning

Commission will study the proposal this Thursday

at 7 p.m.

Amos

said the council sent the proposed changing of

the land use amendment back to the Planning

Commission for further study.

In

their discussions denying the developer's

request, Councilman Ronnie Cannon said the

development would create traffic problems on Hwy.

74 and the level of services provided to Tyrone

residents would be decreased.

"We

need to stand by our plan. Somebody needs to

stick to the standards that have already been

set," he said.

Councilman

Paul Letourneau said he didn't see how a

population of 3,800 could support a 52,000-sq.

ft. grocery store and didn't want a vacant

building to fill if Publix should decide it

couldn't make a go of it in the town.

The

council unanimously denied Callaway's petition to

amend the land use map from residential

conservation to limited use conditional.

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