Plans for a Hooters

restaurant in Fayetteville are on hold

indefinitely, and although it officially has

nothing to do with recent protests of the

restaurant chain's philosophy, local residents

were obviously glad to hear the news at Tuesday

night's Fayetteville Planning and Zoning

Commission meeting.

The development

plan for the proposed restaurant on Ga. Highway

314 at Banks Road was tabled with almost no

discussion, in response to a prior written

request from Hooters management. Neither Hooters

nor JDN Development, who is developing that site,

had a representative at the meeting.

Planning Director

Maurice Ungaro told the audience that the request

to table the matter came about due to conflicts

with the overall development of the Fayetteville

Retail Center, a JDN project that includes the

Applebee's restaurant and Eckerd drug store

adjacent to the proposed Hooters site. "The

developers are not prepared to go forward,"

he said.

"There are

legal issues outstanding with the development,

and this commission can take no action until

these are resolved," said commission

Chairman Myron Coxe. "This will be on next

month's agenda unless the applicant

withdraws."

Coxe did not say

exactly what the legal issues were, but about 100

people in the audience were satisfied, as they

applauded and began leaving the meeting after the

vote to table passed unanimously.

A letter sent July

18 by Ungaro to JDN stated that required

improvements to Banks Road had not been completed

and the city did not yet have a signed

development agreement concerning the overall

site.

The city would not

approve any further work at the Fayetteville

Retail Center until these matters were resolved,

according to Ungaro.

As a result of this

action, Hooters of America Inc. Vice President of

Marketing Mike McNeil issued a statement Tuesday

outlining the company's desire to table the

development plan for the proposed Fayetteville

location.

He stressed that

this action was in no way related to complaints

but was solely due to the ongoing problems

between the developer and the city.

"We are

hopeful that these issues can be resolved in a

timely manner," McNeil stated.

"Hooters of

America is committed to developing a Hooters in

Fayette County."