Developer

Bob Rolader is meeting this week with residents

next to the site of his proposed Deer Pointe

development to address concerns that could hamper

his efforts to have the property annexed into

Fayetteville.

At

his initial presentation last week to the

Fayetteville Planning and Zoning Commission,

Rolader talked with a number of residents as they

pored over a drawing of what the 454-home

development might look like.

Rolader

is wanting to annex most of the land, which

totals about 900 acres on Ga. Highway 54 on the

west side of town, into Fayetteville and hook up

the homes to the city's sewer system. He has

proposed donating 215 acres to the city for use

as a park or general open space, and he wants to

give a large lake in the middle of the property

to the city as well for use as a water source.

The

Planning and Zoning Commission will consider the

development plan again at its July 25 meeting,

which is its voting meeting for this month.

Rolader

said Monday that he is planning to meet with

residents in the area later this week, and he is

waiting to hear back from them as to when and

where that meeting will take place.

Some

concerns were aired last week about the location

of the proposed development's recreation center,

which Rolader had drawn near the entrance to the

site and would be across the street from some

existing residents who said they have no desire

to see floodlights from a tennis court shining

onto their property every night.

After

stating at the meeting that he is quite flexible

about the location of these amenities, Rolader is

meeting this week to discuss some possibilities.

few other issues raised last week included one

resident's assertion that a lake on the property

had been condemned. Rolader assured the

commission and the residents that no such action

had taken place.

As

far as the city is concerned, Rolader said, the

commission wants to hear an opinion from the

city's Water Department concerning possible water

sources derived from the property. Rolader has

made contact with the Water Department, and a

representative will likely be in attendance at

next week's Planning and Zoning Commission

meeting, he said.

The

property's stormy history reared its head a

couple of times during discussions at the recent

commission meeting. It is part of a larger site

that was annexed into the city in the 1980s, with

more than 2,000 homes in the development plan.

That action led to a deannexation by the state

legislature and the election defeat of most of

the City Council that voted on it.

Some

residents who spoke to the commission last week

said that they fought against the annexation back

then and would do so again.

Rolader

realizes that some people will be against

annexation no matter what, but he hopes they

carefully consider the alternative, which is

development in unincorporated Fayette County,

with more homes spread out over the entire site

on septic tanks.

"Either

way it happens, six months from now somebody's

going to be putting streets in there," he

said. "The question is, do they want streets

over the whole place or a lot more open

space?"

City

planning director Maurice Ungaro said Monday that

the city is not officially involved in Rolader's

negotiations with his potential neighbors.

"That's in his court," he said.

The

city could send a representative to the meeting,

Ungaro said, but there are no plans to do that

right now and the next time the city considers

the plan will most likely be next Tuesday's

Planning and Zoning Commission meeting.

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