A plan for

commercial and office development across from Starr's Mill High School,

presented in revised form last week, is still not acceptable, says Fayette's

Planning Commission.

"This

would make a very nice shopping center somewhere... but not here,"

said commission member Fred Bowen following a public hearing on the plan

last week.

Commissioners

unanimously voted to recommend denial of Starr's Mill LLC's request for

a zoning change to allow the development. The county Board of Commissioners

will consider the request at its Dec. 14 meeting, 7 p.m. at the County

Administrative Complex (the Nov. 23 meeting has been cancelled due to

Thanksgiving).

The company's

original plan covered just over 80 acres and included soccer fields and

a church. The Planning Commission recommended denial of a request for

C-C (community commercial) zoning for that plan, but when the company

presented the plan to the County Commission last month, several changes

had been made.

County commissioners

sent the request back to the Planning Commission for another look.

The new request

is for C-C zoning on 21.8 acres and O-I (office-institutional) zoning

on 5.8 acres. The remainder of the property would keep its current A-R

(agricultural-residential) category, said Carl Westmoreland, a lawyer

representing the company.

Westmoreland

said the original plan for commercial space has been reduced by 50,000

square feet, and the company is willing to make improvements to the Redwine

Road/Ga. Highway 74 intersection and donate the remaining 53 acres to

the county as green space if the zoning change is approved.

"This

is a nice, small scale retail village," said Phil Ozell, architect

for the project, adding that the plan contains "a bountiful amount

of landscaping, including wide buffers along the street frontage and split-rail

fencing... to give it a country village feel."

But, "It

still does not comply with the land use plan," said Pamela Kemp,

a resident of the area who has opposed the project from its inception.

Kemp and about

15 other residents attended the meeting to show their opposition to the

plan.

"They

keep tweaking in hopes of a 'yes,'" said Kemp, adding she is suspicious

of the company's statement that it will leave the remaining 53 acres untouched.

"That land will be primed for rezoning as it will abut commercially

zoned land," she said.

"We just

don't want it, no matter how they fix it," said resident Omela Lamont.

And Wes Saunders,

chairman of the Peachtree City Planning Commission, said the city approved

development of Wilshire Pavilion, a shopping center just 1,600 feet north

of the Starr's Mill land, based on the assumption that there would not

be any other commercial development nearby.

That assumption

was based on the county's land use plan, which calls for low-density residential

development for the Starr's Mill land.

"We believe

the Wilshire development going in will serve the future needs of the south

end of the county," said Saunders.

County Planning

Commission member Jim Graw agreed with member Fred Bowen that the project

would be a boon to Fayette if placed somewhere else. "I just don't

think the residents should be surprised," he said, adding, "Approval

of this would put three major shopping centers within three miles of each

other."