Starr's Mill

LLC is putting on a full-court press as the firm goes back to the County

Commission Thursday with its plan for Plantation Centre, a commercial

and office development across from Starr's Mill High School.

The company

will present color renderings, volumes of information and a promise to

donate 65 percent of the development to the county.

In announcing

the promise to donate 52 acres of the original 80-acre project, company

President Jim Wells said the project will help Fayette participate in

the governor's Georgia Green Space Program, which seeks to set aside 20

percent of metro Atlanta land for parks and green space.

Fayette commissioners

have voted to participate, and the county will receive $734,000 in state

funds to help finance it.

"We are

very excited about the possibility of providing the county with 52 acres

of undisturbed green belt," said Wells. "The county will be

able to use the land for whatever means they find necessary. We are also

looking forward to creating a pedestrian-friendly development that compliments

the social fabric of the surrounding area."

But the county

Planning Commission and Planning Department staff have recommended denial

of the company's request for rezoning to allow for the project.

"This

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

said Planning Commission member Fred Bowen following a public hearing

on the plan last month.

The group unanimously

voted to recommend denial of the request. County commissioners will consider

the request at their meeting tomorrow at 7 p.m. at the County Administrative

Complex.

The company's

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

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

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

presented the plan to the County Commission in October, 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 52 acres to

the county 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 October meeting to show their opposition

to the plan.

"They

keep tweaking in hopes of a 'yes,'" said Kemp.

"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 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."

Plans for the

village-style shopping center include a grocery store and potential doctor,

dentist and other professional service offices, as well as restaurants

and boutiques, according to Wells. He has "self-imposed" restrictions

on the types of facilities that will not be allowed in the retail center,

including such things as pool halls, novelty shops and convenience stores,

in order to maintain an upscale village feel, he said.

The developer

also proposes to build an on-site wastewater treatment facility, which

would be "progressive and environmentally friendly," according

to the project's engineering firm, Integrated Science and Engineering.