Fayette County

needs a new cemetery and mausoleum, says John Kent of Flint River Resources

Inc.

And the Atlanta-based

company is taking steps to establish one on Helmer Road, off Ga. Highway

279 in north Fayette.

"We find

that the service in this area is mostly provided by churches, and those

have become difficult to obtain and limited in number," said Kent.

"We want to provide a service to the community."

A request for

a zoning change to allow the cemetery is on the county Planning Commission's

agenda for Thursday. The company is asking for a change from R-40, which

allows subdivisions with minimum one-acre lots, to A-R, which allows subdivisions

with minimum five-acre lots, for 24.3 acres. Cemeteries are a conditional

use under the A-R category.

"There's

a nice little pond on the property, which we will leave, and we want to

put in a memorial type cemetery, with bronze plaques mounted on granite

backers," said Kent. A small office would be built, but no large

statuary, he said.

Kent and two

other owners of the company have a combined 60 years of experience in

the business, and plan to operate and maintain the cemetery, he added.

Maintenance,

which will consist mainly of keeping the grass cut, will be done during

business hours, Kent said, and funerals also are mainly conducted during

daylight hours and rarely on Sundays. "It'll be very quiet, and we'll

be very good neighbors," he said.

The county

planning staff is recommending approval of the rezoning. The land use

plan calls for office development in the area.

Staff is recommending

denial, though, of Dean Fryer's request to rezone one acre of a two-acre

building lot on Sumner Road near Ga. Highway 54 from R-40 to O-I (office-institutional)

for professional, medical and law offices. Fryer also is requesting that

the plat for Madelyn Place subdivision be revised to divide the lot into

two one-acre lots: one for the offices and one for a home.

The lot has

no frontage on Hwy. 54, according to zoning director Kathy Zeitler, and

that's a requirement for the county's special rules allowing office developments

along the highway. The neighborhood was platted just a year ago, she said.

The Planning

Commission meets at 7 p.m. tomorrow at the County Administrative Complex.

Its recommendations on the rezoning requests will be passed on to the

County Commission for a final decision Feb. 22.