Residents of

Rebekah Lakes and Surrey Park subdivisions off Ga. Highway 85 south of

Fayetteville probably will be present Thursday when the Fayette County

Commission considers BellSouth Mobility's request for a 253-foot communications

tower near their neighborhoods.

The Planning

Commission's Dec. 7 vote to recommend approval of the request elicited

loud, angry protests from a crowd of about 30 residents of the two subdivisions.

Shouts of "Y'all

did us wrong," and "A hundred and eighty of us people don't

even count" rang through the commission meeting room following the

vote.

Residents who

had spoken during the public comment period attempted to interject more

comments during the commission's discussion of the matter, and commission

Chairman Bob Harbison at one point called on the county marshal's office

to restore order and escort residents out of the meeting room.

BellSouth representatives

said the tower, planned for a 150-acre site on Harp Road, will be surrounded

But five residents

who rose to speak all pointed out that some day those woods will be cut

down to make way for development, leaving the monopole tower more visible.

Some opponents disputed BellSouth's claim, saying most of the land on

the site is pasture.

The tower would

be unsightly and harm neighborhood property values, the residents argued.

"If you put that in there, that would be the end of any new development

in that area," said Charles Myers of Rebekah Lakes.

Michael Tyler

of BellSouth said the company needs the tower in that location and at

that height to provide better coverage for its customers. Under county

law, the company could erect a 180-foot tower without submitting to public

hearings.

County commissioners

will hear the request Thursday at 7 p.m. at the County Administrative

Complex.

Also on the

agenda will be Bertha Morris' request for rezoning to allow 23 single-family

homes on 34.806 acres on Westbridge Road. The Planning Commission recommended

approval of the request for a change from A-R, which requires minimum

five-acre building lots, to R-50, which allows one-acre lots.

Planning Commission

member Jim Graw voted against the motion to recommend the change. "I

have a problem with the zoning when you look at the surrounding area,"

he said. The land is surrounded on three sides by land zoned for five-acre

lots, with land zoned for one-acre development on two sides.

Staff also

recommended denial.

County commissioners

Thursday also will consider changes to the county's soil erosion and sedimentation

control regulations, recommended by the Planning Commission.

The changes

will bring the regulations in line with new state and federal regulations.

Among new provisions are minimum fines for violations. Current law provides

for maximum fines, but no minimums.