Fayette County

will get a new cemetery and mausoleum, if the County Commission agrees

with the Planning Commission's recommendation.

Planning commissioners

are recommending a zoning change for 24.3 acres on Helmer Road at the

intersection of Ga. highways 314 and 279, in north Fayette, to allow Flint

River Resources Inc. to develop a cemetery.

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. Cemeteries are a conditional use under the A-R category.

Company officials

have pitched the idea to numerous area churches, and, "We have received

a tremendous amount of enthusiasm and support," said Jim Crist of

Stockbridge, who represented the Atlanta-based company during the Planning

Commission meeting last week.

Although the

county's population has grown from under 30,000 to over 100,000 since

1980, Crist said, no new cemeteries have been built in Fayette in that

time. There are currently three commercial cemeteries, he said.

"We have

a basic need in the area for the facility," he said.

No one spoke

in opposition during the Planning Commission meeting, but two residents

did send letters saying they are opposed and concerned that the cemetery

will have a negative impact on their property values.

Crist said

the company would agree to a wider buffer if necessary, and plans to improve

the area by taking over maintenance of an historic cemetery on the property

across the street from the site.

Under questioning

from commission members, he added that the company has no plans to operate

a crematorium. "What we are involved in is interment of caskets,

vaults and mausoleums," he said.

Planning commissioners

voted unanimously to approve the rezoning. Their recommendation will go

to the County Commission at 7 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 22 at the County Administrative

Complex.

The planning

panel is recommending denial 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. Commissioners voted unanimously to recommend approval of the request

to subdivide the lot, but only for an additional home.

The group also

approved preliminary plats for three subdivisions:

Murphy Creek

Landing, consisting of 37.8 acres with 29 homes on Hilo Road;

Vickery Lane,

a 17-home community on 20.4 acres on County Line road;

Oakley Estates,

24 homes on 171.4 acres on Ga. Highway 92 south.