A new cemetery

and mausoleum for north Fayette will be on the County Commission's agenda

Thursday.

The county

Planning Commissioners is unanimously recommending approval of a zoning

change for 24.3 acres on Helmer Road at the intersection of Ga. highways

314 and 279 to allow Flint River Resources Inc. to develop the 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 Feb. 1.

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.

County commissioners

will consider the rezoning request Thursday at 7 p.m. at the County Administrative

Complex.

Also under

consideration will be 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 Planning

Commission voted unanimously to recommend approval of the request to subdivide

the lot, but only for an additional home. The group is recommending denial

of the O-I rezoning.

In other business

Thursday, commissioners will hear from John DeLash, owner of a dental

lab on Sandy Creek Road. DeLash wants the county to abandon 6,893 square

feet of right of way that was left unused when the road's intersection

with Ga. Highway 54 was realigned a few years ago.