Fayette Christian School is

taking the next step in its quest to turn the old A&T Market into

a day care facility.

After informal discussions

at last month's Fayetteville Planning and Zoning Commission workshop,

the school is on the March agenda with an official variance request and

revised elevations for the site, at the northwest corner of Lanier Avenue

and Jeff Davis Boulevard.

The former occupants of the

building, the Market teen club, ended its stay amid an eruption of controversy

after allegations of lewd dancing and underage drinking on and near the

premises led to several arrests.

The main campus of Fayette

Christian, on Longview Drive in the northern part of Fayetteville, houses

students from K-3 through the 12th grade. About 50 children are in the

kindergarten program, and that number could increase to more than 130

at the Market site, according to school administrators.

The variance request stems

from the amount of outdoor play area available at the site. State Department

of Human Resources regulations allow 138 children to occupy the building,

school officials say, but city ordinances requiring 150 square feet of

outdoor play area per child leaves the school with a shortage.

Dropping that requirement to

100 square feet per child, which school officials said is within DHR guidelines,

would make the current outdoor play area sufficient.

The school, which is negotiating

a multi-year lease agreement with the owners of the property, hope to

be operating at the site in some fashion this summer.

The remainder of the March

agenda for the Planning and Zoning Commission consists of proposed amendments

to the city's zoning ordinance, specifically regarding temporary buildings,

amendment procedure, customary home occupation, and open space zoning

districts.