The Fayette County Board of

Education is looking to locate a couple of its new schools inside the

Fayetteville city limits.

The city's Planning and Zoning

Commission this month is considering a rezoning and annexation request

from the school system, which has purchased about 94 acres on Lester Road

for a new school complex. This purchase is a result of the most recent

school bond referendum.

The portion on the north side

of Lester Road is expected to consist of an elementary school, a middle

school, a softball field, a football field, bus parking and a pickup/drop-off

area, with two parent/teacher parking lots (one for each school). Long-range

plans for the southern portion of the tract include a new high school.

The property is currently undeveloped

and is zoned agricultural-residential, according to city staff reports.

The request before the city is for rezoning to RP on the north side of

Lester Road and R-70 on the south side.

Commissioner Allen Feldman

asked what benefit the city could possibly receive from annexation, and

city engineer Don Easterbrook's response was that an environmental benefit

would be received from the school facilities being on the city's sewer

system.

Full development plans, including

a traffic impact study and hydrological study, are expected from the school

system at next month's P&Z meetings. City staff has elected not to

make a recommendation on the application until those studies are in.