The public

is being asked to help the task force studying the development of West

Village with input at a planning charrette beginning Saturday at 9 a.m.

at council chambers in City Hall.

Task force

members hope input from the public will bring a variety of ideas to the

table. Residents can drop in for as short or as long as they like, said

City Planner David Rast, who is helping orchestrate the study of the West

Village area.

The entire

meeting is expected to last no later than 1 p.m.

The first three

hours of the charrette will have four different groups discussing alternatives

in land use, transportation, architectural character and aesthetics. Each

group will have a moderator to lead discussion, and at noon, the groups

will shut down so the entire task force can come together and the results

from each group can be presented.

The groups

will cover the following topics:

Transportation

including roads, cart paths and driveway cuts

Land Use both

existing and proposed land use designations along with possible re-development

opportunities

Architectural

Character including building design, material selection and massing

Aesthetics

including landscaping, street lights, signal poles and gateway features.

The task force

will use the results of the charrette to design a cohesive plan for the

West Village area, which is beginning to grow with residential areas and

will soon have major commercial locations such as the Wal-Mart Supercenter

and Home Depot.

The task force

was formed by the city originally to study the use of alternative transportation

in the area, such as cart paths. The idea was that the Atlanta Regional

Commission might consider funding the cart paths especially for expensive

items like a bridge over Highway 54 with $350 million in funding it will

offer.

The city has

to present its alternative transportation plan for the area by June 1.

The results

from the charrette will be used by city staff to develop an overall plan

that will be presented to the task force at its next meeting Monday, May

14.

At its last

meeting, the task force talked about how to handle the future widening

of Ga. Highway 54. One of the ideas was to eschew a landscaped median

in favor of adding more buffering from the highway on each side of the

road.

There was also

talk of creating an access road to get to the commercial development north

of Hwy. 54. Doug McMurrain of RAM Development, the company that owns most

of that commercial land, said an road is planned to be built behind the

stores off Hwy. 54.

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