Developer Mukut

Gupta will try to convince county commissioners Thursday night that his

40.5 acres on Old Senoia Road at Harp Road should have more homes than

the current zoning allows.

The County

Planning Commission is unanimous in recommending approval of rezoning

that would allow 18 homes on the property, just off Ga. Highway 85. Gupta

is requesting a change from A-R (agricultural-residential) zoning, which

requires minimum five-acre lots, to R-72, which allows lots as small as

two acres.

The group also

recommended approval of Gupta's request for R-40 zoning, which allows

one-acre lots, eight months ago. But the county Board of Commissioners

denied that request.

At that time,

the county's zoning staff recommended R-72 zoning for the land instead

of the R-40 requested, but this time, the staff has recommended denial

of the request, leaving the land to be developed in five-acre lots.

"In my

mind," said planning commissioner Jim Graw, "this is a better

proposal than the one we had at that time."

But Terry Durant,

who lives next door, held up a jug filled with brown water and said she

drew the water from her tap just before driving to the Planning Commission

meeting. The area is served by wells. "It will not help to add all

these families and all their waste to the water table," said Durant.

Gupta said

if the subdivision is approved, he'll bring county water to the neighborhood

and residents in the area can tap on.

But Durant

said that's no solution. It would cost too much to tap on, she said, and

she would never be able to afford to use county water to sprinkle her

lawn and garden. She's content to keep buying her drinking water, but

she doesn't want the water table further polluted, she said.

Durant was

one of four residents who spoke in opposition to the rezoning, citing

traffic concerns and the fact that most of the homes surrounding the proposed

subdivision are on lots of five acres or more.

But some of

those lots are zoned for one-acre lots, Gupta argued. "The criterion,

in my opinion, has to be what is zoned and not what is there," he

said.

Commission

member Al Gilbert said the plan is in keeping with the county's land use

plan for the area, and admonished home buyers to look at the land use

plan before buying in an area.

The County

Commission originally was scheduled to hear the proposal April 26, but

delayed action at Gupta's request to give time for a new commissioner

to be elected, so his request would be heard by a full board.

Commissioners

also will hear Sarah Banister's controversial request to allow two-acre

home sites on her 42.3 acres on New Hope Road.

When Banister

asked the County Commission to approve one-acre subdivision zoning for

the property, near Kite Lake Road, last December, the Planning Commission

recommended two-acre zoning instead. But county commissioners denied the

zoning request outright.

Now Banister

is back, asking for two-acre zoning, and the Planning Commission has recommended

approval.

The land is

surrounded by properties zoned A-R, which requires a minimum of five acres

per home, and neighbor Charley Regan said he would just as soon the Banister

property stays A-R as well.

"I moved

from a subdivision in order to take advantage of a rural area," he

said, adding he has lived on New Hope since 1965. "I would like to

see it remain agricultural."

Billy Brundage,

agent for Banister, said the R-75 zoning being requested is in keeping

with the county's land use plan.

Both requests

will go to the county Board of Commissioners for a final decision Thursday

at 7 p.m. at the County Administrative Complex.

Commissioners

also will consider a request from Aston Peart to change the zoning of

a portion of the Fayette Youth Protection Home's land to allow for a day

care center.

If the request

is approved by county commissioners, Peart plans to buy the 5.1 acres

and build a commercial day care center on it. The zoning granted to the

Youth Protection Home in 1987 conditioned the zoning on its use as a children's

home. Peart's request is to change that condition, allowing for the day

care center.

The land is

on Twiggs Way, just off Ga. Highway 279.

Also on the

agenda are new street design standards and specifications along with off-street

parking and service requirements.

The changes

match recent changes in state and federal standards, and are needed to

ensure that in the case of disaster, county streets would be restored

using the newer standards, according to county engineer Ron Salmons.