The Georgia

Supreme Court has unanimously agreed to hear an appeal from the town of

Tyrone stemming from a recent court order requiring it to rezone land

for unrestricted commercial use as requested by a developer.

Fayette Superior

Court Judge Johnnie Caldwell ordered Tyrone May 31 to rezone more than

74 acres bordering Ga. Highway 74 and Tyrone Road commercial as the result

of a lawsuit filed by Callaway Land Company. The ruling appeared to pave

the way for a shopping center that was once to have been anchored by a

Publix grocery store.

In issuing

its notice granting the appeal, the Supreme Court noted its concerns whether

the trial court erred in ordering the properties to be rezoned to a particular

classification and whether the court was appropriate in granting the variances

and special exceptions sought by the developer.

Caldwell's

order actually covered two separate parcels of land located west of Hwy.

74 a 15-acre tract north of Tyrone Road which was zoned office-institutional,

and a 69-acre tract south of Tyrone Road which was zoned agricultural-residential.

The two separate lawsuits were merged into one before final arguments

were heard in the case.

The litigation

began after the council declined to rezone the properties to limited use

commercial last year. Attorneys representing Tyrone had argued that the

development would harm the public health, safety and welfare, but Caldwell

indicated that argument wasn't supported well.

The property's

central location between Hwy. 74 and Tyrone "renders the property

a natural commercial node," Caldwell wrote in the order.