If developer

Michael Faulkner wants to build a new neighborhood on Ga. Highway 85 next

to Whitewater Middle School, he'll have to put the homes on two-acre lots.

Faulkner had

asked the County Commission to place 124.4 acres into an R-55 zoning district,

which allows one-acre lots, but instead commissioners approved a change

to R-75 zoning, which requires minimum two-acre lots.

The vote was

unanimous.

"A-R [agricultural-residential,

the property's previous zoning category] is no longer appropriate"

due to development surrounding the property, said Commissioner Linda Wells,

"but we need to put the zoning on the property that would have the

smallest impact possible on the neighborhood."

Faulkner argued

that, with 61 percent of adjoining property already zoned for one-acre

development, the change made sense in spite of the fact that the county

land use plan calls for larger lots, but commissioners said they are concerned

about traffic around the school as well as the additional school population

the proposed subdivision would generate.

Faulkner said

his plans for the development included extending Christopher Drive, which

he said would improve the traffic situation, but Wells said adding more

vehicles would cause a traffic problem regardless of the extension.

Faulkner had

planned to put 73 homes on the land, devoting several acres to green space,

but under the change approved by the commission, will be limited to a

maximum of about 54, if he decides to go ahead with the project.