Fayetteville

may be Fayette County's most rapidly changing city, as progress continues

on a huge mixed use development, The Village, just west of town, and for

major developments on the southern edge.

A number of

changes came the city's way during 2001, including:

Officials

announced earlier this year plans for a municipal amphitheater at the

edge of the Village multiuse development off Ga. Highway 54 next to Fayette

County High School.

The city recently

approved plans to finance the $1.5 million project with a portion of a

$2.25 million bond, with the balance earmarked for downtown improvement

projects.

The amphitheater

is to be on the south end of Fayette County High School, at the eastern

entrance to the Village at LaFayette Avenue and Tiger Trail. It will be

smaller than the Frederick Brown Jr. Amphitheater in Peachtree City and

will not compete with that venue for major concerts, according to city

officials.

A proposed

master plan for the south side of Fayetteville is under review by the

City Council, but council members will not be rushing to send it through.

The total site

is 392.3 acres. Existing uses call for 106.2 acres of community commercial,

160.2 acres of medium-density single family residential, 124.9 acres of

low-density single family residential, and one acre of public-institutional

property.

Under the proposed

plan, 114.6 acres would be used for commercial/retail, along with 116.4

acres of medium-density single family residential, 118.4 acres of high-density

single family residential, 3.2 acres of office, 18.4 acres of mixed-use

office/retail, and 21.3 acres of commercial office warehouse.

The property

in question is bordered on the west by Ga. Highway 85 and on the south

to Jeff Davis and include an extension of the Hwy. 92 connector from Jimmie

Mayfield Boulevard to Jeff Davis.

At least two

new stores and a new restaurant for Fayetteville were discussed Tuesday

night at the work session of the city's Planning and Zoning Commission.

The next building

to go up in Fayette Pavilion will house a Dollar Tree store and will be

next to Wal-Mart. The building will fill in the vacant space next to Wal-Mart

and eventually house another large retailer as yet unnamed.

A vacancy in

the former Home Place location, caused when that company went out of business,

will be filled in the coming months by Best Buy, a national electronics

and appliance retailer whose closest location is currently near Southlake

Mall in Clayton County.

A Haverty's

furniture store has moved into the vacant Roberds building on Ga. Highway

85 and expects to be open by February.

Discussions

have begun concerning a possible Cracker Barrel restaurant opening in

front of Lowe's, in one of the out-parcels facing Hwy. 85. There is no

timetable for that project, and no official plans or requests have been

submitted to the city.

The Muslim

community on the south side of Atlanta has a new gathering place in downtown

Fayetteville, converting a building with a recent history of alleged criminal

activity into a house of worship.

After its recent

purchase by a Peachtree City doctor, the site formerly known as The Market

is now the Muslim Community Center of Atlanta, and began full-day operation

this week, allowing followers of Islam to pray up to five times per day

as their religion requires.

The Market,

at the northwest corner of Ga. Highway 54 and Jeff Davis Boulevard, was

a grocery store several years ago and sat vacant for some time until plans

for a teen center came to fruition.

But less than

a year after opening with talk of a Christian-oriented place for teens

to gather, the club was shut down in July 2000 by authorities amid allegations

of lewd dancing by teenagers and other sordid behavior. The teen club

never reopened.

Reports surfaced

earlier this year that a local church and Christian school would take

control of the property and operate a day care center there. That proposal

fell through when the school was unable to work out financial details

of the project.

It appeared

that the building would remain vacant for a while longer, but Dr. Unnisa

Faiyaz and her husband stepped in and bought the property.

The owners

hoped to open the center immediately after purchasing the property, but

the events of Sept. 11 changed that. The center opened in mid-November.

Other churches

and groups have inquired about using the building for selected events

and activities of their own, Faiyaz said, but that will be subject to

the center's own schedule, which will eventually include classes for children

and other activities.

Fayette County's

mayors unanimously chose Fayetteville Mayor Kenneth Steele to represent

them on the Atlanta Regional Commission Board of Directors.

Steele's term

began Jan. 1. He is eligible to remain on the board for as long as he

remains mayor.

He replaces

Peachtree City Mayor Bob Lenox, who retired from office Dec. 31.

Steele said

he sees his role on the board as that of "an ombudsman for the citizens

of Fayette.

"We are

part of metro Atlanta," said Steele, "and I want to be a contributor

to the overall well-being of metro Atlanta."

But he said

he also wants to work for more recognition of the needs of the counties

and cities south of Atlanta. "We need to encourage them to think

of the southern tier. I hope we can break some funds loose from ARC to

address our transportation needs," he added.

As the regional

planning agency for the 10-county Atlanta area, ARC compiles the most

recent data, forecasts future trends and keeps track of issues and is

a conduit for federal funding for transportation and other local needs.

A lot of changes

have taken place in recent months in Fayetteville's Planning Department,

but the volume of work stays consistent.

Every position

in the three-member department has been vacated since spring, the most

recent being former planning director Maurice Ungaro, who left in the

fall to work for the Atlanta Regional Commission. He was replaced by Jahnee

Prince, who held that post from 1997 until 1999, when she left for a private

firm and Ungaro replaced her.

The office

had three planners until senior planner Todd Miller left in late spring

for a position in Florida, and planner Lynn Oliver assumed a similar post

in Alpharetta at about the same time.

Bibi Houssain

joined the department in the summer as a staff assistant, and Eldrige

Gunn has assumed the senior planner's role.

While staff

may have changed in the Planning Department, the overall work load has

not. "It's stayed pretty heavy," said Don Easterbrook, the city's

director of engineering and developmental services.