Fayetteville city officials

have decided to take the next step in the proposed development of the

south side master plan, voting at last week's City Council meeting to

send an update of the city's land use map to the appropriate state and

regional agencies for approval.

It has taken more than a year

of planning among several property owners, city staff and two consulting

firms to get to this point. Starting with 176 acres and a single property

owner, the proposal grew to nearly 400 acres and is now down to 273 acres

after several properties were removed from consideration within the past

month.

The overall site stretches

east from Ga. Highway 85 to Jeff Davis Road and the proposed development

would eventually include construction of a connector road from Jimmie

Mayfield Boulevard to Jeff Davis, something that has been touted as a

major advantage of the development in that it would create a southern

bypass and relieve traffic through the square.

City officials also said that

a master plan of some kind would allow commercial uses in better locations,

better interconnection of parcels with access roads and sidewalks, and

more orderly curb cuts than if the properties were allowed to be developed

piecemeal.

The Planning and Zoning Commission

approved the changes to the land use map in February with a few conditions,

including a limitation on medium density residential to no more than two

units per acre; a limit on the number of townhouse and single-family high-density

units per acre; a limit on the commercial area at the corner of Bradley

and Jimmie Mayfield to C-2; and a stipulation that the new road be tied

into the project financially.

Densities have been significantly

reduced from previous presentations, according to city staff, and townhouse

density has been reduced to current zoned density. The overall density

with the master plan is less than what can now be developed there without

it, staff added, and overall residential density is less with the future

land use map than what could potentially be developed under the existing

land use map and zoning map.

One change to the future land

use map alters a portion of the site from community commercial to highway

commercial, allowing larger development tracts and less piecemeal development.

Office and business park uses, which do not exist in this area on the

current land use map, are now about 25 acres, and more than 58 acres of

open space has also been added where there previously was none. One issue

still outstanding is city staff's requirement of 10 percent office space

on the commercial property.

The update to the future land

use map must now go to the state's Department of Community Affairs and

the Atlanta Regional Commission for approval, which would take at least

60 days. While that process is underway, the property owners can apply

for annexation and/or rezoning as necessary, according to city staff.

After DCA and ARC approval,

which could come in late June, the City Council can approve annexations

and rezonings according to the future land use map and development agreement.

The entire property would need to be rezoned along with a development

agreement, and all annexations and rezonings would need to take place

after the future land use map is approved, although they can be on the

same meeting agenda.

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