A combination of poorly-marked

signs and conflicts of interest left most of the audience at last week's

Town Council meeting angry and upset.

Thursday's meeting was supposed

to be one of the busiest of the year, with three rezoning requests scheduled.

Residents packed Town Hall

to see how the Town Council would vote, but in the end, no decisions were

made on the issues.

The first issue was a request

Road and Laurel Lake Drive.

The land is currently zoned

for three-acre homesites, but Clark wants the property rezoned from AR

to R-48 to allow for the higher density use.

"Keep it one home per

three acres. Twenty-three septic systems on this property could flow into

Line Creek," said Tracy Heard, who lives near the property.

But in the end, the Town Council

postponed voting on the issue because the signs posted for the public

hearing were not legible.

Town attorney Brad Sears said

the town could face a possible lawsuit if a resident who wanted to attend

Thursday night's meeting could not read the sign outlining the time and

place of the hearing.

The town will discuss the issue

again Sept. 19

The next rezoning concerned

another request from Burt Clark. Town councilmen Ronnie Cannon and Lisa

Richardson recused themselves from discussion on the issue, since they

knew people involved in the rezoning request. Since Mayor Sheryl Lee can

only vote in cases of ties, only Councilmen Ray Bogenschutz and Paul Letourneau

could vote on the matter.

With only two eligible council

members left to vote on the issue, Sears told the Town Council the matter

would have to be referred to Superior Court, where a "special master"

would be appointed to conduct the public hearing.

"This happens about once

a year. With a small town and only five people on the council, you're

going to run into this," Sears said.

The final zoning issue was

a 56-acre site at the intersection of Ga. Highway 74 and Senoia Road.

The property is zoned Agricultural-Residential, but the Hobgood estate

wants it changed to M-1, Industrial.

Rick Sewell represented the

Hobgoods and said the property is surrounded by industrial land and the

Hobgoods just want the property zoned to industrial, which is how it is

earmarked on the Future Land Use Map.

But Tyrone residents opposed

the change.

"The citizens don't want

anymore industrial," said Gary Lee.

Lee Wright, who used to serve

on the town's Planning Commission, was adamant in his opposition.

"I'm concerned about traffic

and noise pollution. Do we want to look like Fairburn at Interstate 85?"

He said.

Since there were no specific

requests for the property, the Town Council voted to send the matter back

to the Planning Commission for further discussion. The commission may

also discuss the Future Land Use Map.

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