More than 20 citizens in Tyrone

came out to last Thursday's Town Council meeting to voice their displeasure

over a possible rezoning on a 36.724-acre tract owned by developer Burt

Clark. The tract is bordered by Laurelwood Road and Laurel Lake Drive

and the people that live near there do not want to see any changes.

They have signed petitions,

met with Clark on several occasions and voiced their opinions at town

council and planning and zoning meetings. It was supposed to be resolved

one way or the other on Thursday, but it wasn't. The council decided to

continue the discussion into the first meeting in October.

Clark's original plan was to

put 23 one-acre lots on the tract, donate eight acres of green space to

the town and leave another acre or so for a possible extension of Laurelwood

Road, if it is ever needed. The Planning and Zoning Commission recommended

approval of his plans. No one in the crowd came forward to support Clark's

plan but when Mayor Sheryl Lee asked if anybody wanted to speak in opposition

to the plan, many citizens came forward.

Janet Smola, a member of the

Fayette County Board of Education, was worried about problems that the

septic systems might cause to the wetlands area or to Line Creek, while

Tracy Heard suggested that the council honor the established land use

plan. Between 20 to 30 other citizens stood up to show their support for

Heard's idea.

Mike Smola, running against

Councilman Ronnie Cannon, echoed this statement, saying that the land

use plan was like a holy grail as to how the town would be developed.

Eric Allen presented close to 430 petition cards to the council, while

Steven Shaw voiced concern over the council establishing a precedent that

would encourage more developers to come in and rezone property.

Randy Boyd, a surveyor for

Clark, gave the rebuttal, trying to assure the citizens that septic tanks

would only cause problems if they were installed improperly and that by

dedicating the green space, it would be protected. For those who voiced

concerns about an increase in traffic, Boyd went and examined the current

traffic in the area and rarely saw stacking traffic, which is when one

car is stopped behind another car.

"To me, this is just an

example of people moving into an area and wanting to shut the door,"

said Boyd. "If this mentality was here 10 years ago half the people

opposed to this development wouldn't even be here."

Boyd then went on to cite a

number of subdivisions that feature houses on one-acre lots, which constituted

the homes that 74 percent of the people opposed to the development live

on.

Clark then came up and presented

the council with several alternatives. There was the original plan, a

plan that fell under conservative redistricting, which would create 15

two acre lots but would not dedicate green space to the town, a combination

of 17 one- and two-acre lots and the dedication of the 8.25 acres of green

space and one where he would stick with the current zoning and build several

houses on three acre lots but would not have any restrictions.

Town Manager Barry Amos came

up before council and recommended consideration of the third proposal,

though he admitted that staff did not get a chance to closely examine

the proposals. Council agreed that the third proposal seemed like it would

be in the best interest of the town but wanted to get a sense of what

the concerned citizens thought of it.

They also wanted more time

to examine the plans, so the topic will be continued at the Oct. 17 Town

Council meeting. Between now and then citizens will be able to meet with

Clark again and see the third option go before planning and zoning.

The Town Council will meet

again Thursday, Oct. 3.

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