Providing for "big box"

retail development south of Fayetteville sparked a rift in the final Southside

Task Force meeting last week. The sheer size of the commercial aspects

of the plan nearly 125 acres also caused concern throughout the task force

at the final meeting among residents and developers.

A consulting firm's report

suggests the commercial zoning not allow for any "big box,"

with a proposed 35,000-square-foot maximum for any single tenant and a

total of 100,000 square feet for any single commercial parcel.

Developer Bob Rolader, who

is also one of the primary land owners, said that he would have a problem

with that. Rolader added that he did not believe the task force's mission

was to mainly address zoning and land use, and not get into specific square

footage yet.

Kent Rose of Concordia Properties

also expressed reservations, saying that he supported the plan in general

but would have to go back and calculate how much revenue would be lost

from such changes as reduced lots and increased buffers.

Urban Collage, an Atlanta consulting

firm retained by the city, unveiled its report last Wednesday to the Southside

task force and will present that same plan to the City Council at tomorrow

night's regular meeting. There will be no vote, but Mayor Kenneth Steele

said Friday that he is looking for a consensus from the council to move

forward based on that plan and formulate the necessary development agreements

to lock desirable development guidelines into place.

A number of rezoning and annexation

requests relating to the Southside plan, along with the development agreements,

are on the council's Jan. 16 agenda.

Realizing that there is absolutely

no way to make everyone happy, Fayetteville officials interviewed said

they believe that they have a plan for the city's Southside that will

do the most good for the city and surrounding residents in the long run.

Steele said he is excited about

the plan. He believes that the city has gone to great lengths to protect

its residents, and that this plan is the best way they have found to do

that.

The Southside master plan,

in the works for about two years, now consists of 267.2 acres of land

on the south edge of Fayetteville, encompassing portions of Ga. Highway

85, the Ga. Highway 92 connector, Jimmie Mayfield Boulevard and Bradley

Drive. With the exception of a few residences and the Ingles supermarket

on Hwy. 92, this land is still mostly undeveloped.

The site currently includes

97 acres of commercially zoned land and 170.2 acres of residential zoning,

with 21.3 acres of that zoned for townhomes and the rest for single-family

houses. The 53.2-acre Simpson tract is in unincorporated Fayette County,

zoned residential-agricultural.

Urban Collage identified several

specific goals during the task force process, such as:

Minimizing the impact of commercial

zoning on residential areas, and providing a "step-down" approach

toward county residential areas.

Limiting high-density housing

and locating it closer to town.

Developing a meaningful open

space.

Encouraging development north

and south of the Hwy. 92 connector to be self-contained with interconnected

streets and paths, in addition to maximizing bikeways and greenways.

Mitigating the impact of increased

traffic on the surrounding area.

The task force was formed early

in the fall after a large number of residents in the area came to the

City Council with concerns about proposed development in the area, specifically

from previous Southside master plan proposals. The council tabled all

action relating to the master plan for 60 days, then for an additional

month when last week's final task force meeting became necessary.

The final master plan includes

a land use plan, a conceptual site plan displaying potential development

patterns and a development agreement between the city and the relevant

property owners and developers. It calls for 124.5 total commercial acres,

19 total office and institutional acres, 109.2 total residential acres,

and 14.5 acres of open space.

Commercial property under the

plan is consolidated along Hwy. 85 and at the corner of Hwy. 92 and Jimmie

Mayfield (long-term plans include extending the connector from Jimmie

Mayfield to Jeff Davis Drive), and a small office-institutional node is

suggested at the corner of Jimmie Mayfield and Bradley Drive.

The rest is residential land,

bisected by a 300-foot greenway along Perry Creek north of the Hwy. 92

connector. The plan includes three significant open spaces: a 4.8-acre

parcel on the northwest corner of Bradley and Jimmie Mayfield; a parcel

of 3-plus acres to the west of Jimmie Mayfield at the city limits; and

2-plus acres on either side of Perry Creek north of the Hwy. 92 connector.

According to the report, 97

acres of commercial land currently exist within the city with the ability

to accommodate about 550,000 square feet of commercial space. Also, the

Fayetteville Towne Center shopping center across Hwy. 85 has set a precedent

that forced the task force to assume the probable county rezoning and

commercial development of the Simpson tract, which would bring the entire

commercial area to about 120 acres and some 650,000 square feet of total

building area, the report stated.

The master plan does not decrease

the total acreage of commercially zoned land, but it relocates commercial

zones to create a node at Jimmie Mayfield and Hwy. 92, "rather than

a sprawling mass of commercial buildings along Jimmie Mayfield and Bradley

Drive," the report said, and the master plan and accompanying development

agreement would allow the city to regulate the size, type and character

of commercial buildings "to create more of a neighborhood/village-oriented

commercial node rather than a regional marketplace."

A representative of the Chanticleer

subdivision said that his neighbors were not in favor of locating commercial

sites on all four corners of Jimmie Mayfield and the Hwy. 92 connector.

He asked why the commercial lots on the east side of Jimmie Mayfield couldn't

be moved over to the site near Hwy. 85 that would contain the proposed

Publix shopping center. A representative of Urban Collage replied that

such a major shift would affect several different property owners, all

of whom the consultants have to consider when drawing up any plan.

Under the proposed master plan,

Chanticleer would be separated from the commercial node by a tract that

John Wieland Homes is now proposing for half-acre residential lots. That

plan is currently before the city's Planning and Zoning Commission.

Residents of Chanticleer and

Wyngate would have several hundred feet between themselves and the commercial

site, which they would not be able to see from their homes, but would

have access to via a pedestrian path through the Wieland development,

Steele pointed out Friday.

The proposed pedestrian paths

literally wrap around the entire Southside master plan, running through

the large greenway along Perry Creek and along the southern edge of the

site, as well as north across Bradley Drive where a portion of the proposed

townhomes would sit. At the westernmost portion of the tract, the proposed

Publix shopping center, which would have an access point on Hwy. 85, is

also accessible via a series of interconnected streets from elsewhere

in the section north of Hwy. 92, giving accessibility between various

residential and commercial sites without venturing onto the highway.

Steele compared the proposed

commercial sites with the current Kroger shopping center across Hwy. 85,

which he said was initially rejected by the city and rezoned in the county

before its construction. The site was later annexed into the city under

a number of specific stipulations, including the city's 75-percent maximum

ratio of impervious surface. Updated city ordinances now place the maximum

at 60 percent, meaning future commercial developments such as those on

the master plan will be even less intrusive, Steele said.

The townhome zoning is split

into three smaller developments on the current master plan, and a variety

of other housing types is included, such as single-family detached homes

and cluster homes.

A spokesperson for Urban Collage

said that the improved street connectivity of the master plan could reduce

7,000 trips per day, depending upon location of traffic lights and other

specifics not yet determined. A traffic count is now underway and could

be completed by the end of the week.

The report noted that the city

is already making plans to expand its wastewater treatment plan, which

at its current capacity is expected to meet the city's needs through 2007-2010.

"The entire southside

area would be better served on a public sewerage system from an environmental

standpoint according to consulting engineers, reducing septic use in the

area," the report stated.

Analysis of population figures

show that a new school would not be warranted based solely upon new development

in the Southside area, since the proposed residential acreage and number

of housing units are significantly less than what would likely develop

under the current zoning, according to the report.

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