As expected, the Fayetteville

City Council tabled all of the items on last Thursday night's agenda relating

to the proposed southside master plan, giving the task force an opportunity

for one final meeting to finalize a plan to present to the council.

The task force meets today

at 5 p.m. at the Depot. The council would ordinarily conduct a work session

tomorrow night preceding the Dec. 19 regular meeting, but the work session

has been cancelled because the task force's report cannot be completed

in time and there are not enough other items on the agenda to warrant

the work session.

The report from the task force

was tabled until the Dec. 19 meeting, and the other 15 agenda items relating

to it a series of annexations, rezonings and development agreements was

tabled until the Jan. 16 council meeting. The council will not meet Jan.

2 because of its close proximity to the New Year's holiday.

Urban Collage, the consulting

firm retained to work with the task force, plans to submit "a more

polished concept plan" at this final task force meeting, "based

on issues that we've discussed," City Manager Joe Morton said.

The concept plan has become

more tangible with each meeting, and now such details as building footprints,

greenspace and buffer locations, landscaping, and density calculations

are coming into focus, Morton added.

Council discussions of the

southside master plan came to a halt late this summer when a large number

of residents on the southern edge of Fayetteville expressed opposition

to the proposed multiuse development of several hundred acres along Ga.

Highway 92 east of Ga. Highway 85 and west of Jeff Davis Drive. In addition

to various retail, office and residential components, the long-term plan

called for designated open space and the eventual extension of the Hwy.

92 connector from Jimmie Mayfield Boulevard to Jeff Davis Drive, a move

the developers said would greatly reduce traffic through the Fayetteville

square by allowing Jeff Davis area residents better access to Fayetteville

Towne Center and other retail destinations.

An important portion of the

overall site is a tract of about 53 acres just off the northeast corner

of hwys. 85 and 92, behind GTO's and Walgreen's. That land is in unincorporated

Fayette County, although it is nearly an island surrounded by city property.

Developers have proposed putting a shopping center, anchored by a Publix

supermarket, and other office and residential uses on that site.

That proposal got many local

residents, specifically in the Kingswood and Chanticleer subdivisions

just outside the city limits on Hwy. 92, on full alert. Charging that

the retail components of the master plan would lead to major traffic problems

and increased crime, among other problems, many of these residents let

their opposition to the plan be known at several City Council meetings.

The council voted in October to table the annexation and rezoning request

until last week.

Another tract of concern to

local residents is adjacent to Kingswood, on the south side of the Hwy.

92 connector. That land is currently zoned for townhomes, but proponents

of the southside master plan petitioned the city for rezoning to commercial.

A tract on the east side of Jimmie Mayfield, next to the path of the proposed

road extension, is also part of a commercial rezoning request. Opponents

feared the plan would create a "Pavilion South," similar to

the Fayette Pavilion on the city's north side.

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