Fayetteville's Southside master

plan is moving forward, but area residents will see some benefits from

it before any of the actual site is occupied.

Road improvements mandated

meeting will be put into place within a year, and right-of-way acquisition

for future road work may have been completed a couple of years sooner

than it would normally be done, according to city officials.

A little over 53 of the approximately

260 acres in the plan were in the unincorporated county and had to be

annexed into the city Thursday night. A variety of residential, commercial,

office and Planned Community Development (PCD) zonings were approved for

the overall site.

The development agreements,

one for the entire site and another for the Simpson tract only (the westernmost

portion, where the retail components will be located), spell out in great

detail stipulations regarding such items as sidewalks, interparcel streets,

retail square footage limitations, and other categories. Both agreements

cover the Perry Creek Conservation Area, which will be deeded to the city

after design of the stormwater management plan and before any certificate

of occupancy is issued.

The overall plan is admittedly

a long-term plan, city officials said, with all sides repeatedly saying

that build-out is 15 or so years down the road. But two major road projects

are on a much faster track.

The Southside Connector Road,

as it is referred to in the agreements, is to be constructed as far as

the easternmost edge of the overall site within 365 days of last Thursday's

ratification of the agreements. That road is the extension of the Ga.

Highway 92 connector across Jimmie Mayfield Boulevard, and it will eventually

reach Jeff Davis Road, which developers have consistently pointed out

will help traffic throughout the area.

Intersection improvements at

Ga. Highway 85 and Ramah Road, along with Ramah and Redwine roads, are

also on a one-year deadline. Concordia Properties, the primary developer

of the commercial site on the Simpson property, agreed to fund these improvements

up to $275,000 based on what they would normally pay in impact fees, City

Manager Joe Morton said.

Since these intersection projects

are already planned, the arrangement with Concordia will allow the city

to reroute designated impact fee funds for other projects in the city,

and the intersection work will be completed before the first phase of

the Southside plan, which is expected to be a Publix shopping center,

is completed. This will help traffic in a big way, Morton said, since

the existing Fayetteville Towne Center shopping complex primarily serves

the Redwine Road corridor all the way to the Whitewater Creek area.

On the opposite side of the

master plan area, a multiuse path to the Wyngate subdivision was eliminated

shortly before approval. This was done at the request of the Wyngate homeowners

association, city Planning Director Jahnee Prince said at Thursday's council

meeting. The easement will be retained in case the homeowners change their

minds in the future.

After nearly two years of debate

in council meetings and the four-month task force process, there was almost

no public comment before last week's approval. Local environmentalist

Dennis Chase was the only citizen who spoke, and his comments were positive,

referring to the watershed management plan currently being formed for

the entire water district and how the Southside master plan does a good

job of fitting into it.

As the vote was taken, Mayor

Kenneth Steele complimented the task force process, saying that it involved

"a lot of give and take" and that the Southside will be better

for it. Councilman Larry Dell echoed those sentiments, calling the work

leading up to this point "unprecedented."

Councilman Al Hovey-King pointed

out what he considered some specific benefits of the plan, such as reductions

in residential density and projected traffic, as well as a considerable

addition of green space. He added that the plan will have no negative

impact on city infrastructure or the school system, but positive environmental

effects.

"We will never be able

to please everyone," he said. "But years down the road, this

will be seen as a positive move."

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