Homeowners

from two neighborhoods in the Georgian Park area who packed City Hall

last week to protest plans for a carwash at Georgian Park and Newgate

Road left outraged after three hours, when three members of the council

removed themselves from discussing the matter, effectively killing it

due to lack of a quorum.

The appeal

of an earlier Planning Commission decision that denied a conceptual site

plan for the car wash will now be carried to Fayette County Superior Court,

said Richard P. Lindsey, attorney for developer John Williams.

City staff

resigned themselves to the fact that nothing could be done about the matter.

"I've enjoyed it, but it's over. We lost," said City Attorney

Ted Meeker. "The decision offered by the Planning Commission stands

due to a lack of a quorum. Next stop, Superior Court."

Said Lindsey,

"Gentlemen, see you in Fayetteville."

Homeowners

shouted "We want a vote" and "We've been here long enough,"

but eventually gave up and wandered from the chambers, despite efforts

just to understand the issues that would have been considered.

"If you

can't take any action on it, there's no point," Meeker pleaded with

the council. "The action of the Planning Commission wil be the ruling

taken to the Superior Court of Fayette County."

Homeowners

objected to the location of the carwash, and feared that glare from lighting

would intrude on their homes even though city zoning regulations clearly

allowed the business to locate there.

Councilman

Dan Tennant first abstained, pointing out he lives in Ardenlee, the neighborhood

directly across Ga. Highway 74 from Georgian Park. Annie McMenamin then

recused herself, saying her daughter is an attorney with Lindsey's firm.

And then Weed, pausing to take a breath in anticipation of the reaction,

said he, too, felt compelled to abstain.

"I don't

feel that this is reason enough to abstain, but I live closer to the site

in question than Mr. Tennant does, so if he abstains, I feel I must, too."

Groans, angry

shouts and expressions of dismay filled the council chamber.

Mayor Brown

tried to get Tennant to change his mind, to no avail.

"Because

of what it is and where it is, I have a personal opinion about this project

and how it might affect me financially," Tennant said.

"He's

got the right to abstain," said Weed in support. "And I'm swept

up in that."

Meeker quickly

ran to check the law books and reported back that he thought state code

allowed for reasons of potential conflict to be overlooked in "extreme

cases," but this did not qualify as one.

Kelly Sommers,

a two-year resident of the neighborhood, wanted to know what she and others

could do to protect their neighborhoods from future development.

McMenamin,

who leaves office at the end of this year, was blunt and to the point:

"Pay attention to what's going on around you. Trees are not going

to be trees forever. This is a planned community. You can go down to City

Hall at anytime and see the plan and know what eventually is coming there."

But is there

anything she and her neighbors can do beyond that, Sommers wanted to know.

"You can

work to change the master plan," she was told.