If it's a Monday meeting

in Fairburn, there must be a rezoning to consider.

This week, the Fairburn City

Council focused its attention on a 15.5 acre tract of land off Malone

Street, between Lane Drive and Valley View Drive.

Developers asked the City Council

to rezone the site from R-2 Residential to R-3 Residential with a Green

Community Overlay. The site is being built by Gaddy Construction Company

and will be called Valley View Estates.

The request passed unanimously

with three recommendations from the Planning Commission added at their

October 7 meeting. First, the commission asked for a variance to upgrade

the required buffers around existing houses on Lane Drive. The commission

also asked for assurance of all code compliance from a registered civil

engineer. Finally, all landscape and signage would have to be prepared

Jim Williams.

The development, which is

fairly small with just 30 homes should not cause significant amounts of

extra traffic, said Leigh Ann Green, a representative for Valley View

Estates in a letter to the city earlier this year. After discussing water

problems and preserving watersheds on the land, the council reminded every

one of similar incidents where flooding had taken place. Not wishing to

travel down that road again, Williams mentioned a "properly designed

storm water management plan " which would have to be implemented.

Having resolved the zoning

issues, the council quickly took care of several other pieces of new business.

An increase in on-call pay for cable and water personnel from $40 per

week to $50 per week which Williams said was "still below that of

other communities" passed without question as did the on-call rate

of electrical personnel from $50 to $60 per week.�

Two 911 resolutions met with

similar unanimity for adding equipment that will locate cellphone emergency

calls and readopting the current $1.50 fee to cover 911 calls. A police

officer intern position passed as well with assurance that there was already

money in the budget to cover it. The position is designed to give the

Fairburn Police Department a chance to evaluate uncertified officers before

recommending them for further training.

An inventory surplus property

list of over a dozen vehicles and various machinery was approved for auction

at the Nationwide Auction Center, something Councilman Melear said "we

should have been doing for several years."

�The meeting ended with comments

from reelected Council members Frankie Arnold and Marian Johnson. "

I just want to thank you all

for voting and putting me back in my seat and I thank you so kindly,"

Arnold said.

Johnson thanked "everybody

for their support" and added, "I'll be here a few more years."

Melear reiterated his feelings

Monday night by thanking the citizens of Fairburn "for letting me

serve these 10 years. I had a great time and I hope I have done something

good for the city of Fairburn."