A small item on last Thursday's

County Commission meeting could set off a big struggle for development

around Fayette Community Hospital.

The County Commission voted

3-2 to eliminate some of the architectural standards for a very narrow

portion of the Ga. Highway 54 overlay district.

Planning Director Kathy Zeitler

asked the board to create an area of "hospital influence" that

would be exempt from some of the stringent guidelines in the overlay district.

She said the overlay requires

any development to have a residential character, but multi-story office

buildings that could locate near the hospital would not want to develop

with a pitched roof.

The area exempt from the overlay

would stretch from the west side of Sandy Creek Road to the east side

of Tyrone Road, and only on the north side of Ga. Highway 54.

With the construction of the

hospital addition underway, speculation is rampant that medical office

buildings may soon be surrounding the hospital. Commission Chairman

Greg Dunn, who opposed the change, along with Commissioner Herb Frady,

said the change made no sense, since an office would probably need sewer

and want to be annexed into the city.

"Not necessarily,"

said Commission Linda Wells, who said the change would keep the county

in the running for future development.

"I just think the character

of 54 will be changed forever," Dunn said.

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