The Atlanta Regional Commission

is touting several projects in Fayetteville as success stories.

Fayetteville Mayor Ken Steele

spoke at a recent ARC conference designed at creating quality communities.

He spoke of the city's efforts to attract quality residential and

mixed-use projects, citing the mixed use Villages at LaFayette Park and

the renovated Jeff Davis Intown condominiums as examples.

The condos are being redeveloped

from 30-year-old apartments on Jeff Davis Drive, and it took a few concessions

to make the project workable for developers, Steele said.

Among the concessions: changing

a city ordinance to allow a density of 16 units per acre. Previously,

the highest density allowed was eight units per acre.

The result was a 700 percent

increase in property values, according to Steele.

"It provides affordable

intown living," he said.

The Villages at LaFayette Park

came about when the city contacted the owner of a 110-acre tract bordering

downtown and Fayette Community High School, Steele said. Officials saw

the site as one of the largest undeveloped tracts in the city limits and

wanted to encourage quality development there, the mayor noted.

The Villages design, which

features village squares at street intersections, netted 22 acres of open

space along with 233 residential units (including 45 lofts) and a 135,000-square-foot

retail area.

One of the businesses reportedly

locating to the site is an as-yet unnamed hotel.

Steele also previewed two other

development projects: the Southside master plan that's just beginning

to take shape with McDonald's and Wendy's restaurants as outparcels

along Ga. Highway 85 South and the Village Green passive park plan which

has hit a few snags in negotiations with property owners.

Fayetteville also has future

plans to join all its community centers with bike and pedestrian paths,

Steele noted. The Southside Master Plan in particular is surrounded with

pedestrian paths.

"It's an integral

part of our long-term vision for our community," Steele said.