Residential development may

be taking a back seat to commercial development if plans to revitalize

the Fairburn downtown area come to fruition. Mayor Betty Hannah and the

City Council discussed future plans and projects at their retreat last

Friday.

Although nothing was finalized

as far as policies were concerned, an overview of the city's needs

were discussed. Annexation was the foremost subject on the council's

minds. The main concern was in creating a balance between commercial and

residential growth, said city clerk Nancy Faulkner. With Fairburn growing

the way it has in the past year, it has come time for those in charge

to seriously think about the logistics of a larger community.

Faulkner said there was some

discussion in the direction of starting a Chamber of Commerce. The reorganization

of City Hall has helped to boost progress in the South Fulton area. Faulkner

added that Mayor Hannah's vision for the city in 2004 was a strong

indicator as to how Fairburn will grow in the future.

Quality over quantity was a

big part of the vision that Mayor Betty Hannah imparted in her state of

the city address at Fairburn's first City Council meeting earlier this

year.

After summarizing the accomplishments

of the previous year Mayor Hannah projected Fairburn's goal for 2004 "to

not only be the best community in South Fulton but to be the best community

in the state."

Hannah emphasized completion

of projects initiated during this period stating that "the frantic

pace of new residential development was brought under control in the last

year."��

Promising to "work toward

developing new reserve sources of funding to help relieve the property

tax burden" in Fairburn, the mayor stressed her intent to strive

to achieve a level of excellence for the city and its people.