The future of the Pine Trail Road/Ga. Highway 85 intersection remains uncertain as the Fayetteville Planning Commission prepares to vote on a set of development plans Tuesday.

The commission meets at 7:30 p.m. at City Hall and will decide whether to approve Concordia Partners Inc.'s plan to build a shopping center that includes Linens and Things, Barnes and Noble, a Cilli's Restaurant and other stores as yet unnamed.

Kent Rose, representing Concordia, said the company hopes to start demolition on the Church of Christ that now sits on the corner early in January. The plans include a 75-foot buffer along the property's common border with several homes.

City staff members, representatives of Concordia and Piedmont Properties have continued to meet this past week to discuss a cooperative Concordia/Piedmont plan to allow a free flow of traffic between the ten acres owned by Concordia and 54 acres owned by Piedmont just to the north.

That plan calls for a "frontage" road connecting the two commercial subdivisions, but the road would lead off Pine Trail, and residents of two neighborhoods just east of the intersection on Pine Trail remain adamant. They don't want another curb cut on Pine Trail.

"They have overdeveloped for that corner, knowing that it abuts a residential street," said Pat King, who lives off Pine Trail, during the commission's work session last week. She urged the commission to turn down Concordia's development plan and hold out for fewer, smaller businesses and no access from Pine Trail.

"This baby you're going to leave on our doorstep is going to be there for good," said a resident who didn't identify himself.

Residents have fought the development for most of this year, complaining that allowing shoppers to use their street to get into the shopping center will make a bad situation even worse.

A curb cut was allowed on Pine Trail for Office Depot, and residents complain that delivery trucks block the street completely as they back up to the store's loading dock from the Fayetteville Church of Christ across the street.

Cars leaving the office supply store to turn left onto Hwy. 85 clog their street so badly that they can't get out of their subdivision, residents say. Developers have argued that the residents do have other ways out, by driving through the Ponderosa subdivision to get to Banks Road to the south, but residents say that route requires several starts and stops, twists and turns, and is no faster than using Pine Trail.

For their part, city staff say they are looking for the best solution to a bad situation. During last week's work session, chief planner Jahnee Prince presented a list of conditions that she recommends the commission enforce if the plan is approved.

First on Prince's list is a requirement that the access point between Concordia's property and Piedmont's to the north be upgraded to a dedicated city street, not just a driveway that winds through the shopping center parking lot as shown in Concordia's plans.

"A true frontage road," she said, would "maintain the integrity of Hwy. 85." A road connecting the Concordia and Piedmont developments, she said, would take traffic off Hwy. 85 and improve flow in the area, thus relieving some of the problems on Pine Trail as well.

Later, the road might be extended to tie into Guthrie Plaza business park, relieving traffic even further, she suggested.

Piedmont also has offered to put a traffic light at its curb cut from Hwy. 85, directly across from the northern entrance to Fayette Pavilion, at Home Depot.

That, coupled with about $500,000 in improvements that Concordia has promised to provide at Pine Trail, would improve traffic flow between the Pavilion and the new developments, and reduce the problems on 85 in general.

"It's a win-win for everybody," city manager Mike Bryant told The Citizen following the commission meeting.

But Concordia representative Rose balked at the idea during the work session. "What scares me is that lots of right-of-ways get expanded over time," he said. If the city later decides to widen the frontage road, he could lose valuable parking space, he said.

Commission members didn't indicate how they would vote, but Commissioner Allan Feldman delivered a scathing denunciation of the plan as presented. "If that access to that entire center is there on Pine Trail, you will shut down the access to this residential area," said Feldman as residents clapped and cheered.