By DAVE HAMRICK
Staff Writer

Developers have withdrawn a request for a special exception to allow a combination car wash, convenience store, oil change and auto repair shop across Ga. Highway 85 from the north entrance to Home Depot.

“This is the least desirable business we could put in this area,” said Fayetteville Planning Commission member Myron Coxe during discussion of the proposal at the panel's work session last week.

The commission was scheduled to vote on the request for a special exception to zoning ordinances to allow a CarSpa facility on the site during its regular business meeting Tuesday, June 22 at City Hall, but city planner Todd Miller said the developers this week withdrew the request.

No one from CarSpa was present for the work session, nor from Fayette Promenade, a firm seeking to develop 55 acres north of the recently approved Barnes and Noble shopping center at Hwy. 85 and Pine Trail Road.

Promenade and Concordia Partners Inc., developers of the Barnes and Noble, are cooperating in building a joint access road through their developments, with hopes of connecting the road to Guthrie Plaza, to the north of both developments. City officials pushed for that agreement as part of their recent approval of the Barnes and Noble, saying a road connecting the developments is essential to reduce traffic problems on Hwy. 85.

One problem with the proposed Car Spa, said Fayetteville chief planner Jahnee Prince, is that its site straddles the most logical route for the access road. She wants to see a master plan for the entire development before recommending approval of any single parcel, she said.

Prince added that the proposed car wash has too much concrete. City ordinances require that pavement cover no more than 60 percent of developments along major highways. “This is more like 90 percent,” she said.

For Planning Commission members, the site is just plain wrong for a car wash. “I sure wouldn't want to se this from here to Riverdale,” said commission member Kevin Bittinger.

Residents of neighborhoods along Pine Trail Road also expressed their displeasure with the proposal.

“This sets a precedent for everything else up here,” said resident Linda Bidez.

Bidez and resident Pat King were at the forefront of neighborhood opposition to a 24-hour super Wal-Mart at Pine Trail and 85. The store eventually was built in Fayette Pavilion Shopping Center, and the neighborhood group showed up regularly to influence decisions as a development plan for Barnes and Noble was hammered out.

“I just think the overall C3 [commercial development] is what we ought to stay with [along Hwy. 85],” said King. Special exceptions should be turned down flat, she said.