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FAYETTE COUNTY (1) NEWS
f ay ett e-news, net
Vol. 152, No. 17 Wednesday, April 24, 2024 $1.
Fayetteville Police & Fire Investigating Suspected Arson at Construction Site
Fayetteville Police and
Fire officials, along with
multiple other agencies, are
investigating fires that took
place overnight last week on
a construction site adjacent
to the Piedmont Fayette
Hospital campus.
The fire was reportedly
spotted by a passerby just
after 4 a.m. on April 16. Of
ficials say that several pieces
of construction equipment
were burned, and arson is
suspected.
Brasfield & Gorrie, the
construction company
working on the site, has
faced similar incidents of
fire and vandalized equip
ment while working on At
lanta’s public safety training
center.
Local, state, and federal
law enforcement partners,
including the Bureau of Al
cohol, Tobacco, and Fire
arms, are working together
to collect evidence and pur
sue leads.
Anyone with infor
mation about the incident is
asked to call Fayetteville Po
lice Department at 770-461-
4441 or Crime Stoppers at
404-631-4019.
The investigation is on
going and officials say more
information will be re
leased.
Dylan Shoemaker/Fayette News
Fayetteville to
Host 2 Town
Halls in May
The City of Fayetteville
will host two informational
town hall meetings in May
to get public feedback on a
concept plan to develop the
city’s newly acquired 38-
acre tract.
Those meetings will be
held on May 9 and May 20
at Line Creek Bus Barn in
the special events room, lo
cated at 300 City Center
Parkway in Fayetteville.
The 38-acre tract being
discussed is adjacent to the
southwest corner of City
Center Park, and it stretches
southwest to Grady Avenue.
Conceptual renderings for
the land will be on display at
the town hall meetings be
ginning at 5 p.m. when pub
lic feedback will be
gathered. A formal presen
tation will start at 6 p.m.,
followed by time for ques
tions and answers.
Attendees are welcome
to purchase food from par
ticipating food and beverage
vendors before and during
the meetings. For more in
formation, visit www.fay-
etteville-ga.gov/townhall.
Early Voting
Begins April 29
Early voting begins April
29 for the May 21 general
primary election, according
to Fayette County Elections
officials.
Early in-person voting
will be held Monday-Sat-
urday, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
daily, between April 29 and
May 17.
Early voting locations in
clude Fayette County Elec
tion Office, 175 Johnson
Avenue in Fayetteville (drop
box location); Fayette
County Public Library, 1821
See Early Voting, A7
Li- . r't ■
Dylan Shoemaker/Fayette News
Damage to a driveway on Honeysuckle Lane
Getting the Runaround:
Resident Wants Answers
City, County Point to Each Other
for Honeysuckle Lane Flood Responsibility
Dylan Shoemaker
Staff Writer
dshoemaker@fayette-news.net
Twenty-five-year Fay
ette County resident Doug
las M. Brantley, a retired
Marine colonel, has been
dealing with excessive
flooding and a growing cra
ter on his property on Hon
eysuckle Lane since 2000.
Following a creek from
his property leading to a
shopping center, he sug
gested that run-off water
from the Banks Station
shopping facility, combined
with rainy days, create an
unsafe environment due to
rising waters that caused a
crevice to turn into a crater
in his front yard.
The pipes underneath
the public street allegedly
have not been maintained,
causing clogs, and creating
a dam-like scenario even
tually running into his yard.
While there is a storm drain
present, it does not seem to
mitigate the previously
failed system.
Brantley told Fayette
County News that, when it
rains, flooding becomes im
mense and creates currents,
See Honeysuckle, A7
County Officials Respond
to Animal Shelter Concerns
Fayette County offi
cials say they heard the
community’s concerns re
garding the new animal
shelter and implemented
a solution:
“Staff removed the
wall separating adjacent
kennels, along with the
kennel separating wall, to
create an L-shaped large
kennel. This allows
enough space for a me
dium or large dog to have
a bed, water, and move
around before they are
adopted.
“Additionally, staff re
moved the kennel separating wall in the smaller
kennel to double the living space. This reduces
the total number of kennels from 32 to 24, which
is still 50 percent more space than was in our
previous kennel.
“There is overflow capacity in the isolation
room that contains 10 larger kennels used prima
rily for isolation and observation. The overall
kennel can be ‘right-sized’ up or down by existing
staff based upon our capacity needs at the
shelter. Our focus will now shift to implementing
the additional on-sight improvements for walk
ing trails and a livestock building.
“Fayette County remains committed to work
ing with the community, animal advocate part
ners, and volunteers to ensure we have a master
plan that meets our growing needs in the future.”
Fayette County Animal Shelter has been ded
icated to serving the community for close to 40
years. Services include assistance to animals with
public safety as the number one priority. To learn
more about our services and to get involved with
work, visit FayetteCountyGa.gov.
Courtesy of Fayette County
Sanctuary City Topic
Leads to Tense PTC
Council Meeting
Leah Banks
Senior Reporter
leah@fayette-news.net
During the April 18
council meeting, Peachtree
City Councilwoman Su
zanne Brown spoke on the
need for a resolution to de
clare that PTC not be recog
nized as a sanctuary city,
creating a lengthy discus
sion between council
members.
Brown stated the need
for PTC to take a stance on
making a declaration re
garding immigration laws
that would prevent the city
from being a sanctuary city,
citing that the city should
follow federal guidelines.
“I believe everyone cur
rently sitting on the Peach
tree City Council truly
supports the safety and se
curity of our citizens,”
Brown said. “If non-govern
ment organizations, also
known as NGOs, bring ille
gal immigrants to Peachtree
City, it potentially en
dangers every citizen.”
Brown emphasized that
she supports legal immigra
tion but does not support il
legal immigration, and that
she believes members of
council should focus on pro
tecting PTC citizens.
“Peachtree City needs to
declare that we will not limit
our cooperation with federal
immigration agencies. We
will not prohibit our police
department from inquiring
about or enforcing immigra
tion laws and we must make
it completely clear to every
member of the Peachtree
City police force department
that they must enforce this
policy to protect our cit
izens,” Brown commented.
“We will not prevent the de
tention of individuals based
solely on their immigration
status. We will support all
See PTC, A7
Fayetteville Council
Opens Discussion
for 178-Acre Tract
Dylan Shoemaker
Staff Writer
dshoemaker@fayette-news.net
Fayetteville City Council
met on April 18 to consider
a step-one annexation
request from Fayette
County Development Au
thority for a 177.81-acre
tract south of Banks Road
and abutting Highway 54
East.
Director of Community
Development David Rast
presented the item and de
clared before the council the
intentions are to simply find
the best usage of the parcel
and encourage input from
government officials and
citizens.
“The request is merely to
allow staff the ability to
work with the development
authority, with the county,
and other interested parties
to try and figure out the best
use of the property and the
appropriate zoning,” said
Rast. “Then that would be
formulated into a formal an
nexation application that we
would bring back before
council.”
The request was ap
proved by all on the council
except for Mayor Pro Tern
Rich Hoffman.
Mike Bush, director of
finance and administration,
presented the Fiscal Year
2024 mid-year budget
amendment, which was ap
proved by the council. This
was the first of three meet
ings throughout the year for
officials to review the
adopted budget. The budget
was originally set at a total
of $40,627,000. The
$15,210,689 amendments
bring the total to
$55,837,689. According to
Bush, there were eight
funds that received amend
ments, and the largest was
the general fund totaling
$12,490,850.
In other news:
Fayette County resident
Judy Wood raised concern
over the traffic and trash at
Creekwood Trail and High
way 314, suggesting sur
rounding retailers have
caused congestion for res
idents trying to access their
subdivision.
“It should be held that
those establishments that
use these streets be respon
sible for trash pickup and
maintain their property,”
said Wood. “A couple of
times more than I like, there
has been traffic coming out
of Frida’s impeding that city
road that we access.”
“We talk to management
and make sure they are
cited and give them the op
portunity to clean up, and if
they don’t get clean up, then
that just leaves the next
step, which is to fine them,”
said Mayor Ed Johnson.
Council members ex
pressed hope that most is
sues will recede once one of
the restaurants in the area
relocates, helping alleviate
traffic concerns.
“One of the big issues
that we got to work on is the
valley parking - making sure
See Fayetteville, A7
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