The Coweta County Commission is in favor of joining with local cities to form a comprehensive land use plan, but said it should have started years ago.

The commission reacted sharply Tuesday to a call by the Newnan City Council for all government agencies to start a community-wide planning process.

Commissioner Lawrence Nelms said it would have been instructive to have a county-wide plan when the city of Newnan approved two huge Pathway Communities developments that will put thousands more cars on the county's roads.

“This planning should have started three years ago,” he said.

Commission Chairman Vernon “Mutt” Hunter agreed with Nelms and said the county has had plans in place for years and is far more restrictive than the cities.

“We've had 1.6-acre minimum lot size and we've stuck with that,” he said.

Hunter recounted the turmoil the county faced when it changed its lot size to 1.6 from eight-tenths of an acre.

“We've been planning for years, but I'm all for coming together,” he said.

Hunter also got in a jab at the Newnan City Council, who decided to start a comprehensive plan at its recent retreat.

“We do all our talking right here in the sunshine. We don't have to go somewhere to make a decision,” he said.

Commissioner Jim McGuffey agreed with Hunter and said the county's explosive growth is making for more difficult planning decisions.

“We've got to stay our course. Somebody is going to have to make hard decisions,” he said.

Commissioners agreed to attend the first round of comprehensive planning March 22 at 7 p.m. at the Newnan-Coweta Chamber of Commerce.

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