Commissioners refuse to accept agency's control

By DAVE HAMRICK
dhamrick@TheCitizenNews.com

Fayette County leaders will sit down with Georgia Regional Transportation Authority Chairman Joel Cowan “within the week” to talk about the growing rift between the county and the fledgling agency.

County commissioners Greg Dunn and Harold Bost will meet with Cowan privately, Dunn told The Citizen. “Hopefully we can make some progress,” he said, “though we're probably not going to solve everything.”

Meanwhile, commissioners Monday fired off three letters in response to GRTA's recent assertion that it plans to “activate jurisdiction” over Fayette County, saying the commissioners “will never agree” to that.

Cowan, a Peachtree City resident, heads up the state agency created last year by the state legislature and tasked with making sure the Atlanta region develops transportation plans and land use/zoning policies that will bring the region into compliance with federal air quality standards.

Federal funds for road improvements have been withheld, using a “carrot and stick” policy to give local county governments an incentive to go along with regional air quality goals. Gov. Roy Barnes and the legislature last year created GRTA and gave the agency unprecedented authority over regional planning, stating that the Atlanta Regional Commission, the area's planning agency, doesn't have enough authority to get the job done.

GRTA and ARC tag-teamed local governments in late May with letters requesting commitments to pay their share of a three-year Transportation Improvement Plan approved in January by ARC and rubber-stamped last week by GRTA. And GRTA's letter went a step further, informing local elected officials that GRTA plans to activate jurisdiction over the 13 counties that have failed to meet air quality standards set by the federal Environmental Protection Agency.

Fayette will cooperate with the aims of regional planning, but “will never agree that our elected governments are under the jurisdiction of an appointed board,” county commissioners told the authority's director by letter this week.

A similar letter to the Atlanta Regional Commission states the county's intention to fund its share of road improvement projects during 2001 and 2002, but stops short of committing to raising money “by extraordinary means if necessary” as ARC had requested in its letter to county governments.

GRTA and ARC also demanded that the counties agree to support the agencies' zoning and land use planning policies and other initiatives that go hand-in-hand with the transportation plan. High-density zoning in the corridors of planned bus and commuter train routes is among the changes being urged.

Commissioners bristled, saying on the one hand they intend to cooperate in funding transportation projects, but they have no intention of subjecting the commission to the GRTA's jurisdiction. They appointed Commissioner Greg Dunn to word letters of response, and Monday approved final wording.

“We clearly commit to fund our share of the FY 2001 and FY 2002 [Transportation Improvement Program] and pledge to continue our record as responsible, cooperative and effective regional planners,” the commissioners stated. “However, we will never agree that our elected governments are under the jurisdiction of an appointed board. To do so would equate to us transferring to you the responsibilities and authorities bestowed upon us by our citizens.”

Dunn said Monday he hopes it won't come down to a constitutional battle, but if GRTA and federal agencies decide to use the “stick” approach and withhold funds for badly needed transportation projects here, it may come to that, he added.

“If we lose substantial amounts of money, we would have to challenge the state's authority, but we don't want to challenge them,” he said. “We're just telling them we are going to continue to do the land use and zoning here in Fayette County.

“The `carrot' they're talking about using is our own tax money that we're entitled to,” Dunn added. “We feel the tax money belongs to the taxpayer.

“What we would like is for them to come back and address some of the issues they've raised,” he added. “We've put the ball back in their court.”

The full text of the commissioners' letters is on page 6A.