Wednesday, January 17, 2001
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Wednesday, January 17, 2001 |
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School board, county need better planning for the future I have been a resident of Peachtree City since 1970, when the official U.S. census reported the population to be 793 persons. Today I am highly pleased to be living in a residential community so desirable. Most pertinent at this point is my firm conviction that the most valuable and beneficial service that any segment of society can provide for itself is the education of its children. This segment of society could be a group under common government, belonging to a church or any other form of organization. I believe this service is more important than the protection of life, limb, or property, such as provided by police and firefighting organizations. For 30 years I have been disappointed by the poor forward facility planning performance of the Fayette County Board of Education and the Fayette County Board of Commissioners. My remarks are not intended to underrate the members of those boards, but only the performance of the boards, irrespective of the personnel comprising the boards. I have said many times that any citizen who volunteers to provide a public service for residents is to be commended. In the very earliest days of Peachtree City, it became publicly known that 15,000 contiguous acres of land had become the property of a major developer. Subsequently, from time to time, the public was advised that the 15,000 acres would be developed into a planned community, of which 20 percent of the area would be devoted to open space forever. The residential portion of the town would likely be made up of a number of villages (perhaps four to 10) to accommodate a population of from 35,000 to 80,000 persons. The town would also provide for commercial and industrial activities and facilities. Later the major developer announced that the initial development would proceed immediately, and anticipated an initial rapid rate of growth. The Fayette County Board of Education did not respond to the probable need for increased educational facilities, despite the increasing population of school-age people. Even though the anticipated rapid growth was recognizable as for real, the Fayette County Board of Education did nothing. As the population of grade school children increased to justify the project, the major developer built and equipped a grade school on Wisdom Road and donated the new facility and surrounding campus to the Fayette County Board of Education. Since that time, the Fayette County Board of Commissioners' reaction to the public announcements described above was to ignore them so far as facility planning is concerned. It was unavoidably evident that the increased highway traffic of a newly planned community would render inadequate the single east-west road connecting Coweta County and Newnan on the west, to Fayetteville and the eastern border of Fayette County on the east. I am firmly convinced that further expansion of the Atlanta Metropolitan area must be to the south and will overrun Fayette County. I believe the expansion into Fayette County may well accelerate with the termination of the current economic downturn, which could occur as early as next spring, but no later than three years, and a substantial "build-out" in about 20 years, plus or minus five. The prospect of such imminent development should alert both the Fayette County Board of Education and the Fayette County Board of Commissioners to take immediate positive action. Certainly long overdue has been the development of a highway between Coweta County on the west, and the eastern border of Fayette County at about the latitude of Crosstown Road. I am aware that the problem of air pollution has made financing for highway construction unavailable at this time. However, I do not believe that the determination of right-of-way, and the acquisition of property in the proposed right-of-way need be delayed. I am not aware of any Fayette County Board of Commissioners' actions with respect to the foregoing, the lack of which action will further delay highway construction when financing is allowed. The need for additional highways through Fayette County must be assessed continuously. There has been evidenced in the past that some Fayette County Board of Commissioners' actions have reflected an attitude that Fayette County residents living in incorporated areas have, through local governing authority, the advantage of providing for the best public interest, and that the unincorporated areas have no such local governmental service, and therefore, the equivalent must be provided for those areas by the County Commission for the exclusive benefit of the unincorporated areas. This is wrong! The Fayette County Commission must accept the authority conferred on it by approved state legislative action to equitably provide governmental services and benefits to all residents of the county, irrespective of residence in incorporated or unincorporated areas. Likewise, the costs of such services and benefits must be shared equitably. There is evidence that the Board of Commissioners has deemed that Lady Luck has blessed Fayette County with little incorporated gold mines, of which Peachtree City is the richest. In the matter of the new county jail, the governing authority of Fayette County (chairman and commissioners) has determined that the public interest of Fayette County will be served best by the action of acquiring a new jail, the cost of which must be shared equitably, irrespective of taxpayer location, incorporated or unincorporated. So let's take a hypothetical situation: Suppose the governing authority of Tyrone (mayor and council) believes that the public interest of Tyrone would best be served by having and operating its own jail. The cost of construction and property must be imposed on the residents and property owners of Tyrone taxpayers. If relief of cost of operations of a county jail cannot presently be extended to Tyrone taxpayers, the county commission should vigorously approach the state legislature to provide the course of action which would not only permit, but assure, equitable credit to the town of Tyrone. How important is size of town? Millions of people, including me, choose to live not in a big city. However, millions of people live in New York City and its immediate environs, happily taking advantage of features only available in a big city, such as an educational opportunity offered by an Ivy League university, other colleges, and branches of state universities, practice and enjoy the fine arts, major league sports, employment from common and blue collar to highly specialized work, convenience of internal pedestrian transportation provided by underground, surface and elevated facilities, and so forth. No, big is not necessarily bad. Howard A. Morgan Mayor of Peachtree City, 1972-1978 Peachtree City Council, 1980-1984 Peachtree City Water and Sewage Authority, 1987-1992 Member of McIntosh Trail Planning and Development Commission, 1970s and 1980s Current Treasurer, Fayette County Library Board
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