Brown first to publicly announce mayoral run

By JOHN MUNFORD
jmunford@TheCitizenNews.com

You can now say the race to become Peachtree City's next mayor has officially begun.

Local activist Steve Brown announced publicly Tuesday night that he intends to seek the mayor's seat in November's general election.

Brown, 38, had originally filed an application for the council seat left vacant last month by the resignation of Robert Brooks, but he withdrew his name at Tuesday's council meeting when he was to be one of 14 applicants interviewed.

Brown told council that he originally wanted to serve there, but now that Willis Granger has decided not to run for mayor, he wants to wait and run for mayor himself.

Brown has long been an opponent of large retail stores, otherwise known as "big boxes," locating in Peachtree City.

A resident of the Planterra Ridge subdivision, Brown was a very vocal opponent of the location of a Wal-Mart and Home Depot shopping center across Ga. Highway 54 west from Planterra.

Development issues weigh highly on Brown's prospective mayoral agenda, although he does have some other ideas to bring to the table, he explained in a Thursday interview with The Citizen.

With concerns over annexation issues taking the forefront over the past few years, Brown wants to change the city's charter so a popular vote is required to approve annexation of private land into Peachtree City. Annexing land owned by the municipal government, however, should be appropriate since it may be necessary for a fire station or similar public facility, Brown added.

Brown also wants to develop an alliance with area governments in Tyrone, Senoia, Fayetteville, and south Fulton County on regional projects like finding another access to Interstate 85. Such regional cooperation should take as high a priority as local council actions get now, Brown said.

"We absolutely ought to work together as a group," Brown said. "You can definitely muscle the Department of Transportation, the Georgia Regional Transportation Authority and the Atlanta Regional Commission if you have several communities and counties supporting each other."

In another regional matter, Brown is concerned about the regional water authority that is being created at the state level. That authority could possibly have the power to take water and sewer capacity away from Peachtree City, he indicated.

Brown said he also wants to help do more to protect trees from dying in tree save areas of developments, improve race relations in the city and make the city a state leader in open government issues.

As far as development is concerned, Brown said the majority of landowners in the city are residents, and he wants to make sure their concerns take precedence over commercial developers.

Also, Brown wants to focus on studying land use decisions from the perspective of how developments potentially affect the school system.

"Your decisions can have a negative impact on the school system," Brown said. "If we want to maintain a quality school system, you've got to make sure you're accountable for your land use decisions."

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