Friday, August 10, 2001
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Friday, August 10, 2001 |
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County clashes with GRTA By JOHN
THOMPSON
Coweta County officials want to make sure the Georgia Regional Transportation Authority knows how Coweta County wants to develop its land. Assistant county administrator Eddie Whitlock told the County Commission Tuesday that GRTA officials wanted a coordination review from the county. The review is required for Coweta, Paulding and Forsyth counties because they are in the 13-county region that has failed to meet federal air quality standards, but are not members of the Atlanta Regional Commission. The report submitted by Coweta officials is a comparison of development standards in Coweta and the counties in ARC. But the first policy sent to the county by GRTA is already causing concern with the County Commission. The policy encourages new development to be more clustered in portions of the region. Whitlock said clustering is fine for the more urban areas of the county, but much of the county still has a rural flavor to it and would not be appropriate for high-density development. Commissioner Jim McGuffey said the intentions of many of GRTA's policies were clear to him. "There is a mindset that wants to change our policy. It would simply destroy the rural character of the county," he said. Commissioner Vernon "Mutt" Hunter agreed with McGuffey, but was more philosophical in his dissent. "I've seen politicians and programs come and go. I still believe that seven or 10 years down the road, you will still see development in the county that is one home to an acre or two of land, not a half or quarter acre," he said. McGuffey added that the current mindset believes that anything other than clustering homes is "urban sprawl." Other policies GRTA is endorsing calls for more transit-oriented development and encouraging mixed-use development. The commission agreed to send its list of policies to GRTA, but also requested a letter be attached to the policies outlining Coweta's differences in development.
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