Friday, July 5, 2002
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Friday, July 5, 2002 |
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TDK talks could get hot By JOHN
THOMPSON A controversial new connector highway between Peachtree City and eastern Coweta County is expected to be a hot topic at next week's meeting of the Association of Fayette County Governments. Coweta County Commissioner Vernon Hunter is attending the meeting as a special guest and is a familiar face in the county. For years, Hunter served as Fayette County's public works director before getting into the political realm in Coweta County. Hunter also serves as one of Coweta's point men on the much-discussed expansion of TDK Boulevard, which caused a flare-up between Peachtree City and Coweta earlier this year. The project would extend TDK Boulevard into Coweta County via a bridge over Line Creek. Originally envisioned as a way to free up traffic on Ga. Highway 54 West by rerouting employees to the city's industrial park, the new road would offer an east-west highway that cuts across the beltline of the city of 34,000. Peachtree City Mayor Steve Brown worried earlier this year that Coweta officials may allow rampant development along the new highway on the Coweta side and create more of a traffic problem than a traffic solution. At a retreat, Brown said he is uncomfortable with the response from Hunter, who told him the county would worry about planning its development for that area once the extension came closer to fruition. "At our meeting, he was very noncommittal," Brown said, adding that he wanted to encourage the development of a master plan for the area. Across the creek in Coweta, Hunter said the county's position has not changed on the extension of the road. His biggest issue is funding, which has become tight at DOT. Hunter also disputes concerns about development in the area. "That's not a concern of theirs. It's far easier to build something in Peachtree City than Coweta County," Hunter added. Hunter dismissed Brown's take on the project as "hogwash." Commission Chairman Jim McGuffey, who also attended a meeting with Brown, does not recall the meeting anything like Brown recalls. Currently, the project is in the design phase but a problem has cropped up relating to the location of the bridge and the location of a spillway for the proposed Lake McIntosh reservoir that Fayette County officials plan to build. The reservoir is expected to boost water production by 8 million gallons a day. Design for the road extension project, which is between 85 and 90 percent complete, awaits a final decision on the bridge location, according to Peachtree City Engineer Troy Besseche. The city has $460,000 built into its 2004 budget for preliminary work on the project. Besseche will present an update on the project at next week's meeting. In other business, the association will: Hear a presentation from the Newnan-Coweta County Chamber of Commerce and one from the Fayette County Chamber. Listen a presentation from state Sen. Mitch Seabaugh on cooperation and coordination of local governments' communication with state agencies. The meeting starts at 7 p.m. at Tyrone Town Hall.
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