Friday, January 10, 2003
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Friday, January 10, 2003 |
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Airport road deal OK'd by authority; now to council for final approval By JOHN MUNFORD The Peachtree City Airport Authority has struck a deal with the City Council to have an access road to a new hangar site at Falcon Field paved. The paving is considered critical since hangars can't be developed at the site until the paving of a portion of Stallings Road is complete. Three tenants had originally signed up to reserve half of the six hangar sites, but two have since dropped out and been refunded their deposits. The hangar area has been finished for several months. The new agreement to pave the road will likely be considered by the City Council at its next meeting Thursday, Jan. 16. The authority unanimously approved the agreement at its regular meeting Wednesday night. "It's an exciting project to move forward with," said authority chairwoman Cathy Nelmes. The plans call for Fayette County to provide equipment and labor for the project while Peachtree City will be responsible for engineering services, coordinating the project and building the curb, gutter and drainage facilities. The authority has already gotten $150,000 in commitments for the project from Peachtree City Holdings, LLC and the Peachtree City Water and Sewer Authority. Both entities would also benefit from the portion of Stallings Road since they have parcels which use the road as an access point. The agreement also requires the authority to maintain the road for two years before the city takes possession of it. The project is slated to begin "promptly" after the final engineering drawings are approved, which shall be no later than Sept. 30, according to the agreement. The Airport Authority's share of the project is expected to be approximately $150,000, but it could be much more or much less depending on any funding from the Georgia Department of Transportation, said Airport Manager Jim Savage. The authority also agreed that if the city could get a better financing deal for the project, the city could fund the authority's share and subtract the payments out of the authority's portion of the hotel-motel tax revenues. Savage said he had talked with officials at Peachtree National Bank who offered to make the $150,000 loan with an interest rate set at 85 percent of the prime rate. If the project comes in much lower than projected, it might be beneficial for the authority to fund it without financing by taking the funds out of the reserve account, Savage said.
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