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TDK paving may be year away at best

By JOHN MUNFORD
jmunford@TheCitizenNews.com

With engineering drawings in hand, Peachtree City officials can begin negotiations for the additional right of way needed to extend TDK Boulevard into Coweta County.

The catch is that some of the land needed represents two holes on the Planterra Ridge golf course, and it’s likely that the land won’t be available for construction until after the holes are reconfigured and ready to play, which could take a year or more.

Also, officials are unsure when the money to purchase the land will be released by the Federal Aviation Administration. The FAA is involved because the extra land is needed to curve the road around the runway safety area for Falcon Field, an area reserved in case of aircraft emergencies on takeoffs or landings.

The original design plowed straight through the runway safety area, necessitating the third design of the road.

City Manager Bernie McMullen said the funding could be available in August or September, or it may have to wait until the 2006 FAA budget.

“There are a lot of variables,” McMullen said at Thursday night’s City Council meeting. He referred to the time it will take to get the two reconfigured golf holes stabilized so they can be used before the necessary property can be released for the roadway. “Anything I give you will be wrong.”

The project has been in the works since March 2000 when the City Council approved the contract for the design and engineering of the road extension.

The road has been redesigned two previous times: the original design was scrapped to avoid a conflict with the proposed spillway for Lake McIntosh, a reservoir that hasn’t yet been permitted for construction.

Part of the latest delay was due to resistance from the Peachtree City Council in paying for the most recent round of engineering.

In December, Mayor Steve Brown argued that it wasn’t the city’s fault that the engineering firm drew the previous road path directly through the runway safety area, which necessitated that most recent road redesign.

Brown said the county should chip in for the new engineering costs, despite a contract with the county that stipulates the city is in charge of engineering and right-of-way costs. The county will build the road, according to that same contract.

The city’s Airport Authority jumped in, pledging $10,000 back in December that went towards the latest engineering documents, and the engineering company agreed to cut its price after the city asked it to do so considering the company’s oversight of the runway safety area.

So far, the city has spent roughly $550,000 for the project and it will likely take some amount more to purchase the necessary right of way for the new road path, officials said.

The City Council, and Brown in particular, has been criticized for holding up the project and recently the Fayette County Chamber of Commerce has reissued calls for the extension to be handled as quickly as possible.

But each time the subject has been brought up at recent council meetings, Councilman Steve Rapson asks city staff if the city is doing anything to hold up the project, or slow it down.

The answer is always, “No.”