Builders in Coweta County will have to be a lot more careful after actions taken by the Coweta County Board of Commissioners this week.

The commissioners instructed the staff to get tougher in issuing permits and in evaluating the many building lots in the county. In the past few months, the commissioners have had several builders asking for variances on property line violations.

Earlier in the month, the county received a request from builder Dan Waldrup for a variance after his crew had inadvertently moved the stakes when pouring a home's foundation.

Waldrup explained that he had left the crew unsupervised and that he would have to monitor their activities more carefully.

While not specifically scolding Waldrup, the commissioners took the county's builders to task.

"This board has been played like a violin on some of these requests," said Commissioner Vernon "Mutt" Hunter.

Commission Chairman Lawrence Nelms said the board was in no mood to keep granting variances.

"You come in and try to hold us hostage," he said.

County Administrator Theron Gay said the county's staff would get the situation under control by monitoring the problem closer.

In other news, the commissioners:

Denied an appeal of the zoning board's decision to not allow a new cell phone tower on Chestlehurst Road near Senoia.

Area businessman Ellis Crook said he had no problem with cell towers and that Grid Towers could possibly "piggyback" on a tower already built in Senoia. Members of the Big T airport community near Senoia also voiced their concerns about the project and Commissioner Vernon "Mutt" Hunter sided with the residents.

Listened to Chattahoochee-Flint Regional Development Center Executive Director Charles Barnes explain why the county's dues were going up so much this year.

The RDCs help municipalities plan and prepare for the future and Barnes said Coweta's enormous population jump fueled the more than $10,000 increase this year to a total bill of $41,000.

Chatt.-Flint charges 85 cents per person for its services and the center used 1994 population estimates to figure this year's bill. Barnes pointed out the Atlanta Regional Commission charges one dollar per person and said the center's per capita rate has not changed in the last few years.

Hunter said the center could lower its rate and took the group to task for having a higher bid on a planning project than a private competitor.