The Peachtree City Council has agreed to study the feasibility of extending its sewer service across the Coweta County line into neighboring Senoia, but council members said there is much to be considered before any agreement is reached, if ever.

The council at last Thursday's regular meeting heard Senoia's formal request to pursue the matter, and during the ensuing discussion, several issues were raised, including the effect such a move would have on the area surrounding the city and whether the council had previously made a commitment never to consider such an action in the first place.

Larry Turner, director of the Peachtree City Water and Sewerage Authority, asked for guidance from council on how to handle the request.

Any contract for bulk sewer service with Senoia, according to Turner, would be based on the following conditions:

Excess capacity above that required for the buildout of Peachtree City either was available or would be constructed.

Senoia would pay all of the capital costs for constructing that capacity.

Senoia would construct the necessary facilities to deliver the wastewater to the treatment plant, and the WASA would not own or operate any facilities outside its current service area.

Bill Roy, representing the Senoia Water Authority, told the council that Senoia must consider sewer options because of dire circumstances among its commercial and residential developments.

A previously installed system is not functioning properly, he said, and some lower-income areas of the city are still using outhouses.

Senoia would have to do something, whether Peachtree City's service is available or not, Roy said, even if it means starting its own system from scratch. "Unless we get some sewage into that area, the city of Senoia will die," he said.

Turner pointed out that as part of the agreement when the city took control of the sewer system in 1997, any move outside the city must be approved by the council.

But Councilwoman Annie McMenamin went a step further. She said that she thought the council promised not to extend its sewer service in this way, and she requested that the minutes of the relevant meetings be looked at to see if that was indeed the case.

None of the other council members indicated that such a commitment was ever made. Councilman Robert Brooks pointed out that the council's tendency to keep sewer service inside the city was to prevent "a ring of high-density housing" around the city in unincorporated Fayette County.

"How is this any different?" asked fellow Councilman Jim Pace.

Mayor Bob Lenox suggested that the Fayette County Board of Commissioners be contacted for their feelings on the issue. Lenox recalled that when the city of Tyrone began making inquiries about acquiring sewer service from Fulton County, some commissioners may not have been too pleased with the idea, and everyone should be on the same page about an issue such as this.