By MONROE ROARK
Staff Writer

The most important lesson to be learned from the traffic crisis now looming in Peachtree City is what happens when you depend on the government, especially the federal government, for anything.

Everyone affected in this sordid affair is a victim, and everyone is a perpetrator. Consider the following:

” The people who designed Peachtree City and made it a model planned community drew on the convenience and practical advantages of two major state highways. Now the city is held hostage by two traffic-choked roads over which it has no control.

” Along the way, Peachtree City has developed a quality of life that is the envy of thousands of people living in other areas. Many of those people decided to move here, and they brought their cars with them.

” Major companies and industries saw the up side of locating here, and they came with hundreds of jobs and gave the economy a huge boost. Now the roads to those companies are packed, and many of those jobs are filled by Coweta County residents, whose automobiles add to the daily gridlock in Fayette County.

With Uncle Sam having shut down road improvements due to air quality guidelines, taking it all out of local hands, it's easy to garner sympathy for both sides of the development issue when you really think about it. The speakers at last week's City Council meeting are a perfect example.

Planterra Ridge residents, who already cannot turn left onto Ga. Highway 54 at various times of the day, are cringing at the thought of a Wal-Mart and Home Depot opening up right across the road, multiplying the traffic problem exponentially. They feel trapped, and rightfully so, by what is surrounding their neighborhood.

But the land on which the Wal-Mart is being proposed was designated for commercial use long before the good people of Planterra Ridge moved in. Indeed, the family that owns the property has been in Peachtree City longer than Peachtree City has — some 50 years.

So who gets hurt more? Is it the residents of places like Wynnmeade who get acres of concrete in their backyard if the Huddleston property is developed, or the Huddlestons if the local government prevents them from selling their land for its “highest and best use”?

There are no easy answers, except for one: If you sit back and expect the powers that be in Washington to solve a problem for you when you're better off solving it yourself, watch your back.

I've only been driving through Peachtree City on a regular basis for a little less than a year, but I came to the conclusion on my own that this traffic problem has probably been here a little bit longer than that. The concerns expressed by residents to the City Council have confirmed that suspicion for me.

Some people think it would be a good idea to close the gates and put up a “No Admittance” sign for future developers. But if new homes and businesses are built in Tyrone or just across the Coweta County line, there will be just as many cars coming through as if they were all in Peachtree City to begin with. This is a regional problem, and two counties or more will have to live with whatever action is taken here.

As for whether transportation should be considered in zoning matters, it seems to me that it obviously should. But the law is apparently quite clear in the other direction, at least according to attorneys who have recently weighed in on the matter. So there may be some legislative action in our future regarding that.

I won't even attempt to predict what will happen here in the next few months. The City Council has an incredibly tough row to hoe here, and virtually any direction that body chooses to take brings with it the threat of legal intervention. That's just a sad sign of the times.

But while we wait until 2008 (or longer) until Ga. Highway 54 West gets a third or fourth lane, remember the wise words spoken last week: “Don't assume anything until you see dirt being moved.”

[Monroe Roark covers Peachtree City for the Citizen newspapers. He lives in Henry County, another area facing similar traffic problems due to clean air regulations and the resulting federal road mandates of recent years.

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