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TDK a 'done deal' by Friday?Tue, 09/12/2006 - 9:55pm
By: John Munford
PTC Council declines to vote on road fate The Peachtree City Council declined again Tuesday night to vote on whether or not to extend TDK Boulevard into Coweta County despite projections that a development proposed for Coweta County will add 22,000 car trips a day to Ga. Highway 74. But if a real estate closing happens as planned Friday, there will be no further chance for the city to halt the project because of a key element to the deal, city officials said. If the airport authority closes on the land, it must deed the right-of-way for TDK to Fayette County; in turn, Fayette County officals have agreed to guarantee Pathway Communities that the extension will be built to a currently landlocked parcel Pathway owns in the city near Line Creek and the airport, city officials said. Time is of the essence for the closing on the right-of-way as a $2 million aviation grant to purchase land for the runway safety area at Falcon Field expires Oct. 1. Without that grant there are no additional funds set aside for the necessary right of way acquisition, meaning without those funds the project would stall again. The land acquisition is considered an urgent matter by airport officials, as without the additional runway safety area, the future path of the TDK extension could have some vehicles interfering with the airspace set aside by deed for aircraft flight patterns, said Airport Authority Chairman Jerry Cobb. Meanwhile, many Peachtree City residents are upset about the potential of TDK linking with the proposed McIntosh community development in Coweta which would bring more than 3,100 homes and 945,000 square feet of retail space right on Peachtree City's back door. Friday's real estate closing is not necessarily a done deal, either, as some council members talked about possibly convening another meeting on the issue before the closing takes place. That discussion took place amongst council members after council hastily opened and closed its planned special called meeting in less than 10 seconds after taking almost three hours of input and discussion in a workshop (non-voting) format. In that caucus after the meeting, councilman Stuart Kourajian said he didn't want to make a decision so soon after the workshop, and he said more information could be forthcoming that might change his mind on the issue. During the workshop, each council member except for Kourajian and Cyndi Plunkett indicated they supported the extension of TDK. Several council members justifying their stance by saying they need to follow through on the TDK deal with Coweta County so they can try and convince Coweta officials to change the plan for the 3,100 plus homes proposed for the McIntosh community development that will be right off TDK on the Coweta side. Several council members said the lack of the road extension wouldn't stop development in Coweta County. Several officials said the urgency should be to work towards getting state officials to widen Ga. Highway 154 in Coweta County from two to four lanes to provide a better access to I-85 for residents in the Sharpsburg and proposed McIntosh community area. Although a number of Peachtree City residents urged council to kill the road plan because of the traffic problems it would create both on the south side of the city and for weekday commuters on Ga. Highway 74 between Crosstown Road and Interstate 85, several business representatives from the Braelinn Village Shopping Center urged the road to proceed in hopes of creating more traffic to revitalize business there. Others questioned the benefit to Braelinn Village Shopping Center since the McIntosh community would have about 945,000 square feet of retail space under the current plan. Mayor Harold Logsdon said he too lives on the southside of Peachtree City and doesn't want to see more traffic in the area, but he felt the city needed to live up to its agreement in part because it doesn't want to endanger its relationship with the Federal Aviation Administration, which has given $17 million to Falcon Field for improvements. Logsdon also said TDK has been on the books for more than 10 years and is part of the proposed improvements for traffic between Peachtree City and Coweta, including the widening of Ga. Highway 54 West and the pending realignment of Rockaway Road with a traffic light on Hwy. 74 and the pending widening of Hwy. 74 with six lanes from Hwy. 54 to just south of Crosstown Road and four lanes from that point all the way to Ga. Highway 85. "We'll have gridlock if we don't plan our roads," Logsdon said. Rutherford said the city needs to look into affecting change on the McIntosh community plans by looking into one discrepancy over how much land is needed for a land application system to dispose of sewage created by the development. Plunkett said she wasn't sure Council had all the information it needed to make a decision. login to post comments
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