TDK deal nearly clinched

Nearby Coweta development would add 22,000 cars a day to Hwy. 74 corridor

Despite an estimated 22,000 car trips daily added to Ga. Highway 74 from a mini-city proposed just across the city limits in Coweta County, the Peachtree City Council is apparently content to extend TDK Boulevard in that direction.

Council declined again Tuesday night to vote on whether or not to extend TDK Boulevard, leaving a real estate closing pending for today which will basically seal the deal.

The TDK project has long been in the city’s transportation plans but some citizens are questioning its wisdom with the recent revelation of the Coweta development, which would have more than 3,100 homes and over 945,000 square feet of retail space as currently proposed. Several citizens addressed council at Tuesday’s meeting.

One resident noted that a number of cars from the McIntosh community would use Crosstown Road and Ebenezer Road to reach Piedmont Fayette Hospital, clogging local roads on the city’s south side.

Although the process started as just a road to Coweta, it turned into a project for the adjacent Falcon Field airport, which was seeking more room at the end of its runway to extend the runway safety area. Now, with a $2 million federal grant in hand to purchase the land for the runway safety area, the airport is basically driving the deal because of a detail in the five-contract closing.

That detail requires the airport to deed the TDK right-of-way to Fayette County, the entity responsible for building the road.

Without the FAA grant there are no additional funds set aside for the necessary right of way acquisition, meaning without those funds the project would stall again.

Without the additional runway safety area, the TDK extension would cause problems for the airport with some taller vehicles intruding into the protected flight path for Falcon Field that is aside by deed, said Airport Authority Chairman Jerry Cobb.

In a letter to Council, State Sen. Mitch Seabaugh urged finalizing plans for TDK because it is part of a slate of improvements for traffic between Peachtree City and Coweta, including the widening of Ga. Highway 74, which Seabaugh helped fast-track from 2012 to its completion date this year. Seabaugh is also responsible for helping prioritize the widening of Ga. Highway 74, with work starting this year on the first phase though it wasn’t originally in the state’s plans to upgrade until 2020.

Seabaugh has said he worries if the TDK extension is abandoned that the Hwy. 74 widening might lose some priority; the widening is also being done in large part due to the wishes of Cooper Lighting, which is one of the county’s largest employers and is located off Hwy. 74 south of Crosstown Road.

County Commission Chairman Greg Dunn said the county needed direction from Peachtree City since it has been holding money aside for construction for three years, and there are other projects which need funding if TDK isn’t going to happen ultimately.

As soon as the right-of-way acquisition and design are complete, the county plans to begin building the bridge across Line Creek for the TDK extension, though the road can’t be built for at least a year because three golf holes at Planterra Ridge Golf Club have to be relocated to create the road path around Falcon Field’s larger runway safety area.

In a caucus among all five council members 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 Tuesday night, each council member except for Kourajian and Cyndi Plunkett indicated they supported the extension of TDK. Other council members said 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.

The urgency for Fayette 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, some officials said. Seabaugh said he is working with the DOT on that, and the agency has already conducted a traffic study of 154 and Fisher Road, which would conceivably be another way for cars in the McIntosh community to access I-85 instead of traveling up Hwy. 74.

Although a number of Peachtree City residents urged council to kill the road plan because of the traffic problems it would create, 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 pending realignment of Rockaway Road with a traffic light on Hwy. 74.

"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.