The Fayette County Commission reasserted its aversion to dense development in the county last Thursday by refusing to allow a church to hook up to Peachtree City’s sewer system.

Heritage Christian Church Pastor Greg Marksberry told the County Commission that his church wanted to construct recreational fields for the community on their 77-acre tract. The fields would occupy 8 to 10 acres that are currently being used as septic fields, so the church wants to tie into nearby Peachtree City’s sewer system.

“We would need to go about 2,000 feet under Redwine Road to connect to Peachtree City,” he said.

Marksberry said he had already talked to Peachtree City officials, and they were willing to connect the church if the county agreed.

While all the commissioners did not have a problem with the church’s plans for providing recreation fields, they did take issue with the sewer connection.

“This would set a bad precedent. How would we differentiate between you and someone else who wanted to hook up to the system?” said Commissioner Peter Pfeifer.

Commissioner Greg Dunn complimented the church for the work already completed on the site, but also worried about a precedent being set.

“If we put sewer in there, a developer could request it, and the community would get very dense,” he said.

But Commissioner Herb Frady said the precedent had already been set when the schools were built on Ga. Highway 74 and sewer was also provided to The Chimneys development.

The commissioners said that deal was done by Peachtree City and the Fayette County School System, which was something they could not control.

The request to extend sewer to the church was denied by a 3-1 vote, with Frady casting the dissenting vote. The County Commission did ask staff, though, to further study the issue, to see if the request could be accomplished without setting a precedent.