TDK deal done

Mon, 11/06/2006 - 9:28am
By: John Munford

The complicated real estate transaction that will allow TDK Boulevard to be extended from Peachtree City into Coweta County has been completed.

The various closing documents were signed late Thursday afternoon, according to John Crosby, manager of Falcon Field Airport. The airport is involved because it receives additional land north of the runway to protect its runway safety area.

The runway safety area allows an extra 1,000 feet of flat ground that can be used if a plane has problems on takeoff or landing, Crosby said.

The land purchase was possible with a $2 million grant from the Federal Aviation Administration. Most of the land needed for the runway safety area comes from Planterra Ridge Golf Club, although the two holes acquired by the airport authority will continue to be golfed on until Planterra gets the two new holes built and ready for play, Crosby said.

Pathway Communities was also involved in the transactions since it owned the land needed for Planterra to relocate the golf holes, Crosby noted. The airport also purchased some of Pathway’s property also in the transaction, Crosby said.

The land deal also makes way for the TDK Boulevard extension, which will loop around the newly-acquired runway safety area. With recent news of a mega-development planned for the other side of the road in Coweta County, some Peachtree City residents wanted to shelve the road extension entirely, and the City Council several weeks ago declined to vote in favor or against the extension in light of that development, which if approved by Coweta County would feature roughly 3,100 homes. Critics of the extension worry that many cars from that development will use TDK Boulevard to reach Ga. Highway 74 to dramatically increase traffic, particularly during peak commuting times.

Now that it owns the runway safety area, the airport will be able to keep development from encroaching on it, Crosby said. The land acquisition was sparked by concerns from the FAA about a previous road design of the TDK extension traveling almost immediately adjacent to the airport’s current property line in a previous design for the road.

The road will be extended across LIne Creek with a bridge, and it will link up with Stallings Road and McIntosh Trail on the Coweta side.

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