The Georgia General Assembly will crank up its lawmaking machine in January, and the Peachtree City Council is already thinking ahead as to what its priorities will be with state legislators.

Mayor Harold Logsdon noted that Georgia counties are making a bid to take franchise fee collection away from cities, but City Attorney Ted Meeker indicated that the Georgia Municipal Association has had handled the matter well.

Logsdon said the city would need to mount a strong defense against an inverse condemnation law that could require cities and counties to pay for indirect land takings through zoning laws for setbacks and the like. Detractors of such a bill warn that it would make zoning rules cost-prohibitive.

Meeker said he would like to see a clarification of the powers of the Georgia Regional Transportation Authority in light of the issues raised by the Twin Lakes subdivision approved for Senoia. Many of the transportation projects required by GRTA as part of its Twin Lakes approval are actually located in Peachtree City, and its unclear if GRTA requires Senoia to make sure those projects are implemented or not.

Logsdon noted that a bill that would prevent cities from annexing property without first getting permission from the county government would likely make a comeback though it has been defeated in the past.

Logsdon also referenced plans from Rep. Dan Lakly to redistrict Fayette County so it has three legislators instead of five.

Councilwoman Judi-ann Rutherford said she didn’t want to support a plan to reduce Fayette’s number of votes in the House of Representatives.

Logsdon replied that such isn’t the case with this proposal because as the House districts are currently laid out, two of the five have tiny chunks of Fayette County equalling just a few precincts here, while the majority of their districts lay outside Fayette.

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