Will PTC damage wetlands for carts?

A very disappointing thing happens to some of our elected officials when it comes to protection of our environment. Right up until they have to vote to spend extra money to make sure that adequate protective measures have been taken, they will say a lot of the right words about how they do everything possible to maintain a healthy environment. But for some, standing by their words and doing the right thing is not so easy.

Case in point here is the long-running consideration by Peachtree City for building approaches to a bridge that already sits in the middle of the Flat Creek wetland area near Mattan Point.

By far, the cheapest alternative is to install a cart path that elevates to the existing height of the bridge via a solid-fill structure with a few token culverts. Initially, the only alternative that the city staff and consultants could come up with was a cart path that would be elevated on pilings — at almost three times the cost of the solid-fill alternative.

Since the inception of Peachtree City, there have been numerous examples where the Flat Creek Nature Area has suffered significant losses from a variety of projects. Most of these losses occurred just a few tenths of an acre at a time. Sewer line construction, roads, many miles of cart paths, golf courses, and fill for buildings constructed near the wetlands account for some of those losses.

Specific examples include: a part of the Braelinn Shopping Center constructed on wetlands, the Public Works parking lot and some of the amphitheater structures now occupying what once was Flat Creek wetlands and even some areas near City Hall [on what were] wetlands at one point.

In addition to those projects, huge quantities of silt and sediment from nearby development projects now clog many of the Flat Creek Nature Area channels.

Despite all of this, Peachtree City has a unique asset in the form of a large and very productive wetland within city limits, a natural feature that few cities can point to with pride. But pending decisions like the new cart path continue to chip away at this resource.

Other than Crosstown Road, all of these insults to this magnificent wetland area took place along the edge of the wetlands. What is currently being proposed by the city is another crossing of the entire wetland area and, if they opt for the cheapest alternative, the result will be a smaller version what happened when they built Crosstown Road all those years ago.

While Crosstown Road has several large culverts to move the surface water, the road is still mostly solid fill. Crosstown Road essentially created a dam which resulted in a significant change in the wetlands and included the loss of large numbers of trees.

You can see the end results even today when you look upstream from Crosstown Road and see an open marsh where trees once flourished.

A group of citizens, myself included, challenged the consultants and city staff to come up with an alternative that would allow more surface water flows through the cart path, less wetland loss and an overall healthier environment in the route of the proposed cart path.

To no one’s surprise, they found a reasonable alternative with larger arching culverts that would allow free-flow of surface water and at a cost far below the more expensive pilings alternative.

But that may not be enough for some members of City Council, who would have you believe they are looking out for the best financial interests of Peachtree City citizens.

But are they really? Would you accept a private company invading wetlands where there is a less damaging alternative? I don’t think so.

You would expect city staff and City Council to demand a less damaging alternative be chosen and rightfully so. If City Council has a choice of two equal alternatives, then it is appropriate for them to select the less expensive of the two.

However, the options here are not equal as the cheaper option is far more destructive to the environment and should not be considered further.

City Council may think it is politically popular to demonstrate to the voters of Peachtree City that you will look only at spending the smaller amount of money on the new cart path, but in my opinion, that is wrong.

They are willing to give up another piece of the Flat Creek Nature Area to save some money even when it is clearly wrong to do so.