Bad decision on cart path bridge

Normally I try to present my opinions and back them up with as much of a scientific basis as possible. But this time, the Peachtree City approach to planning the cart path to the bridge over Flat Creek defies description and understanding.

It looks very much like the plan presented was selected, in part, because of strong support from several of the City Council. With that in mind, I believe that trying to present a logical response to the information presented at last Thursday night’s City Council meeting is nearly impossible.

There was so much wrong with the plan presented by the city engineer that rather than a long detailed opinion piece, my comments here are simple.

I have started preparation of a detailed report which will be sent to those agencies that review permit requests. Before the city request for a nation-wide permit is received, each of those agencies will learn the details of Peachtree City’s history of, and continuing disregard for, wetland losses within the city limits.

The city engineer is wrong when he stated that the Corps of Engineers is not concerned with the impact to wetlands because the project will destroy less than one acre.

There is an assumption by the various state and federal review agencies that small projects (less than one acre) will not be enough of an impact to cause significant damage. While that is the case in most small permits, it is not so for the planned cart path approach to the Mattan Point bridge. Along with the list of impacted wetlands from earlier projects, my report will detail the specific negative impacts for this particular project.

For those of you interested in expressing your objections to those same review agencies, I will be more than happy to provide copies of my report. It appears to me that the City Council isn’t especially interested in your concerns; perhaps the review agencies will be.