Six of the seven candidates for two seats on the Peachtree City Council answered questions at a forum Monday night sponsored by the Peachtree City Civic Association.

The seventh candidate, Dar Thompson, was unable to attend because he had surgery to repair a complete rotator cuff tear.

On the issue of the TDK Boulevard Extension, most of the candidates agreed it would be built eventually, and hopefully after Coweta County has secured access to Interstate 85. Mike Harman said the project “is dead,” which he thinks will make it hard for the 3,000-home McIntosh Village in Coweta County to be developed as planned.

With TDK, that planned Coweta subdivision would have easy access to I-85 via Ga. Highway 74, significantly affecting the commute for Peachtree City residents. The council has abandoned the project, effectively killing it for now and perhaps for the long-term as there is no funding identified for it.

There is a dangling legal issue that may affect the city at some point. Because the road has been required by the Georgia Regional Transportation Authority, if it is not complete by the time McIntosh Village is built out, GRTA could withhold state and federal highway funding from Peachtree City.

Doug Sturbaum suggested the council “politely ignore” the TDK Extension.

Mark Hollums said if the city is forced to build the TDK Extension, it should keep the current two-lane bridge over the CSX railroad tracks to serve as “a natural choke point to discourage traffic.”

Tom O’Toole said he worries about a follow-up project to the TDK Extension: the widening of Crosstown Road. O’Toole said he is against widening Crosstown because of the location of Oak Grove Elementary and other neighborhoods who depend on the road.

“Traffic from outside should be diverted around our city,” O’Toole said.

Mike King said the city should delay TDK as long as it can.

Don Haddix said the court system has already ruled in Coweta’s favor in terms of forcing TDK to be built, and Coweta will do whatever it wants in terms of continuing rapid growth. Hollums, however, said he felt it was important to try and work with Coweta and other jurisdictions to “be a good neighbor.”

Hollums added that the city’s abandonment of discussions to provide 500,000 gallons a day of sewer service to Senoia may turn out to be a mistake. Senoia later applied for and received a permit to treat four times as much sewage, Hollums noted, which will enable the city to grow even more.

The candidates were also asked to share what they thought the city’s most important issue is.

Hollums said the city needs to take a regional approach particularly when it comes to traffic, and he also thought the city needs to consider raising police and fire salaries.

Sturbaum said his main concern is crime, and he proposes doubling the court fine for any criminal offense committed on the city’s cart paths. He also suggested a program to give senior citizens radios so they can alert police when a crime is committed on the cart paths.

King said the most important issue is maintaining the city’s quality of life.

Harman said he thought quality of life is important, along with public safety and cooperating with neighboring communities on several issues, including traffic. Harman said he’s already been working with Fayette County and the Georgia Department of Transportation learning about how roads are designed and built.

Haddix said following the city’s comprehensive plan is important for the future, and he doesn’t want to see the city setting a precedent that would allow another regional store to locate here such as Lowe’s Home Improvement. Making the comprehensive plan actual law will force the planning commission and city council to abide by it, Haddix said.

O’Toole said the city’s long-term quality of life is important, noting that over the last 10 years the city’s plans have been “chipped away and changed ... to make it less desirable.” He said the city needs to make decisions by looking 25 years into the future to see how it will have an effect on the city at that time.

Another topic of note were the candidates’ viewpoints on growing the city limits via annexation.

Sturbaum said he is against annexation unless it would create more forest land for the city.

Hollums said he thought the process should be undertaken thoughtfully, noting that the city “is already short one fire station,” and the police department has other staffing needs too.

O’Toole said the city council should get feedback from residents before voting on any potential annexation, though he does see the need for more senior-oriented residences.

Haddix said he opposes annexation except when it gives the city “something critical to Peachtree City or unique to Peachtree City.”

Harman said that City Planner David Rast has told him that there are two reasons to annex property: to have control over what is built and also to make the city limits have sensible geographic boundaries. Harman said he would vote to annex property only if it met those criteria and it benefitted the citizens of Peachtree City.

The candidates were also asked about how the city’s land use plan should be applied.

Haddix said he wanted to have the city’s land use plan adopted as law so current and future councils couldn’t waver from it.

Sturbaum said he would like to see “more teeth” added to the city’s ordinances to help enforce the land use plan.

King said the land use plan shouldn’t be so inflexible that it becomes “dogma.”

Hollums said he didn’t want the city to grow to where it’s “a metropolis.”

O’Toole said the city’s comprehensive plan “should be a very, very strong guideline.”

Harman said the city has very little undeveloped land left, and the land use plan should enforce the village concept to help keep the city’s quality of life.

Hollums agreed that more patrols of the city’s cart path system are necessary.

Each of the candidates indicated they didn’t support big box development.