The future of eastern Coweta County could have been determined by a vote of the Coweta County Commission in April.

One of the biggest developments in the history of the Southern Crescent received unanimous approval from the Coweta County Commission on that fateful night in the early spring.

Developer Tom Reese’s vision for an upscale community called McIntosh Village could transform the entire landscape of eastern Coweta County and Peachtree City.

The development on Peachtree City’s border on McIntosh Trail will feature more than 3,100 homes and a pedestrian-friendly commercial village when its completed in 10 years.

The Coweta County Commission added 13 conditions to the 27 that were recommended by the planning department. Included in the new conditions are requirements to fence an existing cemetery on the property, complete a traffic study for Christopher Road, provide a minimum of 40 ft. of right-of-way for the future widening of McIntosh Trail and allow no commercial development facing McIntosh Trail.

Reese said the process was the culmination of four years of hard work and thanked the county’s staff for their guidance.

“This is is how all development should be done,” said Commission Chairman Tim Higgins.

But the issue remains far from settled.

Later in the year, a judge ruled that the Georgia Regional Transportation Authority can require Peachtree City to build a four-lane bridge for the extension of TDK Boulevard into Coweta County will likely go unchallenged for now.

The issue is basically moot for now anyway as the City Council voted last month to halt the TDK Extension, which was actually required by GRTA as a condition of the development of the Twin Lakes subdivision in Senoia, which has been renamed Heritage Pointe.

“GRTA cannot make Peachtree City or anybody else build a road,” said city attorney Ted Meeker. “What they can do is hold a carrot out in front of you and say if you don’t do this, then for these projects listed over here for which state and federal funding has been slated, we have an ability to say you don’t get that money.”

Meeker pointed out that if the McIntosh Village subdivision were located in Peachtree City, the City Council could vote to override GRTA’s conditions, which officials have said would disallow the agency from withholding future funds.

“Because the DRI is not located in Peachtree City and despite the fact that we have conditions opposed on us for that DRI, Peachtree City in this instance doesn’t have the same override ability that Coweta County has,” Meeker said.

In addition to requiring that the TDK Extension bridge be 60 feet wide for four lanes of traffic, GRTA also is requiring the city to put a traffic light on TDK where it intersects with Dividend Drive.

But so far GRTA has not yet withheld any funds, and the widening of Hwy. 74 from Ga. Highway 54 to Cooper Circle is already underway.

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