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Fayette wasting money on West F’ville Bypass When considering the Fayetteville Bypass, there is one easy concept that, hopefully, even our current crop of Fayette County Commissioners can understand. That concept is to divert traffic around the east and west sides of Fayetteville to ease congestion, a fairly straight-forward idea. While some of the specific details related to that road are complicated, my message at the last County Commission meeting was simple. The planning up to now has not taken alternative analysis into consideration and before going any further, the county should slow down and look again. The basic layout of the proposed re-routing plan will involve obtaining one or more permits from federal agencies, and those federal agencies have certain expectations about the data necessary to issue those permits. Based on what is in the county files, and of greater importance what I did not find in those files, Fayette County will find it very difficult to obtain any stream crossing or wetland filling permit. Currently, there simply is not enough analysis there to support taking the routes that have been laid out. The first hurdle they face is to provide a clear demonstration of the need for the road. With the proposal to spend this much money, one would have thought this was clear. It is not. There will be questions raised regarding the logic of making new connections between state highways when traffic patterns do not support such connections. If that need can been proven, the next issue will be selecting the least damaging alternative. To issue a permit, the federal agencies will be expecting to see an alternative analysis that shows the desired route is the only way to make the connections. For example, Phase II of the West Fayetteville Bypass has at least one less damaging alternative through improvements to Gingercake Road. There may be other alternatives, and if that is the case, this will influence those agencies to deny requests to destroy Whitewater Creek wetlands. If, as I think unlikely, the federal agencies can be convinced that the wetland route is the only option, then alignment issues will come into focus. And consider this: a new road that includes significant costs to the taxpayer for six miles of new road. Now consider the relatively small amount necessary to make improvements on a much shorter road already in use. Add to this the legal actions to obtain the road right-of-way via condemnation, and the massive costs for mitigation for wetland losses and the planned route will make this phase many times more expensive. What I suggested to the County Commission was that I expect the permits will be denied, so it was in the county’s best interest to slow down and take another look at what was being proposed. Prior to the meeting, I had informed some of the property owners of my intentions to address this issue with the County Commission, so several joined me in expressing their individual concerns. But for some reason, there was an expression of anger toward us. One might think that learning of a potential or probable stoppage of the project is something they would appreciate hearing before it became a reality. In my career, I dealt with many hundreds of wetland permit issues, and I believe that Fayette County is going to learn, once again, that a Section 404 permit under the Clean Water Act is not going to happen just because they want it to happen. But since it appears they are charging ahead anyway, a great deal of our tax money will be expended on this worthless project. So, right here, I want to make sure the record is clear: the County Commissioners have been informed. And when they continue down this road, they will be totally responsible for what happens next and shoulder ALL of the blame for lost time and lost money, and, in the end, it will start all over again. But it doesn’t end on this sour note. A big effort has just begun, on behalf of this same group of County Commissioners, to have the citizens of this county vote to give them more money through an extension of the Transportation SPLOST in 2009. It is chilling to know that not only are they charging ahead to spend current SPLOST dollars on the wrong route(s), but they expect us to go to the voting booth and support their efforts to do more of the same. I don’t know the exact totals they are spending through this first SPLOST — perhaps around $100 million — and here they come wanting to add another $100 million to that total. It is difficult to see an end to all of this. Perhaps we really do need improvements in the Fayette County transportation system, but from what we are seeing, from the methods used to do the planning, it is hard to tell for sure. I find it very difficult to understand what they are doing currently, or why. I am currently participating in the citizen committee looking at the new comprehensive transportation plan, but with a high level of suspicion. I have heard from others that I am not the only one that suspects there is something amiss with our current situation. For your information, there are more committee meetings planned and several public hearings will be scheduled. So if you have concerns about what they are doing with our money and with the planning in Fayette County, please attend and maybe we will all find out. login to post comments | Dennis Chase's blog
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