What is the future of transportation in Fayette County for the period of time ranging from 2013-2028?

That was the question put to nearly 180 citizens Dec. 9 at the “Fayette Forward” public visioning workshop held at Fayette Senior Center. The meeting was the first of several on the issue.

But more than half of those attending came for another reason: to ask questions and express their concerns over the West Fayetteville Bypass.

A large number of those attending, perhaps more than half the audience, had come to the meeting to discuss and give opinions on Phase 2 of the West Fayetteville Bypass, a project whose first phase is currently under construction and funded by a 1-cent sales tax with a five-year collection that ends in 2010.

Nearly everyone attending on the bypass issue appeared to be opposed to Phase 2 that will link the Sandy Creek Road area with the Westbridge Road area to the north.

The opposition expressed by some was easily evidenced by the comments they made and by the frustration in the voices of others.

Their vocal opposition on the bypass issue temporarily overshadowed the announced topic of the meeting, though many said they had been told that the bypass would be a topic at the meeting.

After the Fayette Forward presentation, those attending for the bypass issue assembled in the foyer near the Senior Citizens Center entrance and met with county Public Works Director Phil Mallon. They held an informal discussion on the upcoming Phase 2 project while the Fayette Forward meeting continued inside the meeting room.

Those attending to voice opinions on the future of transportation continued the process, later identifying three overriding goals for consideration, including the community’s character, creating a desirable place and providing safe and balanced transportation, as topics for future meetings.

Citizens during the conversation discussed the need to account for seniors when developing transportation plans, the idea of maintaining 3-5 acre lots in the county’s rural areas and the concern with the overbuilding of commercial space.

Consulting firm Glatting Jackson Kercher Anglin, Inc. project representative Paul Moore began the meeting by presenting an overview of upcoming public meetings and a public participation workshop geared to obtain citizen input on the goals and policies that would shape Fayette’s transportation future.

The objective of the first of several meetings, said Moore, would be to begin gauging the public’s interest on setting those goals and policies that would begin in approximately five years and extend to near 2030.

Moore presented various residential and commercial development models from metro Atlanta and other areas that either complimented or detracted from effective transportation routing, including subdivisions designed with one-way in, one-way out traffic flows that cause daily bottlenecks. He combined those models with comments on Fayette’s projected growth to approximately 150,000 residents by 2030, based on projections by Atlanta Regional Commission.

Included as a main focus of the presentation were six groups of preliminary county transportation goals for residents to assess and state their preferences later in the meeting.

Those included promoting safe and balanced transportation choices, developing regional strategies, supporting a vision for positive growth, maintaining fiscal responsibility, preserving community character and creating desirable places for all citizens. By meeting’s end, citizens had overwhelmingly chosen community character, safe and balanced transportation choices and community character as potential goals for the future.

Moore said a week-long public participation workshop will be held sometime in February, followed by additional visioning meetings in May and July.

“The main thing we needed to do tonight was to identify the main goals. And we did that with the three goals you identified,” Moore said explaining that his firm will assess and model public input from the February workshop and present it at the public meeting in May. “And we need a high level of participation at the workshop and the other public meetings.”