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What they say and what they do Peachtree City Mayor Logsdon and council members Boone and Plunkett actually voted for the city submitting the foolish traffic signal at Ga. Highway 54 and Line Creek Drive. Remember, if GDOT approves the traffic signal, another big box shopping center is built on the congested road. The radical council trio has passionately chased some ridiculous pursuits, but selling our city streets to a developer so he can build another huge shopping center on Hwy. 54, squeeze in another traffic signal and make sudden gridlock a part of our future really takes the prize. In his own words, Mayor Logsdon says, “Each of the City Council members and I have a picture of what makes up ‘Peachtree City.’ Those visions are not necessarily the same among the five of us, and they are not necessarily the same as your vision” (Mayor Logsdon, Update, Vol. 23, Issue 6). Boy, oh boy, you can say that again! Moreover, their vision is not grounded in our past — you know, the reason many of us moved here in the first place. It was the mayor who said, “Probably highest on everyone’s list of concerns right now is big boxes ... I’ve received a lot of comments from citizens opposed to big box stores, particularly the plan on Hwy. 54 West. Let me state that I’m not generally in favor of big boxes. Most have an exterior design that just does not fit here. The stores increase traffic and can be harmful to existing smaller stores. I also think we probably have enough commercial development on Hwy. 54 West” (Mayor Logsdon, Update, Vol. 22, Issue 3). The mayor verbally painted about as clear a picture as one can on why we should not approve the CCD project, but he, Plunkett and Boone did it anyway. Another big box complex means bleeding sales from multiple village centers. Remember the term “village centers” from our series of periodic land use plan reviews? You can now take out your #2 pencils and strike the word off the plan. Over the last three years, the humble inhabitants of Peachtree City have been forced to contemplate that age-old question: Do I believe what the mayor and council say, or do I believe what they do? The mayor knows Coweta County is going to add more traffic volume on Hwy. 54 into Peachtree City. What is more, Mayor Logsdon clearly admits, “Traffic concerns will also weigh heavily on any decision for commercial development on Hwy. 54 West ... Hwy. 54 traffic will grow increasingly worse with the development just to our west at Fischer Crossing, whether or not we add another big box. So the question becomes, do we deny projects in PTC while development is unrestrained just outside our borders, or do we allow development that will add more local sales tax dollars but will also impact traffic?” (Mayor Logsdon, Update, Vol. 22, Issue 3). Sadly, he is serious. The mayor is saying if they practice unrestrained growth, then we should too. Let’s grind our traffic down to a halt because that is what Coweta County is doing. The sale tax pales in significance to how our quality of life will suffer; just ask the people who live in Gwinnett County. The mayor admitted, “Hwy. 54 simply cannot handle all of the cars that will be driving between Fayetteville and Newnan” (Update, Vol. 22, Issue 1), but he is advancing harmful development there anyway. Depending upon which Mayor Logsdon you believe, his solution for the pending gridlock he is causing on Hwy. 54 is extending TDK Boulevard. “Building TDK Boulevard now is part of planning for that impact, and is much more responsible than waiting until Hwy. 54 is once again completely gridlocked before we look at creating alternative routes.” That’s the mayor speaking after knowing mega-developments were going to be built on the other side of TDK Boulevard. Yes, he reveals, “Although the proposed [mega] developments were a surprise to Peachtree City officials, Logsdon indicates that they are only a small part of the overall equation that makes the TDK Boulevard vital” (Update, Vol. 22, Issue 1). The alter ego of the mayor says, “Well, the situation changed with the proposed massive development on our border, so I changed my position ... However, we must continue to look for ways to keep traffic moving within and through our community as growth continues around us” (Mayor Logsdon, Vol. 23, Issue 1). OK, he says, even with the massive development in Coweta, the TDK Extension is good, and then he says with the massive development in Coweta, the TDK Extension is bad. Oh, and the point he made about “continue to look for ways to keep traffic moving,” well, he just killed that option on Hwy. 54 by cramming in another traffic signal and a high traffic shopping center. The mayor marveled, “Fortunately, we continue to follow our Land Use Plan in making decisions about the development requests that come to us” (Mayor Logsdon, Vol. 23, Issue 1), but council members Judi Rutherford and Stuart Kourajian disagreed on the slipshod, piecemeal Westside annexation. The density in the city’s Comprehensive Land Use Plan for areas on the border was not even close to what was proposed by Levitt and Sons developers (Council Minutes, May 3, 2007). In addition, the mayor staked his approval of the site on Levitt and Sons’ quality, but they are gone, so now what? The proposed Callula Hill development from Pathways Communities, the mayor’s largest campaign contributors, has nothing in common with the land use plan, either. The mayor declared in his recent 2008 State of the City Address, “We have had or approved some growth for Peachtree City, but no growth has deviated from the comprehensive plan.” He must think we have been in a coma for the last three years. Thus, said Sir Walter Scott, “Oh what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive.” Those who want to tell the Ga. Department of Transportation what they think about the added traffic signal on Hwy. 54 West should write to the following: Gena L. Evans, Ph.D., Commissioner GDOT One Georgia Center 600 West Peachtree NW Atlanta, GA 30308 Mr. Sam Wellborn, Board Member State Transportation Board 3rd Congressional District No. 2 Capitol Square, SW, Room 106 Atlanta, GA 30334 [Steve Brown is the former mayor of Peachtree City. He can be reached at stevebrownptc@ureach.com.] login to post comments | Steve Brown's blog
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