Search the ArchivesNavigation Contact InformationThe Citizen Newspapers For Advertising Information Email us your news! For technical difficulties |
Pullias: To preserve PTC buy land for greenspaceTue, 09/22/2009 - 3:19pm
By: Letters to the ...
Another important platform in my campaign for City Council Post 1 is preservation. Whether we are talking about preserving green space, our planned community, our golf cart paths, or our school system, all are important to the future of our town. This is what it is all about, right? Any town can be great at its start. Longevity is a lot harder to come by. After its first 50 years, we are the #8 best place to live in the U.S. Will the same be said when we are 100 years young? Yes, if I have anything to say about it. Here are a few ideas about how we can preserve this great community that might help you decide just who you want making the decisions in the coming years: Greenspace preservation: Our greenspace helps define and set apart our community. In order to keep our tree community, we need to actively pursue acquiring some of the remaining green areas that are privately owned, and keeping them as city-owned conservation space, never to be disturbed. There are a few sites that I can see changing the face of our community should they be developed, and I believe they should stay green: the corner of Ga. Highway 54 and Walt Banks Road, corner of Wisdom Road and Ga. Highway 74 North, Hwy. 74 south of Rockaway Road and adjacent to the Animal Shelter, among others. In conjunction the city could buy and “greenify” some of the vacant industrial sites such as Photocircuits. We could also pursue greening up during redevelopment and new development by demanding more of developers instead of accepting the minimum buffers and green space. It would have a huge impact. Making any of this happen per the “Proximate Principle” (see my website www.pulliasforptc.com for more details) would help all of our property values go up, whereas in other cities that do not preserve the green they may otherwise go down in 20 years. I will pursue a plan to increase city-owned conservation greenspace, and push for larger and greener buffers in new and redeveloped areas, instead of the token bare minimums. The planned community: We are planned. We have a comprehensive plan that is being updated currently and will reflect the future guidelines for the city through the year 2027. We have distinct villages, within which are businesses, schools, homes, retail and commercial. We have a land use plan and zoning with strict ordinances in place. What we have lacked a bit lately is the strength to stand by and enforce all that we have worked hard to create. A plan is only as good as those that enforce it. There are aspects of our comprehensive plan that need improvement so that enforcing is easier, less subjective. I will work hard to make those improvements. What we want is a community where family is first, businesses second, and retail and commercial third. The first and second should never be compromised for the third. We have been focused too much on sales tax revenue. While sales tax revenue is important, it should not take priority over abiding by our land use plan. Money comes and it goes. Once a property is cleared of trees and a shopping center is built, it is permanent. In the long run studies have shown that large retail areas actually lessen the overall value of the community. To be blunt I would rather raise taxes and invest that money into preserving our greenspace rather than clear and build on our greenspace for the sake of sales tax revenue. We are a planned community. We need to enforce and improve the plan for the betterment of our long-term quality of life, and not sacrifice it for a buck. I will work to do just that. Golf cart paths: This is the most unique and distinct feature of our town. People may not move here just because of our path system, but they will choose to move here over somewhere else because of it. The paths are a novel privilege, and for us veterans, often taken for granted. They must be preserved, maintained, enhanced, and expanded into all newly developed areas. Keeping them safe and maintained is a large job for the city, both in public works and public safety. I will pursue the long-range capital improvements of golf cart bridges at the north end of Hwy. 74 and Peachtree Parkway, at the western gateway to the city where Hwy. 54 meets Wynnmeade Parkway, and at the eastern gateway where Lexington Circle meets Hwy. 54 East. I will also work to see that the Wilksmoor pathways are appropriate to the size and extent of the development of the West Village and MacDuff Parkway. Path expansion and preservation is a great way to minimize local traffic on the roadways, especially if the network is expanded in conjunction with new growth and well connected to established areas of the city. Preservation and safe networking of the path system will be a priority. Schools: Schools are the lifeblood of any community. In Peachtree City, we have no direct control of how the county runs our schools. The best way we can help improve and preserve the great schools in PTC is by having a good working relationship with the BOE. They need to know what we see as the future for our town, and how important it is to us to be kept informed of their needs and issues. Budget issues are plaguing the BOE right now, and many harbor a lot of ill will as to how things are being managed currently and how they have been managed in the past. I believe the school board needs a citizen of Peachtree City to step up and represent our interests on the board. We need someone on the board that will pass on our needs to the county, and vice versa. Until that time, the city needs to have someone representing us at all of the BOE meetings. Preserving the schools and improving the communication between the county the city, and the citizenry will be high on my priority list as council member. Peachtree City is almost at build-out now. We need to focus on preserving its uniqueness and the value of living here for the long term. I hope this article has given you some specific insight as to how I believe we should move forward in the direction of preserving our greenspace, the “plan” in master plan, our path system and our schools. I see a bright future ahead for our city as long as the right people, with the right mindset are given the power to make it happen. I hope to be given that opportunity. Beth Pullias PTC Council Candidate Post 1 www.pulliasforptc.com login to post comments
|
Copyright 2010 - Fayette Publishing, Inc. | Privacy Policy | Terms of Use Policy
Server 4
