You little people are entirely too selfish. Familman is right when he says "There is no gain for WASA as an entity." WASA doesn't gain--- its the fine leaders of our community that gave us so much that deserve a small recognition in exchange. Those are real heroes here.
You didn’t expect these farmland pastures to be undeveloped, did you? And why make Wal-Mart and Home Depot move to some other spot when they just “liked” Hwy 54 better ? After all, “we could get sued.” Goodness gracious, we had to cave in. And then we got all these nice apartments.

And isn’t it a bit ungrateful not wanting the developers to benefit from the sewer that they bought for our benefit and then magnanimously sold to us ? So they bought the sewer system for one dollar from the county and sold it to us for $24 million— but they made it so nice for us to use. The sewer system was such an adorable little "fixer upper". And all they wanted was the Tennis Center and a sump pump into the hotel motel tax. That outside counsel that called all of our fine community leaders who sacrificed so selflessly “crooks” was just a malcontent. And when the GBI said that more investigation was needed to determine if any crimes were committed, well that’s as good as an exoneration. Isn’t it ?

In this land of plenty, you peasants need to share. You need to be more openminded to good things like Section 8 Apartments, MARTA and cozy traffic jams like Gwinnett. And as for the criminals like the one in the Coventry subdivision garage, its our chance to show compassion.

I heard talk like this when the "Avenue" was proposed and how traffic would be just fine. Don't you get it? We don't want all this crap here! One in five people in the USA now work in government---paid by taxes---and we don't want or need any more. Another one in eight work in Banks and the like, and developers offices and real estate agents.

Yep. We were all stunned at that proposal there.

It will all be fine. We got a plan for the traffic. Blah blah blah.

Sounds like the statements on widening 54 will fix this and all the other issues.

Bottom line is the Good Ole Boy developer back system is in full swing again.

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Keeping it real and to the core of the issue, not the peripherals.

It doesn't take a genius to see what he's up to. No research, no facts, just blabber from him. I like the paper in general, but his rants are getting old.

Cal does what Cal does best, sling a bunch of mud, or sewage in this case and hope that some of it will stick. I realize he is the editor, but for crying out loud, I wish he would do more in-depth research before writing up his editorials.

To all of the The Citizen employees: Don't let your boss make you guys look foolish and proofread his articles!

You neglected to address two key points.

First, is Senoia paying a single bill to justify the volume rate? If not, and their are individual billings, how do you justify them getting a lower rate?

Second, when expansion is needed, in the future, will they also be billed at an increased rate to pay for it?

Yes, currently there is no such need. But in seeing so much short-sightedness in decision making is that going to be a financial time bomb?

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Keeping it real and to the core of the issue, not the peripherals.

PTC Guy,
Nice questions. Yes, Senoia would pay a single bill. They would be responsible for collection from each of their users. In addition, Senoia would be responsible for all of the infrastructure associated with their system. If a spill were to occur from their system, it would be soley their responsibility.
The expansion that John Munford mentioned is some kind of "master plan" that EPD has concocted that will likely never come to fruition. In that plan, they envision PTC becoming a central facility to treat 20,000,000 gallons per day for the region. Of course, this would have to be approved by PTC to even be part of it. As I mentioned, the only way the existing sewer system will ever have to be expanded is if the city council decides to annex more and more of the outlying areas around the city.

I understand bulk rates.

I do foresee a lot of annexation. I do see the current Council biting into the that vision.

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Keeping it real and to the core of the issue, not the peripherals.

Is that yes, Senoia is paying the bill. We would be giving them a "bulk" rate.

Hey, Dawg.

So far the Council is going right down the path I predicted at the election.

So, I hope you see my concerns on their short-sightedness and developer orientation.

Good grief! They are still pursuing that stupid roundabout, like some kind of status symbol.

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Keeping it real and to the core of the issue, not the peripherals.

Seems to me that Cal is once again slanting the story, must be a slow news week. The $4.38 per 1000 gallons of flow that current PTC residents pay probably includes the cost of the collection system (pipelines) AND the treatment plants. I would assume that Senoia's rate of $3.50 per 1000 gallons only covers the cost of the treatment plants since they will probably go straight to one of the the two plants that border Coweta county and not use any of the WASA pipelines. That is fair, pay for what you use. Charging Senoia more than this would be profiteering, which is what Cal is alleging and that is wrong for a public agency to do. Go ahead and don't sell the excess capacity to Senoia, see what happens to rates when the shortfall from the loss of Photocircuits continues. Why continue to pay for capacity you are not using? The infrastructure is there, why not sell it if you are not using it? Remember the current capacity is enough to serve the whole City through COMPLETE BUILD OUT, including those homes on septic tanks and every undeveloped parcel. Unless PTC is planning on annexing Brooks or other parts of Fayette county, why would you need more capacity? As far as sewer spills, Senoia has their own permit with the State, if they have a spill, they will get fined for it, not PTC. I agree with the Mr. Kinser's assessment of Cal's disparaging remarks, when you don't have a good argument fall back on name calling, nice...

Some good points.

But I don't like operating on maybes. Are your thoughts actually the reality?

I hope some one finds out.

But I still see issues here that smell.

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Keeping it real and to the core of the issue, not the peripherals.

I think the problem is short term thinking.

An election promise to reduce or freeze taxes and fees, selling sewer capacity, collected Stormwater monies with no hirings to do work, backing developers without infrastructure plans and funding in place, a desire to absorb the Tennis Center debt and so on.

Add them all together and it smells big time of the Good Ole Boy money machine in full swing, for themselves.

I know Dana didn't say that. But that is what I feel is the underlying King in the Tower and tell the peasants only what they need to hear I see now and predicted at the election.

Something is very very wrong here. And worse, was very foreseeable.

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Keeping it real and to the core of the issue, not the peripherals.

I have corrected the above opinion to reflect the actual rate that is charged per one thousand gallons of sewage. John Munford's story following my opinion also contains the accurate math.

Thanks for your sharp eyes.

Cal Beverly
publisher
The Citizen
Fayetteville, Ga. 30214

No problem. Feel free to delete the whole series of posts to save the folks the time "wading" through it.

Thanks Cal for keeping us apprised. Even though I pay no sewer fees, I question the need for why we want to encourage the flood of quarter acre homes so close to our borders. Each home will have 2.3 children, 2-3 cars and for every dozen or more homes we need another gas station, then super market, then more and more and more. What in the world is wrong with requiring homes to be built on acerage that can accomadate septics? Because developers make more profits when they can fill 100 acres with 300+ homes, rather than 40 homes.

Mr. Mayor, how does this benefit those of us who have invested in our own quality of life in PTC, or at least those of us who are not developers? Why are you interested in helping them? How does it help us?

I'm at a loss as to how this can be a good thing for PTC. What reasonable explanation can there be? I sure hope those that contributed to your campaign, don't benefit from this sell out too.

If something doesn't smell right, then it's probably your failing septic tank. All septic tanks eventually fail, especially in the clay soil found here in Georgia. Building wastewater treatment plants and the associated piping is the environmentally sound thing to do. When you lose a major sewer customer, find someone to take their place or spread the loss of revenue over your existing customers. Seems like selling the excess Photocircuits capacity to Senoia is the economically sound thing to do. It will keep sewer rates down and that is how it will help PTC residents.

Fayette County and Peachtree City have a quality of life that is far greater than any other area around this wonderful State. The reasons are that we have some controlled growth in the County and in the city we have very well planned growth-save that of the numbers of apartment complexes that have sprung up of late.

To now encourage another municipality to utilize our sewer so that they can grow faster than the land will allow them to grow is just short sighted. The only benefit would be to the developers. The limited amount of money saved by selling off the system is miniscule when compared to the additional congestion of traffic and businesses.

I remember when they built the pavillion in Fayetteville. Oh, that was going to help the tax digest for the citizens. No one mentioned that this one small square mile would increase our jail capacity several fold. No one thought that we would have more Fulton and Clayton cars parked in the lots than ever before. . . . no one thought, or did they.

Growth must be controlled, or if not, then in 20 years the Hwy 54/74 intersection will look like Morrow Industrial/Hwy 19/41. I can't wait till the first Pawn shop and Check cashing Store opens up.

Whats good for the developers isn't always good for the people. Lower sewer rates may mean we give up some of what makes this City so beautiful.

IMHO.

As to septic tanks, I may be wrong, but the last time I spoke with the County regarding Septics, they insisted that Septics were the most enviornmentally friendly way to go, at least for homeowners. Perhaps I was mislead.

Richard,
I understand your point of view. I don't know how long you have lived here, but when I moved here in 1998 the city was much different. The areas where the Avenue and the WalMart/Home Depot are, were just farm land or vacant lots. There was no trafic problem at 54/74 and we could actually get out of Planterra on to 54 with just a stop sign. Here is the problem with your desire and that of Highgreen109, you can't stop the growth. Remember, the city council tried to go to court to stop the sale and development of the WalMart land and the city attorney found out that we had no basis or hope of preventing that development because the land was zoned, from the beginning as commercial. We have absolutely no hope of trying to control the growth of Senoia, Coweta county or any of land outside of our city limits. On the good side though, there is virtually no commercial land left in the city. There is plenty of O&I (office and industrial) but no commercial. I agree completely with you, in that I moved to the city because it was small and quiet and wish that it would have stayed the same.

I disagree entirely.
You mention the big boxes, well that land was pre-zoned with the original land use maps designed for this planned community. I suspect when it was originally zoned, big boxes weren't that popular or even thought of, but the land was planned ahead of time and sometimes foresight is limited.

As to controlling Senoia, no we can't control them per se. But to give them our sewer is to open the flood gates to 1/4 acre subdivision lots, to more businesses and more Home Depots and Walmarts on the south end of our community. Next thing you know we will look just like Jimmy Carter Blvd. (Which coincidentally is a great homage to him and his presidency. Filled with trashy stores, no way to turn around, nothing but concrete for miles and miles.)

So again, helping Seonia grow is not in our best interests period. If they do it on their own, so be it, but to help them merely to lower our sewer rates is plain stupid.

Why help Senoia? I agree, unless I hear some very good arguments in favor of doing so, I will be against it. I'm willing to pay a higher sewer rate to hold off development in that area if we can. And yes, that will be the biggest argument to help them, we lost a HUGE customer, and if we don't add another, our rates will go up.