$2 million grant expires July 31; mayor optimistic

The clock is ticking, with a July 31 deadline for Peachtree City to reach an agreement to buy land near Falcon Field Airport to extend TDK Boulevard into Coweta County.

After that date, a pending $2 million grant from the Federal Aviation Administration to purchase the necessary property will evaporate into thin air, and that would stall the road project for sure, said Mayor Harold Logsdon.

The mayor said he was still optimistic about the deal’s chances, but the current holdup has to do with the value of the nearby property owned by Pathway Communities, Logsdon said.

That’s a nice way to say that Pathway wants more money for its land. Part of the Pathway land is necessary for the road, but another part of it is needed to relocate two golf holes from nearby Planterra Ridge Golf Course, which are in the path of the planned route for the road.

Without the grant, however, the TDK extension “would be back to square one,” Logsdon said, because the city doesn’t have the money on hand to purchase the right of way. The city is responsible for right of way purchase and design of the project while Fayette County government will pave the city’s portion of the road and the required bridge over Line Creek.

If the deal falls through Logsdon said he will not consider the use of eminent domain powers to seize the necessary property from Pathway. That is largely because of why the deal is complex: because the end use of part of the Pathway land would be for the two golf holes, Logsdon said.

In essence, Logsdon said, that would mean the deal is being done for “economic development” purposes, which is expressly prohibited by Georgia’s newest state law on eminent domain.

“Eminent domain is not an option I am willing to pursue,” Logsdon said.

Logsdon is still firmly behind the project, which he said should’ve been done a long time ago.

“I just think it’s the right thing to do for the citizens of Peachtree City and Fayette County,” Logsdon said.

As long as there is an agreement in place on the particulars by July 31, the city can hang onto the FAA grant. If that doesn’t happen, the city has already been notified by federal officials, Logsdon said.

The project has been in the works for years and the latest stumbling block was a comment from the FAA indicating that the road’s previous design would cut into Falcon Field’s runway safety area. The $2 million grant is so the city can purchase that land north of the runway to protect the runway safety area, officials said.