The proposed “mega-development” (on the Coweta County side of the soon-to-be-built TDK Extension) has made believers out of the skeptics who doubted the road’s real purpose was to enable heavy development in rural Eastern Coweta.

This development is following the recent announcement of Pathway’s 480-acre development, also on the Coweta side of TDK near Sharpsburg.

As you will recall, the original so-called “motivation” for spending millions of taxpayer dollars on the road were: (1) traffic relief and, (2) rescuing the Braelinn Village Shopping Center.

When several of my council members and I refused to pay for the road, the Fayette County Chamber of Commerce, in conjunction with Coweta’s state Senator Mitch Seabaugh, rolled out their effort to tarnish the City Council and spin the press to build momentum for the project.

The chairman of the Chamber of Commerce at that time was Jim Pace, a chief officer of Group VI Corporation. It is important to note that Group VI is actively engaged in construction, real estate and development services in Coweta County.

The previous council publicly stated that there was no sense in crippling the city financially over a road that will not do a single positive thing for traffic. We agreed to $200,000 to cover some studies and said someone else was going to have to pay the millions in expenses for the road.

It does not take a great deal of mathematical proficiency to realize that a significant amount of traffic volume will be generated by the thousands of new homes in these new mega-developments.

The million square feet of retail and office will only exacerbate the traffic problem with an additional daily flow equivalent to the Pavilion shopping center in Fayetteville.

Please remember, this is just the beginning as the rural landscape in Eastern Coweta provides a huge number of development opportunities.

The massive retail components of the new Coweta mega-developments make it unquestionably evident that restoring the Braelinn Village Shopping Center was never a true motivation.

In fact, the great irony of the sponsorship of building TDK is that the Chamber of Commerce effectively promoted extensive competition in another county less than a mile away from the Braelinn Village Shopping Center.

The gigantic shopping center will dilute the traditional customer base away from Peachtree City stores.

In addition, we will watch helplessly as our sales tax dollars head across the border, which could affect future governmental budgets and necessitate the need for future property tax increases in Peachtree City and the rest of Fayette County.

The TDK situation is proof of how special interest groups like the Chamber of Commerce and the Direct PAC can carry pro-growth agendas effectively throughout multiple tiers of government.

In this particular instance, the result could be very detrimental to the quality of life in Peachtree City.

I believe there was a great deal of insincerity when a top elected official in Peachtree City was quoted in the local press as saying he didn’t have any control over matters in Coweta County, when, in effect, he was building the very road that was making the development possible.

This is not the time to turn a blind eye to the problems and say there is nothing we can do.

The recently announced developments, including the PTC Westside annexation, are so large in scale that they have to continue through a regional government land use and transportation process call Developments of Regional Impact (DRI).

Now is the time to act. Citizens need to let the local government know that now is the time for some honest diplomacy with the Coweta County Board of Commissioners.

The best choice for our ambassador might be a council member and not the mayor.

In order for the mega-development to proceed, a rezoning is necessary from the Coweta commissioners. The Coweta commissioners are currently fighting the Pathway annexation request into Sharpsburg.

Next, Peachtree City and Fayette County need to file an official objection within the DRI application. Citizens need to express their objections also.

I have included a list of contact information for local citizens and businesses to express their concerns and ask that the “McIntosh DCA # 1191” development be denied.

Lastly, the City Council of Peachtree City needs to seriously consider holding back on the TDK road extension.

It is now abundantly clear that the road project will not meet its primary objectives and will, in fact, cause several significant problems.

The land should be developed, but at the current land plan zonings. Until we have some assurance that the land will be developed at a reasonable density, we should consider holding off on the road.

Reference: Dept. of Community Affairs, Development of Regional Impact No. 1191
Jurisdictions to contact:

Brian Borden, Principal Planner
GA Regional Transportation Authority
245 Peachtree Center Ave., NE
Suite 900
Atlanta, GA 30303-1223
bborden@grta.org

Jim Frederick, Director, Office of Planning & Quality Growth Georgia Department of Community Affairs
60 Executive Park South, NE
Atlanta, GA 30329
jfrederick@dca.state.ga.us

Lynne Miller, Planning Director
Chattahoochee Flint Regional Development Center 13273 Georgia Highway 34 East
Post Office Box 1600
Franklin, Georgia 30217
lmiller@cfrdc.org

Coweta County Board of Commissioners
Commissioner Tim Higgins:
thiggins@coweta.ga.us
Commissioner Leigh Schlumper:
lschlumper@coweta.ga.us
Commissioner Larry DeMoss:
ldemoss@coweta.ga.us
Commissioner Greg Tarbutton:
gtarbutton@coweta.ga.us
Commissioner Paul Poole:
ppoole@coweta.ga.us

Neighboring Jurisdiction (representing Fayette County):

Mike Alexander, Review Coordinator
Atlanta Regional Commission
40 Courtland Street, NE
Atlanta, Georgia 30303
malexander@atlantaregional.com

City Council of Peachtree City
151 Willowbend Road
Peachtree City, GA 30269
council@peachtree-city.org

Fayette County Board of Commissioners
Stonewall Administrative Complex
140 Stonewall Avenue West
Suite 100
Fayetteville, Georgia 30214
administration@fayettecountyga.gov

Steve Brown
Peachtree City, Ga.

Brown is the former mayor of Peachtree City.