Development 101:

I must admit that I am impressed at the new city that will be going in just across the creek from Peachtree City. The new town is, for now, called New Community. It will bring an additional 10,000 people and 6,000 cars on a daily basis through Peachtree City.

Although the residents of New Community will pay tax to Coweta County, they will travel across the new TDK Extension into Peachtree City as they clog Ga. Highway 74 S. on their way to work.

In this era of no-growth politicians, it is interesting to consider the evolution of this massive project in the face of anti-development sentiment.

The land in question was owned initially by an older gentleman who had virtually no political pull and realized rightly that it was in his best interest to sell.

The three buyers, Thomas Reese, Doug Walker, and Wayne Leslie, all are locals with very good connections.

The path they took to go from land zoned for agriculture to one that will hold 3,164 residential units, a town center of 964,050 square feet commercial space and 119,650 square feet of office space is nothing short of genius.

They managed to take their time, fight each battle individually, marshal all the help they could muster, and reward their friends as they punished their enemies.

Their first battle was to gain the TDK Extension. Without TDK, the property is worth little more than they paid for it.

The argument for TDK was simple. Build TDK and the traffic problems coming out of Coweta will be mitigated.

But it would be too self-serving for the developers to mount this campaign, so they enlisted a friend of business, the Fayette County Chamber of Commerce.

Jim Pace, the Chamber president, was honest, open and forthright in his desire to make the TDK Extension a reality.

With the Chamber’s help, Mitch Seabaugh, the local state senator, got the city of Peachtree City to endorse the TDK Extension.

Next, our senator went to the state of Georgia [and] exerted pressure to fund the project. Other anti-growth politicians soon fell in line.

Greg Dunn, chairman of the Fayette County Board of Commissioners, became a very vocal supporter. Mutt Hunter, the chairman of the Coweta County board of Commissioners, jumped on board.

It is surely a concidence that being a champion of the road that the road would also be named after him, the Vernon Hunter Boulevard.

It is also interesting that Mr. Hunter’s campaign manager is an asphalt contractor who paves the streets for Mr. Reese, one of the developers of the land in question.

The next battle for our developers proved to be most difficult. They now face the wrath of the FAA. They must get the FAA to approve this venture. After all, there is a runway next to the TDK Extension and the Feds do not like airplanes falling on unspecting motorists.

This logjam was easily cleared with the election of the new Peachtree City mayor, Harold Logsdon. He, like Jim Pace earlier of the Chamber of Commerce, made it clear that completion of a TDK Extension was his top priority. The citizens of Peachtree City, he said while campaigning, deserved nothing less.

The new mayor has delivered on his promises. Now his jubilant supporters will enjoy 6,000 more cars and 10,000 more people passing through their fair community.

So who are the winners and losers in this course our developers have been teaching us?

Not Peachtree City or Tyrone, for now and into the foreseeable future, these two communities will have the joy of handling the traffic and all that goes with New Community while Coweta County will get the massive fees that go with building as well as all the tax revenue.

Coweta County has got to be winner here. Just like many counties like to put jails and other things they do not like on the borders with other counties, Coweta has pulled a major coup here.

They get the money, their neighbor gets the problems.

Also, the state of Georgia could come out a winner if the millions it will pay toward another new road helps bring in more industry to the state.

Do not forget that the Chamber of Commerce can add another victory to its tally.

This never would have happened had Mr. Pace et al not championed the project. And lest we forget the three owners of the development company: Reese, Walker, and Leslie.

It can be argued that the land is now more valuable with TDK and the zoning they will get than the richest oil field in Saudi Arabia. We will feel certain that they ,above all others, got the last laugh as they watched while one elected official after another pontificated about the need to ease traffic by building TDK, while knowing that in the end, TDK would do just the opposite.

Due to personal reasons, I request that my name be withheld from this article.

Name withheld by request