Wednesday, January 31, 2001
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Wednesday, January 31, 2001 |
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Sewer request likely to be rebuffed By DAVE
HAMRICK
Fayette County is receiving yet another request for sewerage along the county's northern border. An engineer for a site on the southwest corner of Ga. highways 138 and 314 has written to the county Board of Commissioners asking for permission to extend sewerage from Clayton County's system. A gas station/restaurant facility is planned for the site, which is already zoned for that purpose, says William Hamilton, project manager for Willis Oil Company. It's the third such request in recent years, and not likely to be approved. Commissioners recently turned down a similar request from Chariots of Fire Ministry after the ministry's septic system failed, and the county Water Committee has recommended that this request be turned down as well. Chariots of Fire took the county to court, but the county prevailed. A request from Our Lady of Victory Catholic School nearby was approved based on a tightly worded contract aimed at preventing any further extension of the sewer line. But that was then, and this is now. Current members of the board are more conservative than those who approved the school's request. Conflicts and confusion over services available in the area are the natural result of adjoining counties with markedly different attitudes toward development. Clayton County, on the north side of Hwy. 138, provides sewerage to the businesses and high density neighborhoods along its side of the highway, whereas Fayette provides no sewer service anywhere in the county, precisely to discourage higher density development. In an area inundated with rock and poor soils, property owners on the Fayette side of the road see the existence of Clayton's sewer lines, often just feet from their property lines, as the solution to their problems. But Fayette leaders fear a domino effect. Once extended into the county, Clayton's lines could easily be extended farther and farther south, bringing increased pressure for heavy development, they say. Commissioners will consider Willis Oil Company's request but are likely to turn it down. "This property ... could be handled by on-site septic," says the project manager's letter. "However, with restaurant facilities pretreatment would be required prior to land treatment (septic system). As noted these are individual treatment systems and are not desirable when connection to a regional treatment facility is available." But whether those facilities are "available" is a matter of interpretation.
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