The final results won’t be out for at least another week or two, but there is eager anticipation to see if key Peachtree City projects will be up for consideration for funding by the proposed regional transportation sales tax.
City Manager Jim Pennington, at last week’s City Council meeting, said from what he has seen, the results will be “very positive for Peachtree City.”
“It is not out, and it has not been published, but I think it’s just wise to advise you to be prepared because some things may look pretty good,” Pennington said.
While this is only the first round of regional projects to be produced in the process, it is an important one. That’s because projects have to be on this list to qualify for the funding.
Metro cities and counties have proposed a multitude of projects for the list, and their numbers are being whittled down by the state Director of Transportation Planning.
Once this first list is complete, it will then be forwarded to the 21-member Regional Transportation Roundtable, where a five-member executive committee will compile a second list of projects that it will recommend for approval by the full 21-member roundtable.
Fayette County is represented on the roundtable by County Commission Chairman Herb Frady and Fayetteville Mayor Ken Steele. Neither is on the executive committee, although they have attended executive committee meetings, which like the full roundtable meetings are open to the public.
Projects submitted on behalf of Peachtree City for potential regional sales tax funding include:
• Intersection improvements to Ga. Highway 54 and Commerce Drive;
• A cart path to connect the new Flat Creek bridge with the southern end of the industrial park and also the city’s baseball and soccer complex. A tunnel to serve such a path is being built underneath Hwy. 74 as part of the road-widening project;
• A cart path that would go north from the Flat Creek bridge to connect with the Braelinn Village shopping center on Crosstown Drive;
• The “gateway” bridge over Hwy. 54 West that would connect the southern end of MacDuff Parkway with the Shoppes at the Village Piazza shopping center, and also the Line Creek Nature Area;
• Intersection improvements on Peachtree Parkway to improve the level of service, mitigate accidents and add bike and pedestrian improvements where needed; and
• Intersection improvements along Robinson Road where it intersects with Ga. Highway 54, Crosstown Drive and Redwine Road.
The proposed sales tax will need voter support throughout the 10-county metro Atlanta region if it is to pass next summer, as it will be up for a vote in June 2012.
The rub is that even if the 1 percent tax fails to get a majority vote in Fayette County, it will still be implemented here if it passes the entire 10-county region in the aggregated vote.
