Move would restore project to regional tax list
Peachtree City is hoping to slip the extension of MacDuff Parkway back onto a list for funding via a potential regional sales tax.
The project is seen as a potential bypass around the intersection of Ga. highways 54 and 74 for residents living off MacDuff Parkway, and potentially for commuters going through Peachtree City into western Coweta County. The road would be extended from its current terminus northward, with a bridge over the CSX railroad, to link with Old Senoia Road and ultimately Ga. Highway 74 north.
Time is short to restore the road extension to the list, which is slated to be finalized by Oct. 15 by the metro Atlanta Regional Transportation Roundtable. The sales tax vote is slated for the July 2012 primary.
To accommodate the MacDuff extension, roundtable member and Fayetteville Mayor Ken Steele has offered to remove funding for a large-scale project in his city that would combine Ga. Highway 92 and Hood Avenue. That $6.4 million project is already slated for funding from the county’s 2003 transportation sales tax.
Even with the removal of the Fayetteville project, the MacDuff extension will still be short $810,000, and perhaps more because the current cost estimate is based on 2007 figures, officials said. Asphalt prices have increased significantly since the initial estimated cost of $7.2 million was compiled, the city council was told Thursday night.
The $810,000 shortfall can easily be made up by a projected $10 million Peachtree City is projected to receive for local transportation projects should the regional tax be approved by voters, officials said
Mayor Don Haddix said he preferred not to do that, but as Councilwoman Vanessa Fleisch pointed out, “the city doesn’t have $810,000 lying around somewhere.”
The MacDuff extension was initially slated to be built by two developers who planned to build more than 1,000 homes in the recently annexed area. However, the economy has put those projects on hold, and a lawsuit challenging the annexation could potentially gum up the works as well.
That lawsuit, filed by Kedron resident David Worley, is pending on an appeal to the Georgia Supreme Court.
At Thursday’s meeting, Mayor Haddix complained about the large amount of projects that would be funded in the Fayetteville area compared to the two path projects approved for Peachtree City.
Already on the list for funding in Peachtree City are two large-scale cart path projects on the city’s southside. One will extend from the new Flat Creek path bridge northward toward Crosstown Road. In doing so it will pass a number of businesses in the industrial park including Hoshizaki, Gerresheimer, Panasonic and more.
The second path project will extend east from the Flat Creek path bridge, crossing underneath Ga. Highway 74 at a tunnel that is being built with the road widening. From there, the path will go south toward the city’s Baseball and Soccer Complex and also north toward more businesses in the industrial park, including the new Sany campus, Cooper Lighting and more.
Council’s debate on the MacDuff extension Thursday night was not about whether it was a good idea. Instead, it was about the specific language of the resolution.
In the end, council agreed to trust Steele would pursue the matter, rather than specifically spell it out in the resolution of support for restoring the MacDuff extension to the regional transportation list.
It was noted that the reason the MacDuff extension is even being considered for restoration on the funding list is because of the request from RTR representatives Steele and Herb Frady, who is also the chairman of the county commission.
The conversation among council got testy at times, as Mayor Haddix incorrectly asserted that Peachtree City stood to lose one of the two remaining path projects to make up the funding necessary for the MacDuff extension.
That is not the case, said City Manager Jim Pennington.
Haddix noted, however, that until the full list is approved by the 21-member Regional Transportation Roundtable, nothing is set in stone. On that, Haddix and his fellow council members could agree.
