Mayor Steele, architects, developers, and other county officials have painted a very pretty picture with the West Fayetteville Neighborhoods’ West Bypass development. In fact, it reminds me of Disney World. They have packed an entire city into 2,000 acres.
That is known as a “high density” development.
Everything looks great on the surface, but when you strip away the shiny new candy coating what lies beneath?
The Waterlace community was also a developer’s dream. However, it now sits overgrown with weeds.
Due to the depressed economy old storefronts and restaurants in Fayetteville sit empty.
We also have many new shopping and business areas in Fayetteville that are completely or half empty.
So we have a case of out with the old and in with the new. The problem is, however, that our economy can’t support the old or the new.
Mayor Ken Steele and other county officials have spent a whole lot of time and taxpayers’ money in an effort to expand the city limits with these sorts of developments.
I find it interesting that Mayor Steele began his political career based on an anti-annexation platform. I guess after 20 years in office, his priorities have changed.
Mayor Steele pulled out the plans for the shiny new West Fayetteville Neighborhoods’ Bypass development just before folks go to the polls in his current bid for re-election while ignoring the huge number of rundown, vacant or unused areas that are all over the city.
Why expend such a huge effort for new when there is decay that should be fixed?
Mayor Steele’s priority is helping adjacent wealthy property owners/developers, and the average citizen and small business owner is left to deal with the economy.
The last time I looked, former Commission Chairman Jack Smith had a seat on the Board of Directors for the Bank of Georgia. The bank’s president said that they cater loans to developers and builders in the area. I suppose Jack would very likely recommend the West Fayetteville Neighborhoods’ developers for loan approval.
Jack said that the West Fayetteville Bypass was not a developer’s road. It was supposed to alleviate traffic in downtown Fayetteville. Apparently Jack and many other public officials lied because the new West Fayetteville Neighborhoods’ Bypass development will do nothing but increase traffic.
The overall development concept has been under study for many years by the Atlanta Regional Commission, the North Georgia Water District, Mayor Steele, many former and current county commissioners, developers, and property owners.
Surely Mayor Steele, the commissioners, the Downtown Development Authority, and the Fayette County Development Authority have addressed the down and dirty aspects of this plan. Even if they haven’t solved the problematic aspects, they won’t have to worry about it. The taxpayers will have to pay for the problems.
The question is, can the City of Fayetteville supply service to that many new homes without expansion of the sewage treatment system?
Ginger Cake Creek is already extremely compromised by the current sewage treatment system. Approximately a hundred yards downstream from where treated sewage water is dumped and flows into Whitewater Creek there is a designated “Critical Habitat” for endangered species.
Whitewater Creek is also the source for Fayetteville’s drinking water.
Remember folks, Disney World isn’t real. It is there for profit. Developers don’t build beautiful hamlets for any other reason.
I once sat in a commission meeting where Commission Chairman Frady was discussing paving one of the county’s few remaining dirt roads. He said that he had received a call from a developer who said that if the county would pave the road, the developer would develop the land. The taxpayers of Fayette County are now paving that road.
This is the bottom line. Through a series of lies by a series of public officials, the taxpayers of Fayette County are being forced to relinquish their land and pay for construction of the West Fayetteville Bypass.
While our public officials have been manipulating the system and taxpayers, they have also been negotiating and planning with old Fayette landowners who are also developers to build a high density city that will be annexed into the city of Fayetteville.
It should be noted that the oh so shiny and new West Fayetteville Neighborhoods’ Bypass development wasn’t disclosed to the public until three weeks before voters go to the polls.
If the bright new development had nothing to do with the West Bypass, why was it kept a closely guarded secret?
Why did Commissioner Lee Hearn deny that his cousin Addison Lester would benefit from the construction of the West Bypass?
The Lester Hamlet is part of the West Fayetteville Neighborhoods and will be constructed on property owned by the Lester family. Addison Lester sits on the board of the Downtown Development Authority.
Commissioner Hearn along with Chairman Frady and Vice Chairman Horgan granted Mr. Lester power to preside over all Fayette elections. He also has developmental powers with his position on Mayor Steele’s Downtown Development Authority.
If the West Fayetteville Neighborhoods’ Bypass development comes to fruition, the developers/property owners will profit greatly. The citizens of Fayetteville and Fayette County, however, will be forced to pay for the supportive infrastructure required by the development.
Ginga Smithfield
Fayetteville, Ga.
[The letter writer has property affected by the bypass she mentions.]
