It was wonderful to read in recent editions of The Citizen about the joint move by Fayette County elected officials, school students and school staff to speed up development of a golf cart path for the three-school Starr’s Mill complex just outside Peachtree City’s southern limits. A news story in the Sept. 10 edition described the project in some detail, and a more recent report told of the Fayette County Board of Education being briefed about the matter.
A key factor in this plan is that it calls for connections to Peachtree City’s storied (nearly 100 miles) of golf cart trails. Obviously all involved in this project — including two high school student interns, the county school superintendent, Board of Education, county sheriff, and the Fayette County Commission chairman — agree that it makes no sense to build a sizable golf cart system of paths and parking lots without linking it to a similar neighboring transportation system.
The Citizen story is silent as to whether Peachtree City authorities have been officially informed of this pending move. Surely it is no surprise considering the ongoing discussions about golf cart path connectivity involving the municipality, unincorporated Fayette County, and even Senoia.
Just think about it: A project which will significantly open accessibility to and from Peachtree will be built right in this south metro neighborhood. The map shows that the Starrs Mill complex is only 1.5 miles driving distance from the Somerby of Peachtree City campus. This fact alone has great implications for improved transportation, wider business growth, and a boost in the area’s quality of life.
Therefore, it is again time to ask: What, if anything, is being done about the long-promised golf path connection to the Somerby assisted-living facility (on the brink of expansion) and its neighbors along Rockaway Road south of Ga. Highway 74?
To reiterate what has been said time and again, it is astonishing that Somerby’s owners planned and constructed a facility in a well-known golf cart community without providing for covered golf cart parking or dedicated electrical hookups — even while touting the Peachtree City lifestyle as a currently available benefit.
Fortunately, a planned route for this connection, depicted on the official Peachtree City website, includes a tunnel under Hwy. 74, financed by Somerby and already built. Two of us have golf carts parked here, which we keep charged up using existing power taps on the building’s exterior. We brought them when we moved in (having to hire someone to haul them by trailer after the Peachtree City police refused to provide an escort just to cross Hwy. 74.) Meanwhile, the two carts are exposed to ultraviolet rays from the sun as well as to rain and occasional high winds.
The only way we can use these vehicles now is for sightseeing trips around the perimeter of the single building, with occasional forays out the back road to gaze longingly across the highway at the temptations of the Wilshire shopping center. And we know of other residents and some staff members who either have golf carts or would purchase them if only Somerby were not an island legally to us accessible only on foot or by car, truck or the Somerby van.
On a recent visit to our island, Peachtree City Mayor Vanessa Fleisch said that a delay by the planning and engineering staff in obtaining right-of-way is the main holdup to completing the golf cart trail connection. But she offered no target date as to when that problem might be resolved. Let’s hope that the mayor, council members, the city manager and planners, along with any other appropriate officials, at least have read news accounts of the Starrs Mill project plans if they have not been formally told about it.
Before Somerby finally becomes in reality a part of the Peachtree City golf cart community, it is not unreasonable to ask that the city police set scheduled times to direct golf cart traffic across Hwy. 74 near the Rockaway Road intersection, using existing crossing paths and timed signal lights to permit residents and staff to access nearby businesses and neighborhoods.
If police can facilitate street crossings at schools, they should be able to do so in this instance. It would be an economic, safe and efficient way to eliminate the current “trapped” feeling of those who are like inmates gazing longingly at the Promised Land.
Somerby now has nearly 80 residents with new arrivals steadily adding to that number. They, plus numerous staff employees, work, pay taxes and vote in Peachtree City. They should not continue to be marooned on an island without full access to the city’s infrastructure. Our city officials should not forget their obligation to them. Let’s see some action on golf cart accessibility.
Lois M. Speaker, Ph.D.
Joe T. Gilliland
(and other signatures)
Peachtree City, Ga.
