I would never lie to you by saying that local governments are agile decision-making organizations capable of keeping up with the latest demands on our communities through thoughtful study and deliberation. Instead, most are generally reactive in nature.
The most significant problem with the reactionary arrangement is the fragmented, at times incoherent, outcomes. The consequences to the community can be extremely painful.
Add the private sector’s ability to reap greater profits off of government decisions related to zonings, annexations and enhanced contracts to an already disorganized and disconnected system, and you have a recipe for tragedy.
That fact that Fayette County did not have an interstate highway running through it was seen in the early days as an obstacle to progress, but it was actually our saving grace. While the other counties were ramping up the development growth at a rapid pace, Fayette managed to remain steady and grow at a pace that almost kept up with our ability to expand our infrastructure.
Many of the other metro counties grew to the point of developmental obesity. Their early positives cited from the rapid growth period became destructive negatives over time, resulting in an exodus of some of their most productive citizens.
We almost drowned under a flood of land development at the beginning of the new millennium with foolish speculation, insider banking and reactionary governance. Just as what the lack of an interstate did for us in the earlier days, the real estate speculation crash also, albeit painfully, saved Fayette from being packed with houses from stem to stern.
So today, I am hoping that our disjointed collection of local governments will take a deep breath and assess what a proper course of action might be based on the current needs of our citizens and what we are reasonably able to handle in future years without a significant reduction in our quality of life.
There is an agenda item on the Aug. 11 Board of Commissioners meeting agenda asking that we take a deep breath and begin the process of proceeding to create a 150-day moratorium on rezoning residential property. This would give us a chance to assess the options to insure we move in a direction that serves the county in the long run.
If we built the number of houses allowed on land as currently zoned, our infrastructure would fail. Imagine what would happen if the zoning densities were increased across the board.
Local government decision-makers and planning commissioners have a tendency to take a piecemeal approach and say a particular increase in zoning on a specific piece a land would not be harmful, but what if every piece of adjacent land also increased its density by the same measure? We have to start taking a look at the cumulative effect of those individual decisions.
How much developmental pressure can we sustain in the center of the county? Likewise, what happens when traffic begins to bog down on Ga. Highway 54 between Fayetteville and Peachtree City?
Fayetteville has annexed a significant amount of land in the center of the county. The first residential project there will have around 1,250 housing units on less than 250 acres along with 275,000 square feet of office and retail. We could easily have 6,000 people or more on that site daily.
So what is the plan? Are the other sections of land in the center of the county going to also be radically changed to higher density uses? How exactly will that be accommodated on the two-lane road system in place? How will they get to the interstate highway?
What is the real value of significantly increasing residential density?
How important is traffic flow and greenspace to the quality of life in Fayette County?
Are we factoring in traffic from other counties traveling through Fayette to reach a destination?
What is the ceiling number on population and automobile traffic upon which a county without immediate access to an interstate highway begins to over-congest its local road network?
What are the annexation plans for the municipalities and how will those annexations affect current plans from all jurisdictions?
We do not have answers to any of those questions. We have been reacting to individual development proposals in a piecemeal fashion.
I hope you will voice your support to begin the process of proceeding to create a 150-day moratorium on rezoning residential property and let’s make a serious assessment of our concerted land planning efforts and our future quality of life. Let’s insure that we make logical zoning decisions.
Steve Brown, Commissioner
Fayette County Board of Commissioners
Peachtree City, Ga.
