The main problems revolving around planning initiatives are people do not see or care about future problems and the uncertainty of what elected decision-makers will actually do in the future.
The truth is that local governments are mandated to have these plans, but there is no such mandate to actually follow them.
Throughout metropolitan Atlanta, government land planning is generally an archaic process that does little to safeguard a community from harm and more to enrich those in real estate development. Similarly, there is no nexus between government land planning and government transportation planning, so traffic concerns are an afterthought, causing great pain down the timeline.
We have elected officials in office locally today who have not kept their campaign promises on annexation outside of their comprehensive plans and who focus more on residential housing than on the development of jobs to meet the needs of our community’s current demographics.
Originally, the land to the west of Ga. Highway 74 in Peachtree City was all going to be corporate or industrial uses. The plan was adhered to for many years and then local elected decision makers allowed things to change, injecting residential development into the mix.
Ga. Highway 54 on the western side of Peachtree City is a disaster. Sadly, it is a self-inflicted disaster.
There was some foresight back in the 1980s Planning Commission denoting the need to pay close attention to the portion of the Hwy. 54 corridor between Hwy. 74 and the Coweta County line. Obviously, the desires of the real estate developers won over the need for responsible traffic management, hence the gridlock.
We have the traffic gridlock there because the elected officials failed to care about the long-term ramifications of their decisions. Keep in mind that it was a host of different elected officials over many years who allowed the planning process to unravel year-after-year, failing the citizens, creating future planning conundrums to be resolved at a huge cost.
The reason Peachtree City has almost no land remaining for constructing the lucrative corporate headquarters type of development that bodes well for jobs and tax revenue is the local elected officials strayed from the plans and dug themselves into a deep hole. With creating that deep hole comes a multitude of painful and expensive problems for the taxpayers.
The city of Fayetteville appears to be heading into the same direction, probably unintentionally, but certainly moving that way.
The Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) is now trying to get Peachtree City to look at a concept called a continuous flow intersection at the intersection of Hwy. 54 and Hwy. 74. This proposal costs less than the proposed grade separation solution that has been part of the local plans for over a decade, but is less likely to be as effective.
The dilemma now is if the city goes with the Continuous Flow Intersection concept and it fails quickly, it will be very difficult and painful to get GDOT to do the planned grade separation in the foreseeable future.
There is also a below the radar push to move forward on the formerly proposed TDK Extension road project just south of the Hwy. 54 and Hwy. 74 intersection. There is no doubt that project would be catastrophic, but there is real estate development money to be made on the land surrounding the proposed route.
Local citizens, you should never count on your elected officials to make decisions in the best interest of community. Sometimes decisions are made in ignorance and other times made out of allegiance to a competing interest, but the results are destructive either way.
Demand accountability on land and transportation planning. Please pay attention and voice your opinions as your community’s future depends on it.
Steve Brown, Commissioner
Fayette County Board of Commissioners
Peachtree City, Ga.
All the bad planning, the current Council and prior, have made it impossible to solve East-West traffic problems.
There simply is no plan that will reduce traffic on 54.
Well now Gplan, let’s not encourage another Brown clown show. He doesn’t really have solutions, this is more a need to feel relevant just like the other worst mayor ever who supplies us with his thoughts on these very pages.
Brown is right about one thing. The area west of that intersection is that way because it was developed different than it was planned. Corporate and industrial was the plan. Commercial and high density residential is the reality. Even Brown will be shocked to learn that this departure from the plan did not start under the trio of one-term mayors (of which he is one) or even their 10-year predecessor, Bob Lenox. Instead it started under the leadership of Mayor Fred “the real mayor” Brown.
Yep, the departure from the plan was when Planterra Ridge was approved. Developer and landowner (Equitable) were running out of residential land and there was too much industrial land and not much demand, so everybody got on board. It is noteworthy that it was at this same time that the city and developer agreed on fairly substantial impact fees on residential development to sweeten the offering. Impact fees are taxation imposed upon future residents with no political accountability. Once those decisions were made, other (non-Equitable) landowners used Planterra as a precedent and it was Katie bar the door. Of course that’s just an expression and Katie sure didn’t bar the door, but apartments were built on commercial land using a loophole that has since been closed, MacDuff was built as a development road and Home Depot and WalMart were welcomed with open arms.
I could be mean and say something about if Planterra wasn’t built then Steve Brown would not have moved there, but I won’t. Besides, who really knows.
The author had his chance and he failed, just like everyone before him and everyone after him. Brown needs to put up or shut up and run for Mayor, again and implement all of those great ideas he has for saving PTC from itself; and solving the nightmare of a disaster that is and will forever be, 74/54.