Avoid

PTC traffic nightmare by restricting more developement

Anne Cowles' article

on Peachtree City in the AJC [Sept. 20] presented a good

look at Peachtree City's past and present. However, if

Peachtree City is to be used as a "concept" for

intelligent growth, we must deliberate on what lies ahead

in the city's future.

The article

stated that many large retail companies avoided Peachtree

City due to insufficient population in the past. At

present, we are reaching our build-out population of

30,000-plus and our neighboring, smaller cities are

growing at a rapid, double digit rate. The large

retailers like Home Depot, Wal-Mart, Staples and

others are now starting to pour into our city limits.

Up to this

point, most of our traffic congestion has come from

employees from other counties going to and from our

industrial and retail areas. I contend that it is the

lack of the large retail outfits that made driving

palatable in Peachtree City.

Mayor Mike

Wheat in neighboring Fayetteville stated in the local

Fayette County newspapers that their traffic problems

stem from 100,000 non-Fayetteville residents entering

their city everyday to shop. Peachtree City will approach

Fayetteville's traffic levels in the near future without

the benefit of being able to widen our two main state

highways unless appropriate action is taken.

Federal

ozone/highway funding regulations, an influx of

industrial employees, large commercial developments and

the increase in traffic lights and developments between

Peachtree City and Interstate 85 could turn the city into

a traffic bog. Daily commute times from Peachtree City to

Atlanta could easily double within the next five to ten

years. If you think that such a prediction is

far-fetched, study what has happened to various cities in

the north metro area.

Peachtree

City's only savior for its future traffic predicament is

for the city council to pass a traffic ordinance which

would not allow any development to proceed if traffic

studies show that the development will have a negative

impact on traffic.

We are now

waiting to see if the council will allow estimated

traffic values from large developments already approved

yet not already built to be added to the traffic baseline

for determining traffic impact.

A developer

has requested being "grandfathered" into the

traffic baseline because of moneys spent on the new Line

Creek Parkway. The Line Creek Parkway simply allows

hundreds (or thousands, depending on the extent of

development) of new automobiles to file onto the terribly

congested Ga. Highway 54 West.

Surprisingly,

Peachtree City officials still have not denounced

annexation plans near Ga. highways 54 and 74 which would

greatly add to our current problems. The Peachtree City

land use plan is up for revision in the year 2000 and

annexation could be part of that revision.

The federal

ozone regulations have forced us to stop taking an

archaic one-development-at-time planning approach. Now,

finally, we must consider the big picture. These

development and traffic issues could be the hot topics of

our next election.

Steve

Brown

[email protected]

Peachtree City

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