The

county's largest developer is suing Fayette's

largest city in a traffic dispute - a big

traffic dispute.

Pathway

Communities, Inc., once known as Peachtree City

Development Corp., charges that a newly enacted

Peachtree City ordinance meant to control

mounting traffic volumes on the city's west side

infringes illegally on Pathway's rights as a

property owner in that area.

Roughly

12 hours after its adoption last Thursday night,

the revised Peachtree City traffic impact

ordinance received its first official court

challenge.

Pathway

and Peachtree City Holdings LLC filed a lawsuit

Friday morning in Fayette County Superior Court

against the city, Mayor Bob Lenox, and the four

City Council members - Robert Brooks, Carol

Fritz, Annie McMenamin and Jim Pace - that

"challenges the legality and

constitutionality" of the ordinance,

according to official court records.

Attorney

George Rosenzsweig, who represents the plaintiffs

in the suit, stated in court records that the

city was placed on notice each time the traffic

ordinance was considered for a vote. He wants the

court to declare the ordinance unconstitutional

and invalid, and prohibit the city from enforcing

it.

The

ordinance was originally adopted Oct. 7 with a

4-1 vote (Pace voting against) and a revised

version passed last Thursday with a 4-0 vote

(Pace abstained).

The

ordinance sets specific guidelines for those

bringing new development to Peachtree City,

requiring traffic studies for any proposed

development along the Ga. Highway 54 corridor

between Ga. Highway 74 and the Coweta County

line. Developers could then face certain

mitigation requirements before permits are

issued. That might mean scaling back a planned

development or even delaying it until more road

capacity is built. Currently, all of Fayette is

under a federal clean air ban on building any new

or expanded state and federal roads.

The

council action is an attempt to stem the rising

tide of traffic congestion in the corridor, since

federal environmental concerns have stopped any

new road improvements for an indefinite period of

time.

Rosenzsweig,

who stated his opposition for the record at a

public hearing concerning the ordinance, charges

in the lawsuit that the ordinance constitutes the

taking of property without just compensation, in

violation of the Fifth Amendment, as well as the

taking of property without due process of law and

a lack of equal protection under the law, in

violation of the Fourteenth Amendment.

Pathway

is the renamed major developer of Peachtree City,

and in the past two decades has been responsible

for planning much of the 15,000-acre city and

naming most of its streets and subdivisions. With

the city nearing build-out and with relatively

little residential property as yet undeveloped,

Pathway has expanded its large-development

expertise to Coweta and Henry counties, where it

currently has big residential projects underway.

Peachtree

City officials have not commented on the suit,

currently under review.

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