Residents in the Crabapple

Lane area on the Tyrone-Peachtree City border are

threatened with having a fenced power substation as a

neighbor, with 90-foot steel utility poles marching

outward from the facility.

Georgia Power Company has

informed the residents that it plans to build a

substation at Crabapple and Ga. Highway 74. The massive

utility poles would carry 115 KV of electrical power

through the residents' front yards, according to Rita

Cole, spokesman for a group of residents who are trying

to halt the construction.

"Our quality of life

is being jeopardized," Cole told the City Council of

Peachtree City recently as the group pleaded for any help

the city might be able to give.

Condemnation proceedings

have begun in the Fayette County Superior Court, as

Georgia Power takes steps to acquire the necessary

right-of-way for the power lines.

City Council heard the

group's cry and informed them that, while the city cannot

legally stop Georgia Power from doing what it wants to

do, it can offer an official gesture of support for the

residents as they seek help from the state.

The council voted to send a

letter to Georgia Power and the Georgia Public Service

Commission asking for a delay in the project so that an

independent consultant hired by the residents can look at

the situation and thoroughly investigate possible

alternate sites for the substation.

Cole a 26-year resident of

Peachtree City, said at the council meeting that it would

make much more sense to build the substation at the other

end of Crabapple Lane, across Senoia Road in the Shamrock

Industrial Park.

She has already shared her

views with the PSC, the only body that can regulate what

Georgia Power can and cannot do in this situation.

The utility has the right

under the law of eminent domain to acquire whatever

property it feels is necessary to maintain service, Cole

said. She added, however, that "eminent danger"

could just as well describe Georgia Power's unique

influence.

"Georgia Power has a

responsibility to the public," she said.

"Eminent domain should not be a runaway train."

Georgia Power has said that

this move is necessary to prevent power outages in the

area in the coming years. If the need is so critical,

Cole wondered aloud why this substation has not been

built before now.

The possibility of health

risks from living so close to power lines was mentioned

several times. One of the speakers was a woman who is a

cancer survivor; she and her husband just closed on their

house Dec. 29.

Cole asked the council

about the zoning situation and how the city can enforce

the current zoning when something like this comes up.

City development director

Jim Williams reported that the land in question for the

substation is zoned A-R (agricultural-residential) and

the project is permitted in that category.

City attorney Rick Lindsey

pointed out that the city has no legal ground to regulate

Georgia Power, but he encouraged the group to continue on

its present course and work through the PSC for best

results.

Cole said that there are

other sites for the substation that would be better than

what has been chosen, and the residents want to make

certain that all possibilities have been exhausted,

including the official designation of Crabapple Lane as a

scenic road.

"We don't want to

leave any door closed," she said. "You only

really fight for something when you're close to losing

it."

Officials from

Coweta-Fayette EMC have spoken with residents, Cole said,

and they have been very helpful. Each utility has

specific areas of service that the other does not

encroach upon.

Coweta-Fayette EMC, which

supplies power to much of the area, does not have an

urgent need, and the company claims to have a five-year

plan in place that is working well, Cole said.

The residents already have

the name of a potential consultant to work for them. The

Governor's Office of Consumer Affairs, directed by Jim

Hunt, also is being kept in the loop as the situation

matures.

Councilman Dan Tennant

commended the residents for "not going down without

a fight." He added that he would like to hear the

official reasons Georgia Power has for not building in

the industrial park.

Residents contend that the

utility is simply routing through the neighborhood as a

money-saving move. Cole suggested that it could also be a

strategic plan to position Georgia Power for future

commercial business as the region continues to grow.

But Lindsey cautioned

everyone that Georgia Power must justify every expense to

its shareholders across the state, and customers with a

lower level of service in other areas would not look

kindly on a large added expense levied just to satisfy a

few people in Peachtree City.

Mayor Pro Tempore Annie

McMenamin said the council would be remiss if it did not

write a letter to the PSC and to Georgia Power to help

delay the process long enough for some questions to be

answered.

She made a motion to that

effect, which was seconded by Carol Fritz and passed 4-0

(Robert Brooks was absent).

City manager Jim Basinger

said that the letter would be drafted the next morning

and could be in the hands of the PSC by that afternoon

after Lindsey and the council checked it over.