The Coweta

County Commission is in favor of joining with local

cities to form a comprehensive land use plan, but said it

should have started years ago.

The

commission reacted sharply Tuesday to a call by the

Newnan City Council for all government agencies to start

a community-wide planning process.

Commissioner

Lawrence Nelms said it would have been instructive to

have a county-wide plan when the city of Newnan approved

two huge Pathway Communities developments that will put

thousands more cars on the county's roads.

"This

planning should have started three years ago," he

said.

Commission

Chairman Vernon "Mutt" Hunter agreed with Nelms

and said the county has had plans in place for years and

is far more restrictive than the cities.

"We've

had 1.6-acre minimum lot size and we've stuck with

that," he said.

Hunter

recounted the turmoil the county faced when it changed

its lot size to 1.6 from eight-tenths of an acre.

"We've

been planning for years, but I'm all for coming

together," he said.

Hunter also

got in a jab at the Newnan City Council, who decided to

start a comprehensive plan at its recent retreat.

"We do

all our talking right here in the sunshine. We don't have

to go somewhere to make a decision," he said.

Commissioner

Jim McGuffey agreed with Hunter and said the county's

explosive growth is making for more difficult planning

decisions.

"We've

got to stay our course. Somebody is going to have to make

hard decisions," he said.

Commissioners

agreed to attend the first round of comprehensive

planning March 22 at 7 p.m. at the Newnan-Coweta Chamber

of Commerce.