Taking into account how bad

our current traffic is, this point needs some serious

consideration. Unfortunately, a majority of our

population is not aware of the magnitude of the projects

that have been already approved within our city limits.

I greatly admire developer

Tom Cousins and I believe he is a valuable asset to the

metro Atlanta area. However, his project alone has the

ability to lure an excessive number of commercial

shoppers from outside of the city. Add in the other

massive big-box projects along with the new homes and

apartments and the future Department of Transportation

Hwy. 54 widening plan is just not enough. The land to the

west absolutely has to be the lowest possible density for

the sake of those living in Peachtree City and Tyrone.

The one annexation topic

that I am surprised has not captured more attention is

the future commuter train station in Peachtree City. When

looking at a map of Peachtree City, the only logical

place to put a station is along the tracks in the

"West Village" area.

An Atlanta Regional

Commission (ARC) representative told me that some beta

sites existed and that the ARC had compiled data for the

specific sites. Curious about the Peachtree City station

location, I contacted the ARC's Ms. Monica Long who is

handling the rail plan. My question was simple -

Where is the proposed station location? Ms. Long's e-mail

reply gave me a great deal of information regarding

everything but the location of the station. Why?

Did you know that the

latest planning trend is to build high-density housing

around commuter trains stations? High-density apartment

units are surrounding one of the newest MARTA stations

along Ga. Highway 400 (north of I-285). In addition,

MARTA is clashing with Buckhead homeowners about plans to

build high-density apartments adjacent to the Lindbergh

rail station.

I introduced the thought of

a commuter rail station and its aptness to produce more

local traffic to one of our city council members. The

council member stated that the ARC did not have the

funding for the project and that it was not an immediate

concern. I contended that the ARC is dead and that

Governor Barnes' Georgia Regional Transportation

Authority (GRTA) is the one that will move on this

project. Remember that we already have the rail line and

that all that is missing is the station.

The ARC is a do-nothing

body run by the Gwinnett County Commission chairman,

Wayne Hill (dubbed the "Sprawl King" by the

AJC). So shoddy was the ARC's performance that its

director, Harry West, told the ARC's 39-member board that

if they could not put the best interests of the region

above those of their individual counties, "maybe you

need to move out of the way and let somebody else do

it" (March 31, AJC). That somebody else is now GRTA

and they are coming up with the cash and propelling

forward.

The new strategy that GRTA

will either approve or reject sometime after a May 1,

2000, public hearing includes spending $20 billion on

transit facilities. Included in this plan are some

fast-track initiatives that would spend $1.9 billion over

the next three years.

At this juncture, I am not

asserting whether or not a commuter rail station is a

good thing. My point is simply that such a station and

the traffic draw from Peachtree City and beyond needs to

definitely be considered in our analysis of the

annexation question.

Instead of having Jerry

Peterson of Pathway Communities devising a rating system

for annexation from a planner's perspective, he ought to

be requesting the year 2000 state-mandated reexamination

of our comprehensive land use plan. As a planner, Mr.

Peterson knows that the updated comprehensive plan is of

the utmost importance in deciding whether the city could

sustain the burden of annexation either logistically or

financially.

Steve Brown

Peachtree City

[email protected]