Fayette

County commissioners will not voluntarily give

jurisdiction over the county to the Georgia

Regional Transportation or the Atlanta Regional

Commission, commissioners plan to declare.

"I

don't think we'll ever agree that they're in

charge here," said Commissioner Greg Dunn

this week.

Dunn

has been given the task of drafting responses to

letters from ARC and GRTA asking that the county

comply with the agencies' guidelines in zoning

and land use decisions in public transportation

corridors.

GRTA

also recently wrote the county stating its

intention to "activate jurisdiction over

Fayette County" as part of its directive to

bring the Atlanta region into compliance with

federal clean air standards. State and federal

funds for transportation projects are being

withheld from the region until the federal

Environmental Protection Agency and Department of

Transportation are convinced that a long-range

Regional Transportation Plan, adopted by ARC

earlier this year, will bring the area into

compliance.

Commission

Chairman Harold Bost said the federal and state

agencies are simply trying to overrun local

governments. "In our view, the entire

process of the so-called `clean air

non-attainment' is a methodical, step-by-step

threat on the `home rule' capabilities of local

governments," Bost said in a draft response.

But

commissioners decided not to respond to GRTA's

plan to activate jurisdiction at all. "The

only response they asked for is that we prove

that we're not in the non-attainment area,"

said Dunn. "We can't prove that, because we

are in the non-attainment area. There's just no

reason to respond," he said.

But

the group will respond to ARC's and GRTA's

requests that the county give up its authority in

the public transportation corridors, he added.

In

Fayette, that would mean the corridor of a

planned rapid rail line running from Hartsfield

International Airport through Tyrone and

Peachtree City and on to Senoia.

"Who

knows how wide they're going to interpret that

corridor to be," Dunn said as commissioners

prepared to discuss the matter last week.

Dunn

added that Fayette commissioners are not opposed

to the plan to build rapid rail through Fayette,

and will make planning and zoning decisions in

the corridor responsibly.

"We're

trying not to fight with people," he said,

"but we are not going to be compliant in

giving up the authority that the citizens gave to

us. We will plan the corridor in Fayette County,

not them."

He

added, "We are good, responsible, regional

planners. We certainly have done a better job

planning during the last 30-year growth spurt

than the rest of the region has."

"We

want to do regional planning," agreed

Commissioner Herb Frady. "We've always done

that. But we don't want anyone else demanding to

take over home rule that is granted to us by the

constitution," he added.

Commissioners

also will respond to a letter from ARC asking

that the county commit to $3.9 million for road

projects over the next two years, its share of a

three-year regional Transportation Improvement

Program.

ARC's

figures are wrong, Dunn said, but Fayette has

committed to fund local road projects that are in

the plan, and there's no reason to recommit.

ARC

pegged the widening of Gosa Road, planned for

2002, at $3.6 million, Dunn said, while the

county expects to spend about $400,000.

Regardless,

the project will be done by the county, with

county funds, he said.

On

the other hand, ARC's request for commitment

contains language that the commissioners are not

going to agree to, he said. "We are not

going to sign any letter that says we're going to

raise money by extraordinary means if necessary

to do the projects they've approved," he

said.

Commissioners

said they're concerned that ARC may try to tap

Fayette for projects in other areas of the

region.

"We

are going to affirm that we are going to build

the projects," Dunn said.

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