According to the survey,

people in Fayette are looking for ways to control growth.

An overwhelming number of the survey respondents stated

that they appreciated the existing quality of life in

Fayette County and felt that growth should be curbed.

How will annexation and

further large-scale development affect our quality of

life? The problem might be that we have not adequately

defined "quality of life." The same is true of

the term "smart growth" where multiple

definitions abound.

The closest official

Peachtree City documents that I can find regarding the

city's expectations pertaining to quality of life is the

Code of Ordinances of the City of Peachtree City,

Appendix A - Zoning, Article III; Appendix B -

Land Development Ordinance, Article I, Section 102 and

Appendix B, Article XI, Section 1101. You can access

these documents through the city web site

(www.peachtree-city.org).

The ordinances address such

topics as "promote the health, safety, convenience,

order, prosperity and general welfare of the present and

future inhabitants of the city - to protect the

population from the danger and inconvenience of traffic

congestion; to prevent overcrowding of the land and the

undue concentration of population - to regulate with

reasonable consideration the character of existing and

future uses of the land in order to promote desirable

living conditions and neighborhood stability, protect

property against blight and depreciation."

So we have 72 percent of

Fayette citizens urging restricted growth and city

ordinances urging health, safety, protection from traffic

congestion, overcrowding of the land, facilitating the

adequate provision of schools, promotion of desirable

living conditions and protection of our environment.

Thus far, Mayor Bob Lenox's

response has been to vote in favor of the ARC plan

promoting commuter rail and higher density for our

county.

It must be noted that this

ARC plan is liable to take control out of the hands our

local government - that was Cobb County Commission

Chairman Bill Byrne's objection to the plan.

Peachtree City was one of

the first municipalities in the metro area to send in a

letter of agreement for city funding of the ARC programs.

In his letter to the ARC Lenox stated, "As an

implementing jurisdiction, we agree to research and

develop innovative funding mechanisms to pay the local

share requirements for our projects in the first two

fiscal years of the TIP [Transportation Improvement

Program], FY 2001 and FY 2002, if problems arise when

attempting to implement these projects."

Most people are probably

unaware of the fact that Doug Mitchell, one of the

highest-ranking persons at Pathway Communities, is one of

Fayette's four voting participants in the ARC. The same

corporation with current lawsuits against Peachtree City

and Fayette County over ordinances and rulings promoting

quality growth with a reduced burden on the citizenry is

also representing our "best interest" with the

Atlanta Regional Commission.

Now we discover that it is

in our best interest to have state-mandated high-density

zoning. Interesting to note that Mitchell's Pathway

Communities is also the major party behind the proposed

high-density Plan A in the annexation discussions.

Mayor Lenox used the school

site argument to get the annexation moratorium dropped

but now there is a problem. It appears that Annexation

Plan A (1,592 homes, 100 assisted living units and

150,000 sq. ft. of retail space) would require yet

another school site and facility because of the sizable

population increase. Lenox has now abandoned the school

system in his projections because it would make Plan A

appear financially unattractive.

Leaving the school system

to bite yet another developmental bullet, "Lenox

felt that it ultimately fell to the school board to meet

the growth needs of the county, which was historically

1,200 homes per year." Next, "He said he was

empathetic to the school board's problem, but they had to

determine how to keep up" (West Village Annexation

Task Force minutes, May 22).

There is a visible reminder

of how our school board is being forced to keep up with

such growth - little white trailers, lots of them.

The irony in all of this is

that Mayor Lenox was the author of the now forgotten

Growth Manifesto. Do you remember the countywide push to

control growth and stabilize development annually in

order to ease the burden on our infrastructure and

schools?

Annexation Task Force

member Todd Strickland is making a valiant effort towards

getting our city to think outside our current

developmental box. Our city zoning is, for the most part,

not very innovative stuff. There is so much more that we

could be doing with our zoning to enhance our city and

our property values.

Strickland brought in

renowned planner Peter Katz to the task force meeting on

May 31. Katz stated, "So many examples of what we

see in high density are awful." He urged that we

consider different concepts other than our traditional

Peachtree City style of development. I found a great deal

of wisdom in his words regarding quality of life

intertwined with development when he said, "Find a

street you like and replicate it. Find one you hate and

make sure the rules are written so that it doesn't happen

again."

So many times we beat

ourselves over our heads with our own ordinances. Just

because a particular land use zoning has been in the same

form for 50 years does not mean that it cannot be changed

or rewritten for our current circumstances. It will take

a creative approach to allow density beyond the current

county zoning.

Katz worried that most of

our (this also applies to Tyrone) traffic is dependent on

the arterial highways 54 and 74. He stated that traffic

engineers designed our traffic patterns and that their

methods had never been fully tested.

We now know that at a

certain stage in a suburban city's development the

traffic situation goes into a meltdown that causes us to

constantly have to widen the highways. Katz stated that

studies show that each lane added is not as efficient as

the previous lane and that it is better to have a larger

series of two-lane roads.

After driving through

Peachtree City for a day, Katz concluded, "I'm

really worried about Hwy. 74 [north corridor]. My biggest

impression of your town was Hwy. 74. From the standpoint

of image and identity that [Hwy. 74 North corridor] makes

a very strong impression that defines the identity of the

town for a lot of people."

He went on to add, "If

something awful happened out there [a poor quality

development] it can really bring down the image of the

town." It is important to note that the Peachtree

City Planning Commission is currently in the process

reviewing the Comprehensive Land Use Plan as mandated by

the state. Hopefully, the appropriate changes will occur.

The one item that I believe

the city is missing is developmental involvement with

Tyrone. The development and land use connections are

extremely obvious in that the cities are adjacent to one

another and that we share the same arterial highway. The

people from Tyrone are not the enemy and we should

consider taking a regional planning approach with the two

cities. We must remember that Peachtree City is close to

build-out in residential zoning but not

commercial, industrial and other uses.

Why not include Tyrone in

the annexation discussions? Why not create some land use

zoning that creates some consistency between both cities?

We are both drastically affected by the new

ARC/GRTA-mandated plan. Why not forge a relationship that

creates a situation where property owners obtain a high

asking price and developers have guidelines that promote

a commercial, social and environmental balance?

A gentleman from Tyrone

spoke to me about an interesting concept of creating a

Peachtree City/Tyrone School System by using the existing

schools in our city limits and building others. In the

midst of all the discussions regarding funds being

appropriated fairly and control over the quality of

educational facilities, this idea could prove to be quite

attractive. Working in concert with one another is not a

bad thing.

A good resource on growth

is the Horizon Section of the AJC and the Atlanta

Business Chronicle (www.bizjournals.com/atlanta) May

5-11, 2000 issue. The newspapers are available at the

library. If you use their web site use the keywords

"smart growth" or "sprawl." While you

are on the web take a look at these sites as well:

www.sprawl-busters.com;

www.savepeachtreecity.homestead.com;

https://spoiledpeachtreecity.homepage.com (humorous).

A book that I have found

very helpful is "Towns and Town-Making

Principles" by the Harvard University Graduate

School of Design. It can be purchased through Amazon.com.

In addition, I videotaped the May 31 Annexation Task

Force presentation on design concepts. I can send you a

copy for cost of the blank tape and postage. An informed

electorate is the best weapon against "government by

association."

Steve Brown

Peachtree City

[email protected]