Tensions

between Fayette County's government and the

Georgia Regional Transportation Authority are

eased somewhat following a meeting last week

between two local commissioners and GRTA Chairman

Joel Cowan.

"He

understands we're not going to voluntarily give

up the commission's authority over zoning and

land use matters, and he told us GRTA has no

intentions of coming in and taking over those

things," County Commission Chairman Harold

Bost told The Citizen following a 2.5-hour

meeting with Cowan and Commissioner Greg Dunn.

"We

will make no effort to come in and try to

individually zone parcels," Cowan confirmed.

Commissioners

expressed concern when GRTA and the Atlanta

Regional Commission asked them to sign form

letters promising to establish land use policies

that would support the 20-year Regional

Transportation Plan and three-year Transportation

Improvement Plan being backed by both agencies,

and to sign form letters promising to provide

local matching funds to complete the

transportation projects.

Instead

of signing the form letters, commissioners worded

their own letters promising to help fund any

local projects, but declaring the county's

autonomy on land use and zoning matters.

GRTA,

established last year by the state legislature to

oversee transportation planning in the area

around Atlanta, was given a mandate to make sure

future transportation improvements help the area

comply with federal air quality standards.

Federal

agencies have been withholding funds for

transportation projects for two years, saying the

region's air quality doesn't meet standards

established by the federal Environmental

Protection Agency.

ARC

last year drafted and earlier this year adopted

new transportation plans calling for a major

shift in funding, away from road projects and

toward mass transit and other alternatives, and

declared that the new plans would bring the area

into air quality compliance.

GRTA

has put its stamp of approval on those plans and

submitted them to federal agencies.

But

similar plans in the past have been ignored, said

Cowan, and local governments have funneled their

efforts into road building instead of developing

alternatives.

"Somebody

has to step up and say, `We'll see that the ARC

plan is carried out.' Somehow [in the past] local

governments can't come with the matching funds

for transit projects, but they can come up with

funds for the road projects," Cowan said.

And,

he said, if the federal and state governments are

going to invest billions of dollars building

roads and commuter rail lines, land use in those

transportation corridors must not be allowed to

render the investment useless.

That

doesn't mean GRTA and ARC will get involved in

those decisions, but it does mean that if land

uses are allowed that threaten the viability of

the projects, the projects might not get done, he

added.

Somehow,

he added, local governments got the mistaken idea

that GRTA would be pushing for higher density

development.

"Our

focus is protection of the transportation

corridors, not to unduly densify a county that

wants to have a more rural flavor," he said.

"If

there is to be a billion dollar expenditure, as

is proposed, putting a rail line up Ga. 400, the

local government could ruin that investment by

zoning the whole area for five-acre lots,"

he added. "The local government could zone

for five acres, that's their prerogative. But we

couldn't put the billion-dollar investment

there."

But

part of GRTA's function will be to make sure that

money doesn't get sidetracked for roads, Cowan

said. "If a transit project fails, that

money won't flow over into a road project. The

breakdown between transit and roads will stay

pretty firm," he said.

Another

GRTA function, he said, will be to work for

resolution of disputes between neighboring

governments where trnasportation is concerned.

"A transportation corridor doesn't serve

just one city or county," he said. "The

problem comes when the region is adversely

affected by the decisions of one

government."

Much

of the local concern over land use planning has

centered on plans for a commuter rail line from

Hartsfield Airport to Senoia, with stops in

Peachtree City and Tyrone.

But

that discussion may be moot, said commission

Chairman Bost. "It's doubtful that, by the

time that thing ever gets built, there would be

anything left to develop in the transportation

corridor," he said.

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