As one of the

last unpaved roads in Peachtree City, Sumner Road is a dinosaur whose

time has come.

The city plans

to pave the road, but to keep the road's tree-lined charm it may forego

$70,000 in state funds to preserve more trees along the route.

At Monday night's

meeting of the Peachtree City Planning Commission, City Engineer Troy

Besseche said using DOT standards to build the road would cause several

large trees to be cleared. But the city could exercise some leeway on

its own in the road design to save the trees, at a cost to the project

since the DOT won't likely go along with the idea, Besseche said.

The gravel

road could be paved with less clearing on either side of the road and

save more trees, Besseche said. The DOT would want to have area next to

the road cleared more for safety concerns, but putting in curbs and gutters

like the city plans to do would help keep vehicles from leaving the roadway,

Besseche said.

DOT standards

call for a clear zone of 10 feet on each side of the roadway. But the

city plans to reduce the clear zone to 18 inches.

The Planning

Commission voted to recommend to the City Council to designate Sumner

Road as a scenic road and take some leeway with the design standards as

Besseche recommended.

One resident

who lives near Sumner Road asked why the road should be paved at all since

it's mostly used as a shortcut and has little traffic. Jim Williams, the

city's director of developmental services, said city policy is to eventually

have all roads paved.

Planning Commissioner

Rich Schumacher said paving the road would make it easier for emergency

vehicles to navigate the road.

Besseche said

the speed of the road should be set at 20 mph even after it is paved.

The vertical alignment of the road should also be kept to create a natural

traffic calming effect, he added.