Fayette County

is receiving yet another request for sewerage along the county's northern

border.

An engineer

for a site on the southwest corner of Ga. highways 138 and 314 has written

to the county Board of Commissioners asking for permission to extend sewerage

from Clayton County's system.

A gas station/restaurant

facility is planned for the site, which is already zoned for that purpose,

says William Hamilton, project manager for Willis Oil Company.

It's the third

such request in recent years, and not likely to be approved. Commissioners

recently turned down a similar request from Chariots of Fire Ministry

after the ministry's septic system failed, and the county Water Committee

has recommended that this request be turned down as well.

Chariots of

Fire took the county to court, but the county prevailed.

A request from

Our Lady of Victory Catholic School nearby was approved based on a tightly

worded contract aimed at preventing any further extension of the sewer

line. But that was then, and this is now. Current members of the board

are more conservative than those who approved the school's request.

Conflicts and

confusion over services available in the area are the natural result of

adjoining counties with markedly different attitudes toward development.

Clayton County,

on the north side of Hwy. 138, provides sewerage to the businesses and

high density neighborhoods along its side of the highway, whereas Fayette

provides no sewer service anywhere in the county, precisely to discourage

higher density development.

In an area

inundated with rock and poor soils, property owners on the Fayette side

of the road see the existence of Clayton's sewer lines, often just feet

from their property lines, as the solution to their problems.

But Fayette

leaders fear a domino effect. Once extended into the county, Clayton's

lines could easily be extended farther and farther south, bringing increased

pressure for heavy development, they say.

Commissioners

will consider Willis Oil Company's request but are likely to turn it down.

"This property ... could be handled by on-site septic," says

the project manager's letter. "However, with restaurant facilities

pretreatment would be required prior to land treatment (septic system).

As noted these are individual treatment systems and are not desirable

when connection to a regional treatment facility is available."

But whether

those facilities are "available" is a matter of interpretation.