You can now

say the race to become Peachtree City's next mayor has officially begun.

Local activist

Steve Brown announced publicly Tuesday night that he intends to seek the

mayor's seat in November's general election.

Brown, 38,

had originally filed an application for the council seat left vacant last

month by the resignation of Robert Brooks, but he withdrew his name at

Tuesday's council meeting when he was to be one of 14 applicants interviewed.

Brown told

council that he originally wanted to serve there, but now that Willis

Granger has decided not to run for mayor, he wants to wait and run for

mayor himself.

Brown has long

been an opponent of large retail stores, otherwise known as "big

boxes," locating in Peachtree City.

A resident

of the Planterra Ridge subdivision, Brown was a very vocal opponent of

the location of a Wal-Mart and Home Depot shopping center across Ga. Highway

54 west from Planterra.

Development

issues weigh highly on Brown's prospective mayoral agenda, although he

does have some other ideas to bring to the table, he explained in a Thursday

interview with The Citizen.

With concerns

over annexation issues taking the forefront over the past few years, Brown

wants to change the city's charter so a popular vote is required to approve

annexation of private land into Peachtree City. Annexing land owned by

the municipal government, however, should be appropriate since it may

be necessary for a fire station or similar public facility, Brown added.

Brown also

wants to develop an alliance with area governments in Tyrone, Senoia,

Fayetteville, and south Fulton County on regional projects like finding

another access to Interstate 85. Such regional cooperation should take

as high a priority as local council actions get now, Brown said.

"We absolutely

ought to work together as a group," Brown said. "You can definitely

muscle the Department of Transportation, the Georgia Regional Transportation

Authority and the Atlanta Regional Commission if you have several communities

and counties supporting each other."

In another

regional matter, Brown is concerned about the regional water authority

that is being created at the state level. That authority could possibly

have the power to take water and sewer capacity away from Peachtree City,

he indicated.

Brown said

he also wants to help do more to protect trees from dying in tree save

areas of developments, improve race relations in the city and make the

city a state leader in open government issues.

As far as development

is concerned, Brown said the majority of landowners in the city are residents,

and he wants to make sure their concerns take precedence over commercial

developers.

Also, Brown

wants to focus on studying land use decisions from the perspective of

how developments potentially affect the school system.

"Your

decisions can have a negative impact on the school system," Brown

said. "If we want to maintain a quality school system, you've got

to make sure you're accountable for your land use decisions."