An advisory

board to help Peachtree City develop a grant proposal for innovative transportation

solutions in the West Village area will have its first meeting Monday

at 5:30 p.m.

The board,

which includes concerned citizens and land owners in that area, will work

with a consultant the city has hired through a grant from the Atlanta

Regional Commission. The hopes are that the board's plan, which must be

completed by June 30, will be funded by another grant or several grants

The main focuses

of the group will be working on a location for a potential rail station

to link Peachtree City to Atlanta, and using guidelines to create a pleasant

look in the area such as architectural controls, Rast said.

"There's

still a lot of opportunity to blend that area together," Rast said.

Due to cost

constraints, the board will rely more on the work of city staff for areas

the board will cover that weren't necessarily addressed in the ARC's grant

proposal, Rast said. Still, he's looking forward to the challenge.

"Our overall

goal is to tie all the developments on the west side of Ga. Highway 74

together by alternative means of transportation like the golf cart paths,

sidewalks and alternative road systems if those are feasible," Rast

said. "The goal is to make this area cohesive."

Already, the

plans for the path system are in place, so the board won't have to tinker

with that much, Rast added.

One major consideration

will be whether to make the rail station a mixed-use development or simply

leave it as a rail and depot, Rast said.

The board also

will focus on promoting pleasing aesthetic values in the area through

architectural controls and using that to govern the use of certain types

of material, Rast added.

The board includes

representatives of land owners in the area, including Doug McMurrain of

RAM Development, Mike Lorber and Jerry Peterson of Pathway Communities.

Peterson is an expert when it comes to the use of architectural controls.

Others asked

to serve on the task force include Steve Brown and Todd Strickland, who

have shared a passion for development issues in the city, and planning

commissioner Robert Ames, said Rast. John Dillahunt of the Wynnmeade subdivision

and John Leonard have also been invited to help round out the panel.

Rast said the

aim was to keep the group small, limiting it to 10 or 12 people. The meetings

will be open to the public and input from residents will be welcome, he

added.

The hope is

that the committee will continue to meet second and fourth Mondays from

5:30 - 7 p.m., which precedes the regularly scheduled meetings of the

Planning Commission, Rast said.

The first meeting

will focus on introducing the board members to the concepts they'll be

tackling, Rast said. Also, the consultants will be on hand to share their

initial ideas for the plan.

"We want

to explain what we think our goals should be and, if we need to, modify

those goals," Rast said.