It's still

going to be a month or two before the traffic light on Ga. Highway 54

West at Wynnmeade Parkway will be moved to the new MacDuff Parkway.

The city is

withholding any more certificates of occupancy on the completed Summit

Apartments until the light is moved. The hope is that restricting the

number of units that can open there will encourage developers to get the

matter taken care of.

Meanwhile,

the lack of a traffic light at the entrance to The Avenue at Peachtree

City on Hwy. 54 hasn't caused any problems, noted Jim Williams, city director

of developmental services.

"My observation

is that everything is working fine," Williams said, adding that he

makes at least three trips a day to the area to make sure traffic is flowing

smoothly. "I just don't think it has been a problem at all."

The same can't

be said for the intersection of MacDuff and Hwy. 74, where the lack of

a stoplight is causing problems. During periods of heavy traffic, motorists

wishing to head eastbound must first go west on Hwy. 54 so they can turn

around using the traffic light at Wynnmeade Parkway, Williams said.

As a result,

the city has withheld several certificates of occupancy for the Summit

Apartments, which are basically completed. The city has allowed 104 units

to be occupied, around 25 percent of the development's total capacity

of 399 units.

Developers

are pressuring the city to "give them a break" on the issue,

but officials believe this is too important since it has to do with public

safety, Williams said.

"This

is an issue that's unreasonable," Williams said. "We never intended

for that (the apartments) to open without the traffic light there."

The developers

are trying to argue that a clause in the development agreement allows

the apartments and the under-construction Cedarcroft subdivision to open

without the light being moved, Williams said.

However, that

clause says that can only happen if the DOT denied the relocation of the

traffic light, Williams added. The DOT has approved the project.

"The holdup

is they weren't prepared to do the work," Williams said, indicating

the developers were at fault. "It's a major safety problem."

The city's

position is that it can withhold certificates of occupancy for those developments

until the light is actually moved and operational, Williams added.

The holdup

has involved the relocation of utility lines at the current light, Williams

said. Power lines for Oglethorpe EMC and Georgia Power, which must be

moved, can only be relocated by those companies.