Peachtree City

resident Joel H. Cowan will be shifting his focus from traffic to water.

Cowan has been

appointed as chairman of the North Georgia Water Planning District governing

board by Gov. Roy Barnes. He will relinquish his chairmanship on the Georgia

Regional Transportation Authority to GRTA Vice Chairman Sonny Deriso.

The water planning

district is charged with developing regional plans for storm water and

wastewater management. The group will also work on water supply and conservation

issues.

Fayette is

one of 18 counties in the district, which includes Barrow, Bartow, Carroll,

Cherokee, Clayton, Cobb, Coweta, DeKalb, Douglas, Fulton, Forsyth, Gwinnett,

Hall, Henry, Paulding, Rockdale and Walton counties.

County Commission

Chairman Greg Dunn also has been named to serve on the board.

Cowan is one

of six members appointed by Barnes. Lt. Gov. Mark Taylor and Speaker of

the House Tom Murphy appointed two members each.

Kathryn L.

Dunlap of Gainesville will serve as Cowan's vice chairman on the water

planning district board.

Cowan, 62,

is a well-known developer whose vision led to the creation of Peachtree

City as a planned community. He served as the city's first mayor and has

since helped guide growth issues at the state government level.

Cowan's service

with the state began back in the 1970s when he was picked by then-Gov.

Jimmy Carter to head a blue ribbon panel on planned growth. In the 1980s,

Cowan chaired the Growth Strategies Commission at the request of then-Gov.

Joe Frank Harris.

His present

civic activities include serving as director of the Center for International

Leadership, co-chairing the Fayette Foundation, and being a member of

the Kiwanis Club of Atlanta and the Ivan Allen College Advisory Board

at Georgia Tech.

He is a former

trustee of the Georgia Conservancy and the Georgia Tech Foundation, and

a former director and vice chairman of the Georgia Chamber of Commerce

and Central Atlanta Progress.

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