Coweta County

officials want to make sure the Georgia Regional Transportation Authority

knows how Coweta County wants to develop its land.

Assistant county

administrator Eddie Whitlock told the County Commission Tuesday that GRTA

officials wanted a coordination review from the county.

The review

is required for Coweta, Paulding and Forsyth counties because they are

in the 13-county region that has failed to meet federal air quality standards,

but are not members of the Atlanta Regional Commission.

The report

submitted by Coweta officials is a comparison of development standards

in Coweta and the counties in ARC.

But the first

policy sent to the county by GRTA is already causing concern with the

County Commission.

The policy

encourages new development to be more clustered in portions of the region.

Whitlock said

clustering is fine for the more urban areas of the county, but much of

the county still has a rural flavor to it and would not be appropriate

for high-density development.

Commissioner

Jim McGuffey said the intentions of many of GRTA's policies were clear

to him.

"There

is a mindset that wants to change our policy. It would simply destroy

the rural character of the county," he said.

Commissioner

Vernon "Mutt" Hunter agreed with McGuffey, but was more philosophical

in his dissent.

"I've

seen politicians and programs come and go. I still believe that seven

or 10 years down the road, you will still see development in the county

that is one home to an acre or two of land, not a half or quarter acre,"

he said.

McGuffey added

that the current mindset believes that anything other than clustering

homes is "urban sprawl."

Other policies

GRTA is endorsing calls for more transit-oriented development and encouraging

mixed-use development.

The commission

agreed to send its list of policies to GRTA, but also requested a letter

be attached to the policies outlining Coweta's differences in development.