and By JOHN

THOMPSON

[email protected]

The Coweta

County Commission fired a shot Tuesday night at reports the commission

is backing off of its support for extending TDK Boulevard.

The project

would extend TDK Boulevard into Coweta County via a bridge over Line Creek

and was originally envisioned as a way to free up traffic on Ga. Highway

54 West by rerouting employees to the city's industrial park.

But Peachtree

City Mayor Steve Brown is worried that Coweta officials may allow rampant

development of the area and create more of a traffic problem than a traffic

solution.

The city is

depending on funding from the Georgia Department of Transportation for

the project. But Brown said in a recent letter that he agreed with Coweta

officials that the funds could be about 10 years away. Because of that

the project "is a moot point anyway," Brown told The Citizen

Monday.

Brown said

he wants more priority to be given to the widening of Ga. Highway 74 south

since large industries located to Peachtree City "based on that unfulfilled

promise."

"I have

always been concerned about what happens on the other end," Brown

told council at its retreat Friday, referring to how the area would develop

in Coweta County.

At the retreat,

Brown said he is uncomfortable with the response from Coweta County Commissioner

Mutt Hunter, who told him the county would worry about planning its development

for that area once the extension came closer to fruition.

"At our

meeting, he was very noncommittal," Brown said, adding that he wanted

to encourage the development of a master plan for the area.

"We don't

have any control over what happens on the other side," noted Councilman

Dan Tennant. "There will be some development along there."

Across the

creek in Coweta, Hunter said the county's position has not changed on

the extension of the road. His biggest issue is funding, which has become

tight at DOT.

Hunter also

disputes concerns about development in the area.

"That's

not a concern of theirs. It's far easier to build something in Peachtree

City than Coweta County," Hunter added.

The Coweta

commissioner added the meeting was held because the Coweta County Commission

had heard that Brown opposed the road extension during his recent mayoral

campaign.

"There's

no sense pushing for something if the other side doesn't want it,"

he said.

During Tuesday's

commission meeting, Hunter reiterated hois position and dismissed Brown's

take on the project as "hogwash."

Commission

Chairman Jim McGuffey, who also attended a meeting with Brown, does not

recall the meeting anything like Brown recalls.

Currently,

the project is in the design phase but a problem has cropped up relating

to the location of the bridge and the location of a spillway for the proposed

Lake McIntosh reservoir that Fayette County officials plan to build. The

reservoir is expected to boost water production by 8 million gallons a

day.

Design for

the road extension project, which is between 85 and 90 percent complete,

awaits a final decision on the bridge location, according to Peachtree

City Engineer Troy Besseche.

The city has

$460,000 built into its 2004 budget for preliminary work on the project.