The long-discussed Lake McIntosh

project is now officially "in the works."

County commissioners last week

approved the filing of a formal application for a federal environmental

permit to create the 650-acre lake on Line Creek on Fayette County's western

border with Coweta County.

Plans are to build a dam for

the lake west of Dividend Road and north of McIntosh Trail in Peachtree

City. An area of 69.5 square miles would form the lake's drainage basin.

The permit process takes "about

a year," according to Jim Mallett, the county's project engineer,

and requires public hearings and other requests for public comment.

In order to be granted the

permit, the county must show that its plans to replace wetlands destroyed

in the lake's construction are adequate.

The final linchpin in Fayette's

long-term plans to provide drinking water to local residents, the lake

is expected to boost water production by 8 million gallons a day.

Engineers for the project last

week presented the county Water Committee a hydraulic report on the dam

that will create the lake, and the committee discussed three construction

options with estimated price tags ranging from $2.75 million to $8.17

million.

Engineers will get input from

Peachtree City on how its plans to extend TDK Boulevard are affected by

the dam, and the Water Committee will continue its discussion later.

Final cost of the project also

will be affected by the permit process, as the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

determines what must be done to mitigate the lake's environmental impact.

Plans were well underway to

build the lake in the early 1980s, but were set aside in the face of opposition

from nearby land owners. That opposition has since evaporated.

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