Fayette County

water officials can't shore up plans to dredge Lake Peachtree without

direction from Peachtree City representatives as to where they can stage

dredging equipment.

Several areas

along Drake Field are among those considered along with the possibility

of the adjacent Picnic Park.

The Fayette

County Water System, which is in charge of the dredging program since

it uses Lake Peachtree as a reservoir, hopes to finish plans for the dredging

as soon as a location is agreed upon. The project will remove an estimated

22,000 cubic yards of sediment from certain areas on the bottom of the

lake.

Water officials

will meet with city representatives, including Mayor Steve Brown, Friday

to discuss the issue.

"I can't

work on the plans" until a decision is made on the site, consulting

engineer Jim Mallett told the Fayette County Water Committee at its regular

meeting last week.

If the northern

end of Drake Field is used as a staging area, the city will likely require

a road to be built to the area off Ga. Highway 54 so the heavy equipment

won't conflict with pedestrian traffic at City Hall. That part of Drake

Field is owned by the Development Authority of Peachtree City and would

require its blessing, whereas the southern end of Drake Field is owned

The Development

Authority purchased the land last year and the city is purchasing it in

increments with funds from the state greenspace program. Prior to the

sale, the land had been zoned for commercial use and was not a city park

as many residents had come to believe. It was previously owned by Pathway

Communities.

In a letter

to the water committee, Peachtree City Engineer Troy Besseche said Drake

Field is not the best place to stage equipment and materials for the project,

although it may be cost-effective.

"The staff's

position is that great care must be used in utilizing this greenspace

... in order to protect adjacent wetlands, minimize erosion and sedimentation,

minimize further land disturbance as well as to minimize traffic disruption

in the municipal complex and on Hwy. 54," Besseche wrote.

Mallett told

the water committee that he thinks a solution should be sought from the

Peachtree City City Council.

"We need

an acre or so to pump this stuff out and let it dry out," Mallett

said. "It's not going to look pretty."

If the water

committee has to build an access road off Hwy. 54 for the northern portion

of Drake Field, it could take 30 days just to get a permit from the Georgia

Department of Transportation, said Tony Parrott, director of the Fayette

County Water System.