A controversial

new connector highway between Peachtree City and eastern Coweta County

is expected to be a hot topic at next week's meeting of the Association

of Fayette County Governments.

Coweta County

Commissioner Vernon Hunter is attending the meeting as a special guest

and is a familiar face in the county.

For years,

Hunter served as Fayette County's public works director before getting

into the political realm in Coweta County.

Hunter also

serves as one of Coweta's point men on the much-discussed expansion of

TDK Boulevard, which caused a flare-up between Peachtree City and Coweta

earlier this year.

The project

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

Originally envisioned as a way to free up traffic on Ga. Highway 54 West

offer an east-west highway that cuts across the beltline of the city of

34,000.

Peachtree City

Mayor Steve Brown worried earlier this year that Coweta officials may

allow rampant development along the new highway on the Coweta side and

create more of a traffic problem than a traffic solution.

At a retreat,

Brown said he is uncomfortable with the response from 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.

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.

Hunter 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.

Besseche will

present an update on the project at next week's meeting.

In other business,

the association will:

Hear a presentation

from the Newnan-Coweta County Chamber of Commerce and one from the Fayette

County Chamber.

Listen a presentation

from state Sen. Mitch Seabaugh on cooperation and coordination of local

governments' communication with state agencies.

The meeting

starts at 7 p.m. at Tyrone Town Hall.