Amidst charges of "political

grandstanding" and "embarrassing behavior" the Peachtree

City Council will go fishing Thursday for money to get the TDK Boulevard

Extension project back on track.

According to a memo from City

Engineer Troy Besseche, the cost to raise the roadbed and bridge spanning

Line Creek to avoid rock removal will be an extra $36,000, not $63,000

as previously reported. That will save the county the $180,000 it would

cost to remove the rock.

As part of a multi-jurisdictional

agreement reached earlier this year, Peachtree City was to pay for all

of the engineering and design work on the road, while the governments

of Fayette and Coweta counties would pay appropriate shares of the construction

cost.

In the memo, Besseche said

the balance of funds remaining in city accounts for the engineering work

is $17,450. With revenues tight because of the economy, the city has no

funds to spare, said Mayor Steve Brown on Tuesday.

"We'll explore a number

of funding options Thursday night," Brown said. "It's completely

open, but we may ask (Fayette) County to pitch in."

That's likely, because Coweta

County commissioners have already indicated their willingness to help

pay up the design work changes and get the project rolling.

"It's our city engineer's

opinion that the costs are substantial," said Brown, adding, "But

it's a win-win situation, because we worked with the engineer to bring

the cost down."

Brown denied using the road

as a political or personal pawn, as has been suggested by some in the

business community and through letters to the media. [See Letters on Page

7A.]

"I'm not dragging my feet

on this, I'm just trying to find where we get the additional funding."

But he did admit Tuesday that

he's still no fan of the extension.

"TDK is a developer's

road, no doubt about it," he said. "Once the road goes through,

houses and stores and restaurants are going to go in on the Coweta County

side and eventually the traffic coming off TDK will bottleneck (Ga. Highway)

74 South. I don't see that as the savior the Chamber of Commerce says

it will be."

The road might be a reliever

for "about two years," said Brown.

If the council comes up with

a funding plan this week and authorizes work to resume on the engineering

phase, actual construction could start sometime this summer.

In other business Thursday,

the council is expected to:

·Consider a change to

city code affecting the appeals process when a building permit is denied.

·Hear progress on continuing

efforts to curb excessive traffic in the Golfview Drive neighborhood.

The installation of traffic "humps" and increased patrols have

slowed the number of cars using Golfview Drive as a shortcut from the

Pinegate neighborhood to Flat Creek Road, but residents still aren't happy.

·Hear a presentation on

the annual financial audit of the city, conducted last fall.

The council meets at 7 p.m.

Thursday at City Hall, Willowbend Road at Ga. Highway 54.

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