An Atlanta

lawsuit settlement could result in some Of Coweta County's greenspace

being preserved.

Stacy Patton

of the Chattahoochee Hill County Alliance told the Coweta County Commission

that she is helping Atlanta officials identify potential sites for greenspace,

and one of the sites is Cedar Creek in Coweta County.

Atlanta officials

are currently in the process of a $25 million project to settle a lawsuit

brought against them by the EPA, EPD and the Upper Chattahoochee Riverkeeper

Fund.

Under the settlement,

the city has to aquire buffer areas near streams to protect the waterways

from development and provide a filter for any runoff.

The scope of

the project includes 10 counties near the city.

"I have

to emphasize that this project is voluntary. If the property owner does

not want to do this, we go to the next house, Patton said.

The city is

required to spend $3.75 million in property acquisition south of Utoy

Creek in the city, and patton said the program would not cost the county

a penny.

Any property

owner that wants to sell his land near the creek would receive fair market

value, or could also sell a conservation easement to the property.

But when the

County Commission learned the property would permanently be titled to

the city, they started getting a little nervous.

"The concept

of the program is good, but I'm not real sure about the city owning 20,000

acres of Coweta County land," said Commissioner Vernon "Mutt"

Hunter.

Patton did

say that there would be deed restrictions making it clear the property

could not be developed, but the commission was still reluctant to sign

off on the proposal.

Chairman Leigh

Schlumper invited Patton to attend the county workshop in October after

the commissioners had more time to study the concept.