Spring has arrived and, once again, Fayette County will be celebrating Earth Day. This year the gathering will be on Saturday, April 27.

The Earth Day Committee is looking for volunteers and additional groups that would like to display or demonstrate your products or projects that relate to caring for the world around us.

If you are interested, visit our website at: www.fayettecoearthday.org. Read More»

The recent proposal by WASA to acquire authority to extend service outside Peachtree City is not appropriate.

Several years ago, WASA applied for a permit to expand their sewage treatment system. The request was for a substantial increase in the amount of sewage they expected to treat. A part of the requirement to make the requested changes included an analysis of what the impact of the expansion would have on the environment and on the social and economic conditions within their stated service area. Read More»

Sometime in August, Fayette County will be sending out bills, to all non-city residents, to raise money for the new Stormwater Utility. Thousands of us will be paying $25, or more, in the form of a “fee” and the county will raise about $575,000.

But our incumbent commissioners will insist that this is not a tax. They have been trying to convince you that they are keeping the tax levels low so we will vote for them. By calling this a fee they will take five employees off the General Fund and pay their costs from a utility. This is smoke and mirrors if I have ever heard of it. Read More»

I attended the June 12th County Commission candidate debate to hear what each candidate would bring to the Board of Commissioners. Unfortunately, Mr. Hearn, Mr. Horgan and Mr. Smith included statements about the fine job they had done protecting the taxpayers’ money. Each presented detailed information about what a splendid job they had done watching over our money. But please consider the following. Read More»

Fayette County has some of the most beautiful environmental settings in the area. But that is hardly news to any of you who live here. The current Land Use Plan that the Fayette County Board of Commissioners has in place agrees as there are 13 different sections of that document which, they say at least, are to protect those resources.

Unfortunately, we have a set of commissioners who have one major project started and another under consideration that will ignore almost all of those parts of our Land Use Plan. Read More»

For each of the past several years, the state of Georgia has found the Fayette County stormwater programs to be in compliance with their permit. Therefore, a new Stormwater Utility in Fayette County is not intended to comply with any deficiency; its only purpose is to collect more money. Read More»

On March 28, the Fayette County Stormwater Management Stakeholder Advisory Group held their third meeting to address the need, or lack thereof, for an expanded stormwater effort.

Following the second meeting, and because I expressed serious concerns about the county proposal, I met with the Fayette County Stormwater Department staff twice and once with the consultant hired by the county to establish a Fayette County stormwater utility. Read More»

Another issue has come up that concerns me. A concern that, it follows the direction that it has started will have an impact on a lot of folks in Fayette County.

The county is moving toward more intensive management of stormwater needs for areas outside the city limits of Fayetteville and Peachtree City. Those two cities already have management plans for stormwater. The first step was taken in December 2009, and the proposal, at least at this point, is going to cost us more money. Read More»

The final gathering of the current Fayette County commissioners was last Thursday night. The news for the citizens that will be impacted by Phase III of the West Fayetteville Bypass was not good. Not unexpected, but still unfortunate for many homeowners in that area.

The meeting was mostly uneventful until the commissioners returned from their executive session. It was then time for Jack Smith and Eric Maxwell to say goodbye. Read More»

This week the West Fayetteville Bypass issue has arrived at a significant turning point. Fayette County has obtained a permit under Clean Water Act (CWA) for the road project. Therefore, the West Fayetteville Bypass Coalition has initiated the first steps within the federal court system to stop the project as planned. Read More»