Battling back against the possibility of mass transit coming to Fayette County, the Fayette County Board of Commissioners passed a resolution Thursday asking the county be dropped completely from the Concept 3 transit plan, which covers the 10-county metro Atlanta region.
“There is a regional mass transit plan. Commuter rail and arterial bus rapid transit lines are scheduled to go into Fayette County at some time,” county commission chairman Steve Brown told residents.
With Fayette County’s current population of approximately 107, 000 residents on 200 square miles and projections of population growth out to 2030 only rising to an anticipated 179,000, Brown’s resolution pointed out that the state’s plan would be “cost prohibitive and not suited to the county’s low density land use.”
“Fayette County commuters make up a small portion of ridership of mass transit in metro Atlanta and Fayette County’s ability to draw economic development and quality resident is not dependent upon mass transit but rather upon its unique rural quality of life.”
The resolution noted that the conservative culture within Fayette County “frowns upon a system that is not close to self sustaining, requiring enormous subsidies, while eliminating routes and personnel in the face of declining revenues;
“It is the duty of all jurisdictions in Fayette County to focus on protecting our quality of life, residential density remaining low, our excellent school system, our less congested roads, our green spaces and our exceptional commitment to public safety, which keeps our community strong and able to attract high paying jobs to Fayette County, avoiding attempts to mimic more rampant growth patterns in other areas.
“Therefore the county is asking to be removed from the Concept 3 transit plan and all other plans requiring publicly subsidized transit.”
“This has been greatly needed and we thank you for sticking to the land use plan,” said resident Ginga Smithfield. |
