Dan Cathy: Fayette needs "cool" factor

[J2rescue]

Originally Posted by Newsboy

Well, I think the REAL issue here isn't so much being "cool" but having a sustainable job base. Fayette County can no longer afford to be just a bedroom community, for two main reasons:

1. It's too far removed from the higher-end job centers of the Northside
2. The cost of real estate there is too high for entry level (or even middle level) families

Fayette County, and especially Peachtree City, have painted themselves into this situation. The county land use plan and development codes were almost exclusively residential and offered next to ZERO future planning for commercial, office, retail, institutional, etc. -- what they're having to amend to make way for Pinewood etc now.

And the very idea of a community with that much available land being "built out" and at its peak is ridiculous to say the least. The problem is, families with older kids who can afford to move there (the high schools have higher enrollments than the elementary schools) are staying put, retiring and not moving on. The population is aging rapidly -- like it has in some parts of DeKalb -- and there are fewer younger families moving in to fill the schools. The community is also growing more diverse, but there hasn't yet been "white flight" -- again, people are staying put even if their new neighbors don't look just like them.

It truly is a unique situation in all of Metro Atlanta.

Thank you!! Everyone is overthinking this comment by making it all about millennials. Its simply that the county would like to and needs to be able to attract more jobs. There are areas on the North of Atlanta such as Gwinnett that are also family friendly yet have good job growth so I don't think they have any attention of changing that aspect. Its just that they would need a better perception as a desirable place to live/work within metro Atlanta.

[arjay57]

Originally Posted by Newsboy

Internationally renowned architect Dhiru Thadani, a major designer for the luxury development of Seaside, Fla., talked about the design of cities. In Seaside, property values have increased 20 percent every year, even in downturns, he said. His number one recommendation for Fayette was met with an eruption of applause.

“Take the MARTA station down to Fayetteville. It’s the best thing you can do for this county. Start right away. There’s not a moment to lose,” he said.

Fayette could probably use some MARTA stations but they should be paid for by the Fayette business community. Why stick the cost on the individual Fayette taxpayer?

[Mutiny77]

Originally Posted by arjay57

Fayette could probably use some MARTA stations but they should be paid for by the Fayette business community. Why stick the cost on the individual Fayette taxpayer?

Maybe because that's how it works in Fulton and Dekalb?

[viningsgt]

Originally Posted by BorisGruschenko1812

I've noticed that many areas in south east Fayetteville (e.g., by Antioch and Goza Rd.) are ten miles from the shopping in Peachtree City and also quite far from the Fayette Pavilllion.

Does people in these homes have to drive ten miles to buy milk or go to Target?

There is a big shopping center less than 5 miles away on the south side of Fayetteville (Publix / Kroger / Ingles) that you would shop at if you lived in that area. Target is much farther away like you described. Growing up in that area we always thought of a trip to Target as a field trip for the day. Not a big compromise considering the rural way of life Fayette County enjoys. I'm still amazed that despite all of the growth in Atlanta, Fayetteville remains nearly exactly the same as it was 20 years ago, and I mean that in a positive way (low density housing, low crime, no traffic etc.)

[Born 2 Roll]

Originally Posted by arjay57

Fayette could probably use some MARTA stations but they should be paid for by the Fayette business community. Why stick the cost on the individual Fayette taxpayer?

From an economic development standpoint, maybe, JUST MAYBE, Fayette County could use some high-capacity passenger rail transit stations.

But from a practical standpoint, Fayette County seems to have too little density of population and development (and too much opposition to transit) to probably ever be the site of a high-capacity rail transit station, particularly the site of a Heavy Rail Transit station operated by an urban transit agency like MARTA that remains intensely hated and utterly despised by most residents in the lower-density outer-suburban county.

Opposition to transit links to Atlanta of any and every kind in an outer-suburban county like Fayette is so high that the county was left out of the GRTA Xpress regional suburban commuter bus transit system that operates routes to neighboring Coweta and Henry counties where transit is not popular but is accepted at a minimal level because of peak-hour traffic congestion on radial interstate routes like I-85 Southwest and (especially) I-75 Southeast through Henry County.

(...The idea of regional suburban commuter bus transit lines to Fayette County cities like Peachtree City and Fayetteville continue not to be received all that well by local residents in the county.)

This is a county that literally attempted to breakaway from the Atlanta Regional Commission and the Atlanta metro area during the lead-up to the failed T-SPLOST debacle in 2012.

Maybe, just maybe, one day regional commuter rail service could be implemented and operated along the existing CSX right-of-way that runs through the county by way of Tyrone and Peachtree City. With the lack of an existing railbed in the northeastern part of the county, maybe some kind of Arterial Rapid Transit line could be implemented between Fayetteville and the east side of the Atlanta Airport by way of Riverdale and Georgia Highway 85 while an express commuter bus line were implemented between Fayetteville and a future regional passenger rail transit station in Jonesboro.

(...Though the idea of bus transit links between outer-suburban Fayette County and urbanizing Clayton and South Fulton counties have been strongly opposed in the past and continue to be strongly opposed by much of Fayette's outer-suburban population.)

Though, seeing that opposition to an urban transit agency like MARTA remains high in the intensely transit-averse county, it would most likely be best that any future transit links into the county be operated by a state-operated suburban transit agency like GRTA instead of urban transit agency like MARTA.

In any case, given the continuing strong opposition by most of the county's population to the thought of direct connections to the urbanized metro Atlanta core (including transit), transit operations of any kind are probably still many years away in Fayette County....A county which until the opening of the Pinewood Atlanta Studios was very much an extremely reluctant member of the Atlanta metropolitan area.