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Published Saturday, June 21, 2008 in Local

Candidates oppose passenger jets here

By Sarah Fay Campbell

The Times-Herald

Both candidates for the fourth district seat on the Coweta County Board of Commissioners are very much against having passenger jets land at the Newnan-Coweta Airport.

Gary DeGeorge and Rodney Brooks discussed a wide range of issues at a candidate forum held Thursday. The forum was held at the Newnan-Coweta Chamber of Commerce and sponsored by the chamber and the Coweta County Republican Party.

The candidates were asked their opinions regarding the possibility of upgrading the airport to be a reliever airport for Hartsfield-Jackson.

Brooks grew up in Forest Park and remembers dealing with airplane noise. "That's what I grew up with as a kid. That's not a good quality of life," Brooks said.

Brooks added he doesn't have enough information on the issue.

He'd like to form a citizens committee, with three or so people per district, to study the issue and make recommendations.

"I'm not about going outside and letting another doggone company tell the residents what to do, and spend money doing it," Brooks said. "I'm all for letting the residents decide what we want to do in this county."

As someone who loves planes and received his pilot's license four years ago, DeGeorge said the airport is "a pretty special place for me."

It does need to be spruced up, he said. A full instrument approach system would allow mid-size jets. "I think we're missing opportunities that some of the other airports might be getting," DeGeorge said. Some heated hangars and a better pilot's lounge would be good, too.

But "do I want to see a regional airline or a freight carrier in there? I really don't, and I don't think the residents do," he said.

However, Kentucky recently entered into a deal with Cessna for a jet production facility. Cessna is making a $780 million investment and will provide some 1,000 jobs.

"Something like that would be absolutely perfect for the airport," DeGeorge said.

Brooks said he's all for upgrading the instruments at the airport, but he doesn't want to expand the runway to allow jumbo jets.

He's also concerned about the lure of federal money. "If you get enough money from the federal government, or somebody else, telling you you have to do something ... chances are you're going to do that," he said.

But with a network of concerned residents, "you can have an uprising of 1,000 people saying this is not what we want, or this is what we want."

Growth and industrial development were the major topics of discussion.

Coweta's taxes are still fairly low, DeGeorge said, but the county is not generating enough revenue from residential growth. He also thinks the impact fees may be too low.

Brooks said that, like everything in life, there needs to be balance. Coweta needs good companies, and he doesn't want to pay any more in taxes.

Brooks said he doesn't understand why the county commissioners stopped a Wal-Mart from coming to Ga. Hwy. 154 at Interstate 85.

"We lost a large tax base," Brooks said. Many residents of the fourth district are going to Peachtree City's Wal-Mart and taking their sales tax dollars with them.

DeGeorge thinks that Coweta can do a better job of industrial recruitment. There are plenty of vacancies in existing industrial parks, he said, and several building supply companies that have gone out of business.

"We're going to have to get busy here in the next couple of years," he said.

Everybody needs to get involved, he said, not just the development authority. The commissioners should be trying to solicit business and industry, too, DeGeorge said.

When big companies look at Coweta, "they may ask themselves why should we come here," Brooks said. He doesn't want Coweta to continue to be a bedroom community, but there must be a balance.

"A lot of the growth we have in the county is good, but I don't think it's the smart growth or the quality growth that a lot of us are looking for," Brooks said.

The commissioners recently rejected a request by Piedmont-Newnan Hospital to be exempted from approximately $1.1 million in impact fees. The candidates were asked what they would have done.

Brooks said he would like to have more information. The impact fees are only about 1 percent of the budget, which isn't much. On the other hand, the hospital will bring good jobs.

But the hospital is already coming, so the county might as well get the impact fees, he said. Other businesses may be deserving of an exemption, but that should be decided on a case-by-case basis, Brooks said.

The county might have reviewed the fees and given some concessions, DeGeorge said. But the fire protection costs will be tremendous. DeGeorge said he probably would have voted to charge the full fee.

The candidates were asked if there is too much emphasis on big business instead of small business.

"There is always room for improvement," Brooks said. There are some things the county could do with infrastructure to draw in small businesses. Additionally, "I'm all for getting rid of the impact fees for the small person, if it doesn't raise our property taxes."

"Whatever it takes to cut our taxes and fees, I'm for it."

There is a fine line between working to bring economic development and "becoming a salesman for a developer," DeGeorge said. "You can't take on the burden of the developer, but we need to help them solicit new businesses."

Both candidates said they were pleased with the sheriff's office but would like to see more funding for the fire department.

Both said they feel that Coweta should join the Atlanta Regional Commission.

When asked what quality development should look like, DeGeorge said that Ashley Park looks great, though using it as a standard might be a bit high. He'd also like to see more architectural controls on houses.

Brooks said he favors keeping the same residential yield but clustering homes to reduce the amount of land that has to be cleared. He'd like to see commercial corridors all around the county, instead of everything being concentrated in Newnan.

Regarding the commission's rotating chairmanship, Brooks said he favors having a chairman elected countywide. The current county administrator "has an awful lot of power," Brooks said. "There could be an elected official who does that same type of thing."

DeGeorge said he likes the rotating chairmanship, though he would be OK with two-year terms for the chairman. And if a particular commissioner is not suited for the chairmanship, the commissioners shouldn't have to choose that person, he said.

Having one point person would be nice, but if someone was elected chairman for four years and was very bad at it, "who knows how long it will take to repair the damage?" DeGeorge said. He also doesn't want Coweta to end up with a chairman who functions like DeKalb County's CEO.

When asked what the most important issue is for the fourth district, DeGeorge said it's growth.

When asked the same question, Brooks answered that it's taxes. He hopes to reduce county spending.

The candidates were asked what they most want to achieve, if elected.

DeGeorge wants to work to contain growth. He wants to meet with all department heads to ensure that there is no wasteful spending. And he wants to improve the county, especially the infrastructure and job base.

Brooks said leadership is vital. Coweta needs a five-year plan, a 10-year plan and 20-year plan. "A lot of organizations grow by default, and I don't want this county to grow by default," he said. He wants Coweta to have a vision, so we can look back and see that "this is what we all worked for."