Toll Road Development Authority Rescinded

The Paulding County Board of Commissioners voted today to approve Resolution 11-30, the purpose of which is to rescind prior Resolution 11-09 which created the Joint Development Authority for the Toll Road.

On behalf of the citizens of West Paulding, we would like to thank the Board of Commissioners for holding the Town Hall Meeting on November 10, 2011, and for listening to the citizens' concerns about the Toll Road.

We look forward to participating in the process as new development initiatives that impact West Paulding are brought forth.

Nov. 10 Town Hall Meeting

Many thanks to all those who braved the chilly November evening to attend the Town Hall Meeting. Whether you were for the Toll Road or opposed to it, you showed your elected officials that you care. All of the officials that I spoke with were greatly encouraged by the turnout.

For all who weren't able to make the meeting, we'll post video later today. I think that most of our questions were answered; the main one being whether the Board of Commissioners is willing to bring to the floor for a vote a Resolution to rescind Resolution 11-09 (the Toll Road resolution). Given the turnout last night, we're fairly confident that such a resolution will pass. Please check back with this site and we'll provide confirmation when Resolution 11-09 has been rescinded. Better yet, enter your email address in the box provided to the right and you'll receive any new posts to this site in your email inbox.

Most of the people that I spoke with after the meeting were left with some concern about whether the State DOT might pursue this project or something like it. This is an issue that we're all going to need to pay attention to. West Paulding is a prime target for all kinds of potential projects because of the amount of green space, and because any attempt to connect to the Paulding Airport from the North or South would most likely go through West Paulding. More on this later.

Nov. 10, 2011 Town Hall Meeting Format

The meeting starts at 6pm. Please plan to arrive early to minimize disruptions due to late arrivals.

We understand that County officials will be making a short presentation on various initiatives going on throughout the county.

There will be a Question and Answer session:

• Citizens with questions will sign-in prior to meeting giving their name and address along with their question on a form provided by the county.
• A Moderator will read the questions submitted and the panel will answer. Duplicate questions will be acknowledged and we will move on to the next question.
• Citizens that submitted each question will have a 2 minute follow-up.

We look forward to seeing you all Thursday night!

Town Hall Meeting Scheduled for Nov. 10, 2011

A Town Hall Meeting will be held on November 10, 2011 at 6pm at the Wayne Kirby Community Center at Burnt Hickory Park. The Paulding County Board of Commissioners will be giving an update on the status of the Western Commercial Connector project, as well as allowing the citizens of Paulding County the opportunity to speak on the issue of the Toll Road.


Burnt Hickory Park is located at 8650 Cartersville Hwy Dallas, GA  30132.

September 21, 2011 - "Update on Toll Road Project" from the Industrial Building Authority Meeting

Below is a transcript from the agenda item "Update on Toll Road Project" from the Industrial Building Authority Meeting held on September 21, 2011. 

Blake Swafford: 

Update on the Toll Road Project - There's not really a whole lot to update there. I think everyone is aware at this point that Vance Smith has submitted his resignation with the Georgia Department of Transportation. I understand that there is a search going on for a replacement. I think it's probably prudent for us to - uh - not to completely stop what we're doing, but at least slow down a little bit and wait until we have another DOT Commissioner on board. Obviously, that person will need to be up-to-speed on what we're doing. RDC has adopted some language for their legislative policy earlier this year that supports the project. It doesn't mention the project specifically, but it doesn't need to. Also, some of the other ABC groups that deal with transportation projects, I think, are cooking up some similar language that would support our project or a project like ours. The project continues to be talked about in the transportation industry, which is a good thing, and we continue to just work on the details as we await a new DOT commissioner. So, I don't know if there were any questions..

David Austin: 

Blake and I, along with Scott, had a great meeting... I can't remember if this took place since our last meeting, with Gena Evans. You want to highlight that meeting... she gave us some good input.

Blake Swafford: 

Yep, we went down and met with Mrs. Evans, who's head of the State Road Toll Authority. Presented the project, got some feedback from her. The feedback was all positive, which I quite frankly was concerned about, the State Road Toll Authority, whether or not they would have a positive outlook on a project like this. She was very positive and very supportive, and that was a relief to hear. She did spend quite a bit of time giving us a tour around their facilities and kind of pointing out some things that we would need to look at in the future in terms of toll collections and things like that. The State is going to a standard system that will address all toll collections in the state of Georgia, and that's a good thing. That takes something off of our plate that we don't have to try to figure out. So, assuming at some point in time in the future if we move forward with the project, we'll end-up doing an intergovernmental agreement with the State to allow them to do the Toll collections, which again takes something off of our plate that we don't have to try to figure out.  So those are good things, and it was a very positive meeting.

David Austin: 

She was very informed, she knew about as much about our project as what we showed her. She's a fireball.

Blake Swafford: 

Smart lady.

Paulding Officials Still Hopeful Of Western Toll Road

Paulding County officials still hoping to be build a western commercial connector through Coweta, Carroll, Paulding and Bartow counties say they plan to present revised alignments to Coweta county officials next week. 


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Multi-County Toll Road Called 'Innovative' - Dallas-Hiram, GA Patch

Paulding County officials hope to improve interstate access to western Georgia counties and increase jobs.

Read More

Georgia HOT Lanes Create Congestion, Disappointment

Georgia's introduction of high occupancy toll (HOT) lanes on Interstate 85 at the beginning of the month has already turned into a public relations disaster. During rush hour, motorists found themselves stranded in the general purpose lanes as the adjacent HOT lane -- constructed and maintained with their tax dollars -- were essentially unused. Drivers balked at paying the stiff $5.40 entrance tax for permission to enter, leaving the existing lane space to go to waste. Governor Nathan Deal (R) intervened swiftly on October 6 to order the State Road and Tollway Authority (SRTA) to lower the cost of using the toll lane.
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Joint Development Authorities

Here is an article on Joint Development Authorities.

Private Roads, Public Costs

The Facts About Toll Road Privatization and How to Protect the Public - Here is an article detailing some of the pitfalls to using private money to fund public projects.

Eminent Domain: Private Property Rights v. Economic Development

Here is an excellent article on eminent domain. It only takes about 10 minutes to read, and well worth it.

June 7, 2011 - Carroll County Board of Commissioners Meeting

Here is a link to a video of the June 7, 2011 meeting of the Carroll County Board of Commissioners. The public comments on the proposed Toll road begin at the 11:30 mark in the video.