Mayor Kasim Reed’s veto of using impact fees for the Moores Mill Road extension project went unchallenged at Monday’s Atlanta City Council meeting. The ordinance, approved by the Atlanta City Council on Nov. 2, appropriated $800,000 in transportation development impact fees to partially fund the Moore’s Mill Road extension project.
The mayor vetoed the legislation on Nov. 10, citing $2 million in federal funds had been authorized by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) for the completion of the project. He also noted that the funds had been transitioned from FHWA funds into Federal Transit Agency (FTA) funds, as requested by the Department of Public Works.
Reed’s office said the Moore’s Mill Extension and the Adams Drive re-alignment projects, at a cost of $2.2 million for both projects, are now both fully funded through federal funds and $500,000 in public funds from Invest Atlanta. Use of federal funds allows the City to save local taxpayer dollars and local impact fees for use on projects that do not qualify for federal funds.
The city can access the federal dollars as early as January 2016, which has no negative impact on the current construction schedule provided by Eden’s, the developer of the mixed-use development that includes a Publix supermarket.