The Senoia Cart Path That Has Been One Mile Short Since 2013

How far is downtown Senoia from Peachtree City's path system? The answer has been about a mile for thirteen years.

In October 2013, The Citizen reported that Coweta County had begun planning a golf cart path along Rockaway Road. The path would run roughly one mile from Senoia to Line Creek, where it would meet Peachtree City's system. The other end was already built. A tunnel on Rockaway passes under Ga. Highway 74 and connects to the rest of Peachtree City's paths on the south side of town. Two cities sat a creek apart, and both had paths pointed at each other.

Senoia's new budget makes this fall the first time in years that the connection has money behind it. The bridge, though, is only half of what stands between a Senoia cart and a Publix run in Peachtree City. The other half is a fee and permission question, and the officials who would answer it are just beginning to discuss it.

Why the mile never got built

The 2013 plan stalled at the same two points that still matter. The Atlanta Regional Commission had set aside $100,000 for an engineering study, but no one had settled where the $20,000 local match would come from. Senoia's city administrator at the time also told The Citizen that the funding did not cover construction, "including how a cart path would cross Line Creek."

Peachtree City's city manager then called the link "a great connection for the community," according to the same Citizen article. Support was never the problem. The creek crossing and the question of who pays for it were.

What Senoia's FY2027 budget actually funds

Senoia adopted its FY2027 budget on September 21, 2026. Its capital improvement schedule includes a line for the connector and several smaller items on the same corridor.

The key word in the first row is "engineering." That money pays to design a route and a crossing. It does not pay to build them. A separate draft Senoia schedule for 2027 through 2031 put the full connector at an estimated $750,000. That draft lists funding as "TBD" and names Senoia, Peachtree City and GDOT as the responsible parties. The budget also doesn't say exactly where the Rockaway Road bridge or the push-button crossings will go, or whether they belong to the Peachtree City connector.

The city's Special Projects goals for the year include something closer to home. Senoia plans to "initiate the sidewalk/trail and on-street parking project from Marimac Lakes Park to Seavy Street Park," along with new pavilions at Seavy Street Park and the Park of Hope. Taken together, the budget builds Senoia's own path network inward while it pays to study the outward link.

Even with a bridge, a Senoia cart would pay to use Peachtree City's paths

Suppose the bridge opened tomorrow. Under Peachtree City's current policy, a cart registered in Senoia would still owe Peachtree City a fee to use its paths. Minutes from the city's Transportation Advisory Group meeting on July 28, 2026 say non-resident carts pay Peachtree City's $15 registration fee plus a $235 non-resident fee. Residents pay only the $15. The Citizen column by TAG chair Paul Schultz describes the same split.

Senoia runs its own system. The Senoia Police Department's registration page says residents and non-residents must register every cart driven in Senoia. Registration costs $90 and covers January 1, 2026 through December 31, 2029. The page does not say whether a Peachtree City registration counts in Senoia.

So under today's rules, a Senoia household driving its cart into Peachtree City would carry two registrations from two cities and pay $250 a year on the Peachtree City side. A creek crossing doesn't change any of that. A reciprocity agreement would.

The reciprocity idea, and why a Senoia resident should care

In his July 22 column for The Citizen, Schultz proposed a shared path system for Peachtree City, Tyrone, Senoia and Fayette County. Under his plan, a cart registered where its owner lives could travel anywhere in the network. He made the case for Senoia specifically:

"Wilshire Pavilion to downtown Senioa is only 4 miles, about 20 minutes on a golf cart. At peak periods, parking in Senoia is a challenge, and if golf cart connectivity and accessibility were prioritized in Senoia, it alleviates both congested parking and roads."

The column is clearly labeled as opinion. Schultz's disclosure says it does not represent the position of the Peachtree City Council, city staff or TAG. His main argument rests on data from a nearby connection. During a 32-week traffic study of the path between Tyrone and Kedron Hills, an average of 23 carts a day traveled on Crabapple Lane, and the busiest week averaged about 31 a day. That is the only measured example nearby of what happens when a neighboring community gets cart access, and the numbers are modest.

He also argued that the trip limits itself. In his view, carts top out at 20 miles per hour, and trips longer than 25 or 30 minutes go by car. For Senoia, that points to a connection that works well at a distance of about four miles and fades out past it.

On August 6, 2026, Schultz turned the idea into an internal memo to TAG. The memo proposes reciprocal path access agreements with Senoia, Tyrone and Fayette County at large. It calls for an analysis of how fees would shift across the jurisdictions and sets a target of bringing a recommendation to the full City Council by the first quarter of 2027. At the July meeting, one TAG member said he supported reciprocity as long as neighboring communities were working to build their own path systems. That condition gives the Marimac Lakes to Seavy Street project weight beyond Senoia's city limits.

Where it stands this fall

The plan has moved slowly on the Peachtree City side:

1. July 28: TAG discussed path integration with neighboring communities, then unanimously voted to table the item until its next meeting.
2. August 11: The reciprocity memo appeared on the agenda as an old business item.
3. August 25: The meeting was canceled for lack of a quorum.
4. October 13: That meeting was also canceled for lack of a quorum.

The August meeting packet contains no Peachtree City Council vote on the connector, no signed cost-sharing agreement and no Peachtree City budget line matching Senoia's 50% share. TAG is a group of volunteer residents who advise city staff and the mayor and council. It cannot approve the plan itself. It can only send a recommendation forward.

Senoia has done the most concrete thing so far by putting engineering money in an adopted budget. The rest is still undecided: the route, the type of bridge over Line Creek, construction funding, and whether a Senoia registration will ever be honored on Peachtree City's paths.

If you'd like to follow it, three documents matter. The first is the engineering scope for the PTC Connector once Senoia's Special Projects office starts the work. The second is any TAG agenda that brings back the reciprocity memo. The third is a recommendation reaching Peachtree City Council before the end of March 2027, if the memo's timeline holds. Until all three move, the Rockaway Road tunnel under Highway 74 still ends about a mile short of Senoia, as it did in 2013.

The registration rules and fees above come from each city's published materials and are general information, not legal advice. Please confirm the current requirements with the Senoia Police Department or the City of Peachtree City before you drive a cart across city lines.

Questions about Senoia, like whether a new path or a parking project will reach a particular street, come up often with buyers and sellers here, and I'm glad to help you sort out what's decided and what's still on the drawing board. If you'd like to talk through how projects like this one affect your plans, Angela Yoder is happy to sit down with you. Schedule a Consultation whenever you're ready.