Pipeline operator to pay Atlanta for Paulding land easements
Land that Atlanta has owned for decades in Paulding County might never see its intended use as a second commercial airport, but the city at least may realize a return on its investment.
The City Council on Monday passed an ordinance under which Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line Co. LLC, a natural gas pipeline operator, would pay Atlanta $263,744.50 for temporary and permanent easements to allow a pipeline through the city’s 9,400-acre holding in Paulding.
A land surveyor’s map on file with the city shows the proposed pipeline extending 14,644 feet through the tract, requiring about 16 acres for right-of-way, 11.6 acres for a temporary work space and 1.8 acres for a temporary access road.
The ordinance notes that as Transcontinental has a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for a Paulding pipeline, the company has federal condemnation powers, and “the city and Transcontinental desire to reach an agreement … prior to the conclusion of federal condemnation proceedings.”
In the 1970s, the city acquired the Paulding land, along with about 10,000 acres in Dawson County, as possible sites for a second airport after Hartsfield-Jackson International. The city never acted on either plan, and the idea was deemed financially unfeasible in a 2011 study.
