The Dec. 16, 1999, Peachtree City Council meeting was quite a civics lesson. So that I am not misinterpreted, I am not suggesting that you bring your children to this type of meeting. It is far better that our innocent children learn the text book rendition of how government should work.

I thought that it was incredibly considerate of the city to make Home Depot's appeal for them. If anyone on the city staff could offer an opinion in favor of Home Depot, they spoke at the meeting. It was my understanding that the burden of winning the appeal was up to Home Depot. For some reason, the City Council felt obligated to plea Home Depot's case for them.

The meeting proceeded with Robert's Rules of Order firmly in place. Again, not to be misunderstood, it was the Peachtree City version — Robert [Lenox's] Rules of Order. Bob Lenox's rules of order do not really mesh with the American fabric of freedom of expression. Much like his “you don't vote, you don't get included” doctrine, this peculiar set of rules is more like a cigarette that burns holes in our freedom of expression.

The mayor only allowed five people to speak from the subdivisions to the west. Each speaker was given a whopping five minutes to speak on subjects ranging from environmental impacts, public safety, traffic, ethics, noise issues, excessive tractor trailers, the state implementation plan for the U.S. Clean Air Act, zoning law, Georgia DOT scheduling, Home Depot's “valueless” site plan, the city's Traffic Task Force, Atlanta Regional Commission's plans and so on.

Just so we have the facts in order, not a single citizen from Braelinn, Kedron or Aberdeen villages was allowed to present a position on the agenda by the mayor. The City Council was given petitions opposing the project under appeal and nearly 850 of the over 1,600 signatures came from the areas where the citizens were refused the right to speak.

In a second move to restrict speech, questions were limited to two per person. By doing this, Bob's rules of order effectively eliminated any opposition from the handful of people that had been conducting most of the research disputing the Home Depot appeal.

Bob's rules of order bordered on the ridiculous when illegitimate hearsay and flip-flopping government testimony was allowed in the hearing. A ranking member of the fire department was “asked” to give some statistics on call times to the western portion of the city. The fire official made note of calls to subdivisions and traffic incidents and deemed the situation manageable.

Unfortunately, he failed to mention what effect the added Home Depot traffic would have on public safety calls. He also forgot to mention that 399 apartment units and 200 new homes had already been approved for the adjacent property. A significant portion of his report was missing.

Keep in mind that several weeks prior, the fire chief publicly expressed grave concerns regarding the ability to serve that very same area due to traffic concerns. Why the flip-flop?

The real gem of the meeting was when the mayor listed hearsay labeled as “opinion” on the agenda. The mayor cited that he had two renowned real estate sources that told him that property values would not be affected by the gridlocking Home Depot development. Mysteriously, those sources refused to allow him to release their names.

I believe it is illegal for a licensed real estate broker to make such official assertions without first conducting the appropriate research and that is a pretty good reason to withhold your name.

Councilman Robert Brooks had some phantom opinions as well. He stated that he spoke with “some” people and most of them wanted the Home Depot. However, he also would not reveal who the “some” were or exactly how many people “some” equals. Please keep in mind that he was presented with over 1,600 signatures opposed to the project, but he felt good because “some” people wanted Home Depot.

Dr. Brooks also felt it necessary to put in his plug for annexation on the western, gridlocked side of town. His rationale for gathering up the additional high density and infrastructure expenses into Peachtree City was that: (1) our fire department may have to answer a call in that area and (2) some of the kids in that area may sneak in and join our little league teams and other forms of recreation.

His broken logic never mentions that if the land is developed under Tyrone or Fayette County that there would be a lot less fires and a lot fewer sneaky children due to the much lower zoning densities.

Then there is the half-cocked argument that the annexed land will be developed like the rest of Peachtree City. What a lie — nothing in that Ga. Highway 54 corridor has been developed like the rest of Peachtree City as a result of his sitting on his hands for six years and poor planning. His position is hardly enough to make anyone jump on the annexation bandwagon.

Both councilmen Brooks and Jim Pace stated that they thought the Home Depot would only serve the citizens of Peachtree City. Obviously, they think that we are complete idiots.

When East Coweta, Tyrone, Brooks, Sharpsburg, Senoia, south Fulton and all the other areas surrounding our city are growing at an incredible pace, it is incredibly foolish to minimize the potential traffic burden in that way. If Home Depot and Wal-Mart build, the additional traffic will come. The big misconception is that people think that the traffic will only be affected on Ga. Highway 54 West, but the big boxes will pull people from everywhere.

In a meeting prior, Councilman Pace was advised by the city's attorney to abstain from voting on the Traffic Impact Ordinance due to a conflict of interest. However, he was cleared to vote on the Home Depot appeal even though the decision was hinging upon the same Traffic Impact Ordinance. What the heck, if you are going to allow hearsay as supporting evidence, you might as well let him vote. Besides, the City Council was one of the only public bodies in Fayette County to hold a late December meeting (all others were cancelled) just so Pace could vote.

The most tragic part of the meeting was when the City Council announced that they were wiping the Planning Commission's ruling completely aside and were conducting totally new proceedings of their own under Bob's rules of order. The Planning Commission members are our “citizen representatives” who are selected for their experience in and knowledge of planning and zoning matters. Not a single member of the commission supported the Home Depot site plan and it was labeled “irresponsible.”

Since the mayor was pulling for Home Depot, the Planning Commission's ruling had to be voided and could not be used as part of the appeal proceedings. Thus, the city was then able to carry on a nice little prepared Home Depot pep rally.

You see, under Bob's rules of order you can not only squelch the opinions of the people who stand up for responsible development but you can also silence their representatives on the Planning Commission as well.

It is going to be up to council members Fritz, Tennant and McMenamin to install a temporary moratorium on commercial site plans so that the debate on solutions can proceed without having another big box fall on us. We have witnessed what the city is capable of doing behind closed doors with commercial developers, and it does the citizens little justice.

We should not be anti-development; instead, we should be pro-responsible development.

Steve Brown
Steve_ptc@juno.com
Peachtree City

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