When I contemplate all the goings-on with the annexation dream here in my city, I'm often reminded of that country cowboy DJ Moby-in-the-morning (paraphrasing with apologies) when he says, “I don't even know what's in Spam, but when I think about it, maybe it's best that I don't know.”

Mr. Editor, because I am a man of varied opinions, it is in that spirit that I would like to share with you a few of my basic ideas in philosophy, which only represent one individual's opinion. Thank you in advance, as this experience will greatly help me to relieve a great deal of stress, as a result of what I am seeing unfold all around me. My disclaimer is that the foregoing is not intended to libel anyone so as to set the stage for a lawsuit, but to solely express one man's opinion.

Land planning via the national leaders in community planning as reported in the Friday, June 2, 2000 Peachtree Citizen Review, establishes some questions in my mind. As I understand it, these experts are pushing mixed land use — creating neighborhoods where different types of property can coexist, such as commercial property within shouting distance of several homes, or an apartment complex, etc.

They seem to also suggest that Peachtree City's plan of subdivisions with cul-de-sacs could cause traffic problems in the future. They prefer that neighborhoods be designed where the streets “flow through.” They say that multiuse planning should rule the day.

As the designer of one or two roads myself, I don't consider myself a maverick engineer, but I have to question these professional community planning experts' ideas.

If what was reported is the “new urban system,” then to me, this is ludicrous.

You want to design subdivisions with limited ingress and egress because this discourages criminal activity. Like most, I don't like crime. As for mixed use planning, my view is that this can also be risky. Incompatible mixed uses can lead to crime or undesirable or uncomfortable situations. I say that we should not encourage more “cut-through” traffic.

We should not subscribe to these principles. People that I encounter in my sphere of influence are not that shallow. Let's not cause our neighborhoods to be out of context with their surroundings with this bogus idea of mixed use. We all mostly moved here to find a better place, not Riverdale or Gwinnett County.

Let us go back to the lofty goals of the now defunct Managed Growth Manifesto. Now there was a document. I recall it talking about how we must be able to feel safe in our homes, how we must have a vibrant, but un-intrusive, retail community, how we seek managed, sustainable growth at a rate at or below 4 percent per year, how our average population density (in Fayette County) would be 1.5 people per acre.

How about the goal of political entities within the county not issuing more than 1,200 new building permits? What about the goal of limiting retail square footage to 5 percent per year of the total square footage in place the previous year?

Relating to the Home Depot approval a few months back, after reading that our developer friends had not signed their conditional agreement to date, I did a check with the staff at City Hall and I found that this is exactly true.

All too often I read in the paper that our developer friends occasionally ask our planning and zoning officials to just trust them to do the right thing. In fact, this happened just a short time ago. I would suggest that this is an excellent example of why the overall citizenry should be leery of doing this.

Where is our Board of Realtors or our Chamber of Commerce when we need them? I can only wonder why the Peachtree City government leadership has not addressed the public on this issue. That would be a question that our leaders should address if only they wanted to do so.

I have a theory, and it is that the greedy “fat-cat” developers and the movers and shakers in this town are hard at work with a strong lobby for the annexation dream and 4,000 more high density residents and rezoned commercial developments in the future fifth village.

When I looked at the slide show presentation from the city taxpayer-funded web page, it seemed obvious to me of the slant to press for the annexation dream. Why do I say this?

It is because the slide show presentation talks about how without the balance provided by the West Village we will be unable to maximize the efficiency and cost-effectiveness of our sewer system — and we will pay for that shortcoming forever.

It talks about how if we don't annex, then the west side of Peachtree City will be the “other side of the tracks.” It is also my contention that the slide show concludes that we have got to get those impact fees because we will be stuck with providing service for the west side anyway. That remains to be seen.

The financial numbers we've seen from the Monday, May 22, 2000 annexation task force committee meeting as listed in the May 26, 2000 Peachtree Citizen Review show that for plans A through D a budget shortfall will exist for all but plan A. I will admit that these numbers will be key in any decision to implement the annexation dream. City staff tells me that these are not the final numbers. I will most assuredly have to look at the breakdown of the final numbers when they are available, so as to satisfy myself on their relevance.

We've been told that the annexation dream and the issue of the West Side Village are the most important challenges that the city faces. These decisions will shape the city over the next 100 years.

We were also told (the annexation task force) that the citizens could not vote on annexation. Why, Mr. Editor, can't the citizen's vote on such a critical issue? Why was it, Mr. Editor, that the City of Tifton, Ga., was able to vote on annexation on June 17, 1997 (copy attached)? Did the City of Tifton have abilities beyond those of Peachtree City?

Our traffic consultants have said that there is a lack of regional planning when it comes to the two state highways 54 and 74. What about the watershed protection issues and impervious surface? Will our developer friends comply?

What about this rush to judgment on the annexation decision? Let us not forge ahead with a project that would be divisive and contentious. I say let's not make any decision until after the next election where cooler heads may prevail.

Mr. Editor, I will close with a fitting quote (that reminds me of the annexation subject) from that legendary AJC columnist and former great UGA alumnus, Lewis Grizzard, “Elvis is dead and I don't feel so good myself.”

James Melvin Ewing

Peachtree City

[Editor's note: Ewing is the former chairman of the Peachtree City Water and Sewer Authority and has been a candidate for Peachtree City Council.]



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