How West Village came unglued: Vote even shocked Lenox

By JOHN MUNFORD
jmunford@thecitizennews.com

Peachtree City Councilman Robert Brooks knew that changing his mind on annexing the West Village land would make a big difference.

His “no” vote would have shifted the balance of power dramatically. With councilman Dan Tennant firmly against annexation, Brooks’s vote would put the matter within one vote of being extinguished.

“If anybody else had concerns, it really didn’t make sense to continue,” Brooks said Monday afternoon. That’s why he wanted to make his feelings known at last week’s council meeting.

Little did anyone know that several other council members were thinking along the same lines. The Citizen talked with him and others in the aftermath of last Thursday’s unexpected council vote of 5-0 against annexation.

Before that vote, Brooks made his case, citing the massive burden that over 1,400 homes planned for the West Village would place on the county school system. After his lengthy explanation, council members Annie McMenamin and Carol Fritz chimed in with reasons why they also opposed annexation.

The final vote to oppose the annexation was unanimous, although Mayor Bob Lenox later admitted that his vote to shoot the annexation down was predicated on “seeing the writing on the wall.”

In an interview with The Citizen Monday, Lenox said the vote caught him totally by surprise.

“I had no warning that it was coming — not at all,” the mayor said, later questioning whether other council members spoke amongst themselves about the issue before the meeting.

Brooks told The Citizen that he didn’t speak to any fellow council members about his feelings before the meeting. Tennant said he was also in the dark about Brooks’s intentions until a minute or two before the meeting when Brooks told Tennant he was bringing up the West Village issue and that Tennant would like what he had to say.

“I had no idea this was coming up, but I’m glad that it happened,” Tennant said. He added that at no time during the West Village Task Force’s study did he consider favoring annexation.

“It’s not that I’m arrogant, but I was going to keep the promise I made to the people.”

Tennant said he asked a number of citizens about their opinions on annexing the West Village area and “most people had pretty strong convictions” not to annex.

“It (annexation) would have fundamentally changed the landscape of Peachtree City,” Tennant said.

The Citizen could not reach McMenamin or Fritz for comment by press time.

Lenox said he felt the decision not to annex would be regretted later down the road. But for the short term, he thinks council made the right decision.

“The only time this will be brought up again will be 20 years from now when we’re still having service problems and taxation problems and it’s fully developed,” Lenox said.

Brooks said he had been studying the West Village plans intently because council was scheduled to decide on a rezoning for the Katz property that’s still in the city limits but would have been considered a part of the West Village master plan.

The “wrapping up” of the task force’s study also helped Brooks decide it was time for him to make a decision, he said.

All that homework, made easier by detailed minutes from the task force meetings, helped make up Brooks’s mind.

But the public also helped Brooks make his decision. In his 10 years on council, this was easily the issue that he got the most public input on, he said.

“It’s not even close,” Brooks said. “I’ve had a number of people talk to me about it in an unsolicited fashion. I truly believe a lot of the citizens had truly educated themselves on the issue and they wanted to maintain the situation we have now.”

In contrast, Lenox said he had not received one phone call, note or e-mail from a citizen on annexation since a letter writer in last week’s edition of The Citizen encouraged residents to contact him.

“I’m not really sure how the majority of Peachtree City feels about this issue,” Lenox said. “I spend most of my time trying to guess the viewpoint of the community. ... Mainly, the mayor operates in the dark about how the community feels.”

Brooks said the developers could sue for any density they wanted in the West Village if the city annexed the property. But the city can’t be sued for not annexing the land, he added.

Once the property is developed at county standards of a minimum of one home per acre, it might be prudent for the city to annex the property, Brooks conceded.

Lenox said the West Village area could have been developed eventually with about 1,400 homes. He had already been planning negotiations with the developers and property owners of the 900-plus acres that could have become a part of Peachtree City.

The negotiations were part of the logical next step for the mayor after the task force had voted 10-5 in favor of pursuing the annexation. At that meeting, each task force member read a position paper indicating their viewpoint. Lenox then recapped each person’s stance to tally the “votes” without asking for a formal show of hands.

None of the task force members complained about how their vote was tallied. But McMenamin, who saw the “vote” take place, told council she interpreted the vote differently from Lenox.
“I felt that at best it may have been in the reverse of 10-5 of strong pro annexation at least to continue discussion,” McMenamin said. “I thought it was a very weak vote of those who voted in favor to continue.”

Brooks said Monday that he was against annexation because the development had several negatives though it didn’t make Peachtree City better. He did say the plan developed by the task force and a consulting firm was beautiful, however.

During the council meeting, Brooks, Fritz and McMenamin outlined their reasons for opposing the annexation.

The most important issue for Brooks was the fact that the annexation “was not the Peachtree City residents’ vision.”

“I think the majority opinion right now, and significantly so, is to let it develop at county standards and there are probably some things we can do in working with the county that would make that work,” Brooks said.

Brooks said the school impact was one of three main issues that swayed his opinion. Another was the problematic traffic access to the property. He also said that commercial development that’s coming to the area would impact the traffic in the area of the proposed West Village.

Brooks said the city is taking the position that the proposed Wal-Mart, which would be near the West Village property, can’t locate there because the traffic it would generate would create unsafe conditions.

“So I have a problem with annexing 900 acres for development behind a proposed Wal-Mart that we say we don’t have room for,” he said.

McMenamin said the high density of the plan “was an absolute no-no.” She added that she totally agreed with all of Brooks’s comments.

“I would hesitate to ask anyone to put any more time or effort into it,” McMenamin said of the annexation pursuit.

Fritz echoed Brooks’s concern about the impact the West Village would have had on the school system. She also was concerned about the close proximity of the rock quarry which was at the northern border of the proposed West Village concept plan.

Another of Fritz’s concerns was about the impact the West Village would have on the nearby wetlands and the city’s water supply.

“I view that as a serious detriment to any economic development here,” Fritz said. “If we don’t have any water, we’re not going to have any economic development.”

Fritz asked if council would favor annexation if the property was developed according to the county’s current zoning designation.
Brooks said that zoning was the subject of a lawsuit between Pathway Communities and the county, so the city should stay out of the issue.

“I think that would complicate things right now,” Brooks said.
Each of the council members applauded the work of the task force in studying the issue for the city.

But Lenox told The Citizen that he felt the task force wasn’t given a chance to do what it was charged with: come up with two plans for annexation and present them to city council.