Wednesday, November 8, 2000

Fellow citizens, each of you was kind enough to send me an e-mail stating your opposition to the proposed Wal-Mart on Highway 54 West across from Planterra Ridge. There was a packed house at the council meeting last night, and if you were there, you saw what happened.

Unfortunately, there was an eleventh hour "agreement" reached where our city attorney advised that under a rather complicated set of road improvements, the proposed big box would be in compliance with the Traffic Impact Ordinance.

Remarkably, this conclusion was reached even with the already approved 399 apartments being built down the street, the Cedarcroft subdivision, and the Wieland project, to say nothing of the Avenues project, which will open early next year. All of this on an already terribly burdened two-lane road.

I received this notification only minutes before the meeting began, so while I was prepared to "hang my hat" on the fact Wal-Mart was not in compliance with our Traffic Impact Ordinance, I nonetheless understood the overwhelming desire and wishes of our community and stated categorically (and once again solely) that I would not support the big box at that location because I believed it would be a major safety hazard on a two-lane road, and not in the best interests of the health, safety and welfare of Peachtree City citizens.

Well, Mayor Lenox and council members Fritz and Brooks voted to approve the project since they believed we no longer had a legal ground to stand on, and I can honestly understand their position. Although I understand my counterparts have their own set of thought processes and rationale for making decisions (and I do not bear any ill will toward any of them), I wish they would have been willing to fight in court if that's what it took, but they saw otherwise. We put up a good battle, but we lost.

What upsets me more than anything really is the fact that literally hundreds of people showed up to the meeting [Thursday] night, many for the first time, and they saw their government not vote in accordance with their wishes. A lot of people left with disillusionment and with a firm belief that you just can't fight city hall.

Well, keep the faith. We need folks like you to stay involved. Please don't get discouraged and give up on staying active in the process.

I personally believe there is tremendous value in expressing one's opinions in a letter to the editor. If you feel so moved, the e-mail address is editor@thecitizennews.com. It is probably a good idea to get your letters in no later than Monday, so that they will be printed in next Wednesday's edition.

Thanks for the opportunity to serve you.

Dan Tennant

Councilman

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