Mr. Mayor, about 18 months ago I met with you to discuss your positions regarding the Holly Grove Road area, with the potential impact development would have on our neighborhood and the surrounding area.

At the time I was the president of the Wilshire Estates Homeowner’s Association Board of Directors, and we met in the parking lot of the nearby Eckerd’s.

While you were understandably vague about some things as only one of several candidates in the race at the time, never did you mention that your “vision” of Peachtree City was that we would become a regional retail hub.

You ended up winning the election based on, essentially, one slogan: “Leadership!”

So one of two things must have happened since I met with you: Either you held this retail vision close to the vest in order to not upset the voters, or you were led by the hand of the developers with the enticement of tax dollars to rescue a city budget that suddenly became tight after you took office.

Leadership requires vision and communication. I graduated from the Naval Academy in Annapolis and have spent 20 years active and reserve in the Navy, so I have some experience in this area.

Your leadership so far has consisted of repeating the developers’ sales pitch to our neighborhood after trying to keep this underground, neither of which qualifies as vision or communication. Some things to consider:

• Financial analysis: What is the true cost of this commercial development (revenue minus city expenses for police, fire, cart path improvements and maintenance, and loss of tax revenue from other businesses in the city that close)?

A case could clearly be made that this will be revenue neutral at best. If you have numbers that say otherwise, you need to present them (Communication).

• Traffic: Did we learn anything from Planterra Ridge? What is the city’s plan for Holly Grove Road, other than just reacting to the traffic complaints that are certain to come after this is put in place (Vision)?

• Retail dominos: Nobody is foolish enough to believe that if a “Large Home Improvement Retailer” exists on the south side of Peachtree City, the remainder of the existing land there would continue to be small commercial or office/medical space.

We understand that you would want to annex the adjacent land along Ga. Highway 74 in order for Peachtree City to have some “control” over what is built there, but the best “control” is to keep the regional retailers from being built in the first place.

If the rezoning HAS to take place (I am not convinced it must) then we should establish a true village commercial center that does not cannibalize from existing village centers, detract from our city’s quality of life, or lead us down the dark path of chasing tax dollars at the expense of our neighborhoods.

We need REAL leadership on this issue: Where do you stand?

Will Soper

Peachtree City, Ga.