Slumbering homeowners have awakened to combat unwanted growth

Tue, 04/03/2007 - 4:12pm
By: Letters to the ...

Things might appear to be heading in the right direction in Peachtree City. The local citizens have awakened from a deep sleep, and now they are willing to protect the dream.

The traditional handful of citizens versus 15 developers, engineers and attorneys scenarios are difficult to win; I know this first-hand. However, when the future of Peachtree City began looking so garbled that it failed to resemble our comprehensive plan and our city of the past five decades, a grassroots movement was set in motion.

Homeowners associations have begun to unify under the premise if one area has a problem we all have a problem. The Peachtree City Civic Association is dissecting some of these looming land development proposals giving them the scrutiny they deserve.

People are speaking out.

The Super Lowe’s proposal on Ga. Highway 74 South was denied by the Planning Commission by a vote of 4-0. The homeowners residing in that local area showed up for the meeting, but so did the homeowners association representatives from all over the city.

Surveys had been conducted in many subdivisions and the answer was abundantly clear: No big boxes. The response average was running around 92 percent against such enormous and destructive growth.

The vast majority of these homeowners know the land will be developed in some fashion. All they are asking for is “appropriate development” which is not detrimental to our infrastructure, commutes and our overall quality of life.

I can tell you that the situation regarding the TDK Extension is also being turned by forces of local residents saying they are not going to take it anymore. Homeowners in the scattered subdivisions of eastern Coweta County are beginning to join hands and fight against the overly ambitious developers who want to ruin their rural residential lifestyle.

One Coweta gentleman called me and said he spoke to Coweta’s state Senator Mitch Seabaugh, an uncompromising supporter of TDK. He explained to me that Senator Seabaugh felt his constituents did not want him getting involved in the issue.

I explained to the nice gentleman that Senator Seabaugh and our Mayor Logsdon had received significant campaign contributions from the local TDK developers. After hearing my detailed explanation, he gave a deep sigh on the other end of the phone and said he would rally his neighbors.

The message I am hearing again and again is the people of Peachtree City love the village concept on which the city was developed and they do not want it ruined. Likewise, the residents of eastern Coweta County like their small-town charm and beautiful horse farms.

There are some elected officials in both jurisdictions who are taking an almost militant attitude toward forcing unwanted development on us. Some of those have built strong developer connections.

The involvement of your homeowners associations and neighborhood representatives is making a difference. Participate now so you will not complain about your quality of life later. Take a stand for high standards.

Steve Brown

Peachtree City, Ga.

[Brown served as mayor for four years before being defeated by Harold Logsdon in 2005.]

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Submitted by johenry on Mon, 04/09/2007 - 1:48pm.

Normally, I would pity someone with such a limited skill set as bloggers Nuk and RobeMudcat W. Morgan, but ignorance and anger are a bad combination.

The best the “Big Box Boys” can do is bash the messenger. Judging by their comments below, Mayor Harold must make them awfully proud.

nuk's picture
Submitted by nuk on Mon, 04/09/2007 - 6:15pm.

Uh, maybe you don't want to be a contestant.

I said the present council and mayor were lacking. I'll help you out: that means I think they suck. Bad, not good. Inept, not competent.

I noticed you didn't say anything about what I posted. Wonder why? Was it a blemish on your hero's record? Or did you think converting a church into a 24/7 drug store was a great idea?

Big boxes? I see Wal-Mart and Hone Depot parking lots with lots of Fayette Co. car tags. Since both chains have locations in Fayetteville and Newnan, it appears that our neighbors in PTC must be patronizing these places. Maybe not everyone in PTC would rather drive 20mins to go shopping and would prefer a closer alternative. Same with Target.

NUK


nuk's picture
Submitted by nuk on Thu, 04/05/2007 - 7:06pm.

Or did you forget the storm of irate homeowners when you were pushing like crazy the idea of re-zoning the Lutheran church at 54/Peachtree Parkway so it could be a 24/7 drug store? Seems like everyone except you were dead-set against it and it showed not only in the opposition but also every other Council member.

Or, Westside Village, a concept you absolutely HATED until you were elected and then it became something worthy of at least some consideration. Gee, the view changes when you go from being on the outside just throwing rocks to actually having to do something, Don Quixote.

You know, the present Mayor/Council is pretty lacking in a lot of areas. This wouldn't have happened if the previous Mayor/Council weren't also lacking to the point that the voters said "anyone but these cretins!"

NUK


Submitted by Jones on Tue, 04/10/2007 - 7:29am.

Nuk. You are condemning Steve Brown for something that never happened. He did talk about the West Village but it’s pretty easy to see he was no friend to the developer crowd. A lot of people probably wouldn’t mind annexing that land if the developers wouldn’t rape us on the deal. Something close to the county zoning would be fine.

I’m not a member of Christ Our Shepherd, but I have known Pastor Weber for many years. What is a Wal-greens, 15,000 sq. feet maybe? I don’t see the comparison between a Wal-greens and a Wal-Mart. I think you are wandering too far down the wrong rabbit trail. Their church is having a hard time in that location.

Most of the Steve Brown haters have gone into hiding. My neighbor use to have Logsdon's election sign up on the wall of his garage, but it's gone now. I think Steve was right on most things. He definitely cared a lot more about the average guy and gal on the street.

mudcat's picture
Submitted by mudcat on Thu, 04/05/2007 - 3:26am.

Maybe Cal should add another parenthetical line at the end (Brown is now desperately mounting a political comeback by patronizing the anti-growth activists).

Happy Ethics Hearing.
meow


bad_ptc's picture
Submitted by bad_ptc on Thu, 04/05/2007 - 8:08pm.

in that hearing you were salivating about?

Did Steve get the condo or not?


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