I’ve heard some talk of a “moratorium” on development in Peachtree City while the City Council considers revisions to related ordinances.

As one who stands as much as one can against big-box development in our town, I think such a moratorium is a bad idea, and the timing could not be worse.

Think about it.

What a moratorium says to local business owners is this: “Our City Council doesn’t have its act together, so while we have meetings and argue about what limitations we wish to place on you, we want you to stop your development activity, postpone your hiring of subcontractors, defer your revenue even though you must continue paying your bills, lay off workers and sustain these losses from other sources of income. We’ll get back to you at our convenience.”

That might sound good to some who are sick of development in Peachtree City. But we live in the land of free enterprise, capitalism and the rights of private property.

While I am committed to stopping the TDK Extension and stop big-box development in Peachtree City, there are limits to what we can and should impose upon private business and property owners.

Peachtree City has a track record of being on the wrong side of litigation concerning property rights and this would only add to the problem. Just how many “grandfather exceptions” would we have?

Furthermore, even if a moratorium did not offend your sense of equity, the timing would be terrible. The real estate market has been slowed down considerably by the sub-prime lending mess and credit crunch. Real estate agents aren’t selling much and I’ll bet they are not spending much at local stores and restaurants. Too many local restaurant and other buildings now stand empty.

The little chicken lunch place at Senoia Road and Ga. Highway 54 serves the contractor crowd for lunch and says their business is off by half because new construction has virtually stopped, a tiny but telling indicator. A carpet installer for a prominent Fayette County store says his work has been cut back to just three days per week. The San Francisco Bread Company is another local restaurant to fold. The list goes on.

I’m no economist but our economic engine is clearly slowing down and that could hurt our community in many ways.

When we add the possible detrimental effects of the drought – like Pike’s Nursery’s bankruptcy filing – this “perfect storm” confluence of events is exactly the wrong time for the city to press its boot to the neck of local business owners.

Peachtree City should be friendly to business and growth within the limits that protect the interest of our community.

If the City Council is unclear to the right balance of promoting business while applying limits to protect our unique community, we should get to it and decide, not reach into the pockets of private citizens and tell businesses to put the brakes on our local economy while we discuss at our leisure.

NO! to big-boxes.

NO! and over my cold dead body on the TDK Extension.

NO! on a tenuous fix to the police building problem.

NO! on a construction moratorium.

I continue to ask for your vote on Dec. 4.

Mr. NO!

Mike King

Candidate, City Council Post 2

Peachtree City, Ga.