I strongly encourage all voters to support the only candidate who has come out clearly against further annexation to Peachtree City, namely Dan Tennant.

Thirty-three years ago, we were led to understand that the long-range plan was a straightforward build-out to the city limits. It was never intended that Peachtree City would become a huge sprawling metropolis.

It’s a curiosity to me why most of our current candidates and city administrations never seem to have met an annexation they didn’t love. It seems to be a game for PTC mayors and staff to negotiate with the developer playing a form of poker: raising a soccer field here, betting a sewer line hookup, more buffering there, etc.

I’ve also been told that by annexing, the city has control over how a property is developed. They can insure it’s up to standards. This is pure smoke and mirrors. A former highly placed city official confirmed to me that even with our myriad of rules and regulations, if a developer wants to build crap, they can easily do so.

With regard to Wieland in particular, I personally have a lot of respect for this developer. They would not build a shabby or poorly designed development. Their customers wouldn’t allow such a thing. In short, they don’t need Peachtree City’s staff to oversee their work to keep them up to a standard.

The only real winner in the annexation game is the developer. The losers are the long-time city residents who are left to enjoy more traffic from high-density housing, eventually increased sewage bills due to the current facility’s capacity being overtaxed, more thinly stretched police and fire protection, the need for ever more schools, etc.

Concerning those who feel that’s the only way to get MacDuff Parkway pushed through to Ga. Highway 74, I suggest that regardless of the annexation, the road will eventually go through. Wieland’s future customers will demand it on their own.

But that sword will cut both ways. While it will give the Wieland’s residents a fast way out to Hwy. 74, it will also provide a great alternate road for the thousands of cars daily that come from Coweta County. In time we can likely expand MacDuff to four lanes and rename it the State Route 74/54 Bypass.

The only candidate that seems to get the picture at this point seems to be Mr. Tennant. For this reason I encourage your support of Dan in the upcoming election.

John Dillahunt
Peachtree City, Ga.