OPINION — The Peachtree City government is now flush with cash. Heavy property assessment increases lead to a thumping tax increase (see: https://thecitizen.com/2022/08/22/peachtree-city-raises-taxes-17-as-part-of-a-fiscal-year-2023-budget-of-46-3-million/), brisk sales tax collections, a brand new special purpose local option sales tax, and vast cash reserves are weighing down the local treasury.
While the local government is taking our money, they are also quashing our voices (see: https://thecitizen.com/2023/03/21/opinion-mayor-council-taking-us-in-direction-we-wont-like/).
But ask your neighbors where the city is heading in the next five to ten years and you get shrugging shoulders and worried grins.
What direction?
Beyond emptying your wallet and invalidating your opinion, it’s challenging to determine where the city council stands on just about anything. Are there any goals? Are there any lines they refuse to cross? Who knows?
Remember Alexander Hamilton’s quote, “Those who stand for nothing, fall for anything.” Over the last decade or so, the city council has introduced one controversial agenda item after another, often without warning.
For example, out of nowhere, Mayor Kim Learnard led the charge at a recent meeting stating local citizens asking that an issue be placed on a council meeting agenda could no longer be tolerated (see: https://thecitizen.com/2023/02/20/you-still-have-a-right-to-get-on-the-city-council-agenda-without-a-53-second-time-limit/).
Was the council overwhelmed with citizen agenda items? No, it hardly ever happens. It was just a continuation of the clampdown on citizen speech in the public forum. Learnard said she was “100% in favor” of cutting the citizens off, a recognizable trend, but you never heard of this when the mayor was campaigning for office.
The same can be said for Learnard’s vote to alter the city’s comprehensive plan to allow for more stacked multi-family apartment buildings (see: https://thecitizen.com/2022/09/05/council-majority-presses-for-more-apartments-more-urbanization-for-peachtree-city/). She did not mention this in her campaign either. She described these actions as “a unique and exciting year for Peachtree City.”
There are some anonymous and fake internet accounts attempting to explain the merits of the mayor’s questionable decisions, but I have never seen Learnard herself rationalize her actions or describe where she wants to take the city.
The mayor claims, “Council’s goal will be to budget no millage rate increases over the next five years.” How anemic and misleading. Notice she has no intention of ever rolling the millage rate back to compensate for increases in property value which means the cash-heavy local government sees tax increases ahead.
What is the state of the city?
The only solid point to come out of the mayor’s 2023 State of the City address is the city is revamping communications related to the website and social media.
Learnard said, “we remain vigilant on our goals related to traffic, recreation, redevelopment, and public safety.” What exactly are “our goals?” One was offered, “Council’s goal is to provide full transparency in what we do.”
“We asked our citizens where can we make progress?” Learnard said. The top response was the Highways 54-74 intersection.
The city has made little progress and Learnard has agreed to a Band-Aid fix of a displaced left turn project, doing absolutely nothing for the greatest obstacle, east-west traffic congestion (see: https://thecitizen.com/2023/01/23/councils-hwy-54-74-decision-a-traffic-boondoggle-for-peachtree-city/). Only Councilman Clint Holland has publicly opposed the GDOT proposal as ineffective.
Instead of bringing GDOT engineers to a city council meeting to publicly explain how such a low-budget project will solve our congestion at the intersection, the mayor had closed-door meetings with GDOT on the intersection. So much for the goal of “full transparency.”
Be forewarned, the mayor is working with GDOT for double left turn lanes out of Huddleston Road onto Highway 54 and building sewer capacity along Huddleston Road. Learnard said, “We are taking a comprehensive look at the area and will be working with property owners to identify what we want the area to be and plan our next steps.”
If you think the traffic in the area is bad now, just wait till you see what Learnard and the landowners want to build in the most congested section of all Fayette County. Make sure to see what they tried to do with the area in 2021 (see: https://thecitizen.com/2020/11/01/lci-meeting-insult-to-peachtree-city-residents/).
Be attentive and cautious in 2023 — 2024 as the mayor, council, and planning department begin “updates and reorganization of our city’s planning standards across the board,” says the mayor. What exactly does that mean?
Currently, Councilmen Frank Destadio and Clint Holland seemed determined to protect the character of the city and will not promote traffic-laden types of development. Councilmen Mike King and Phil Prebor will depart at year’s end due to term limits.
Destadio and Holland would need another pro-family community candidate who opposes large shopping centers and apartment complexes on Huddleston Road in the November election to keep the mayor and her stacked multi-family complex building position in check.
Confession time
I realize Mayor Kim Learnard already knows what she wants to do on Huddleston Road and other parts of the city. How about she keeps that “full transparency” promise and gives us the details?
We know the low-budget GDOT intersection project will be ineffective. Our elected officials need to give us their vision on the “reorganization of our city’s planning standards across the board.”
The mayor who has done everything within her power to suppress public participation in government says, “dozens of high caliber cities in Georgia have embraced the process of soliciting citizen input” for developing a strategic plan. Our city council appears to be heading in the opposite direction.
The November election will be very important. Choose wisely.
[Brown is a former mayor of Peachtree City and served two terms on the Fayette County Board of Commissioners. You can read all his columns by clicking on his photo below.]
